Episode 20: Injury Prevention!

Oh boy, injury prevention could be multiple podcasts, there is a lot of info to cover, but we will stick to the basics today. And we won't even cover nutrition but we will do that later. We will probably talk about this again in the future.

1. Are you cross training? Meaning, are you taking a day off of pickleball and walking, or running, playing basketball, etc. I would never encourage a kid to focus on one sport so I certainly wouldn’t encourage an adult to do that either. I played three sports in jr high and high school. I know kids today want to specialize but I do not recommend that. Same for adults. Are you taking time off?

2. Are you lifting weights and doing some plyometrics? 

   1. Weight lifting - squats, deadlifts, lunges, anything single leg, lat pull down, planks, biceps/triceps, wrist flexion and extension

   2. Plyometrics - anything that’s jump training/explosive so jumping rope single and double leg, defensive slides, burpees, box jumps, again anything single leg would be great even just hopping across the room forward and backward on one leg

3. Are you warming up before you play and stretching after you play? We do decent warm ups before we play, but I would add in doing some deeper squats and maybe some planks before you start. Maybe even take a couple laps around the court. I’m not great at stretching after I play but I stretch other times. And use a foam roller if you don’t like to stretch, it can actually be better for you strength-wise. Hams, quads, calves, forearms and shoulders are good to stretch.

4. Are you sleeping ok? Did you know sleep is the number 1 factor in pain levels? We can dig deep on that later, I have all the research, but if you’re hurting, look into your sleep.

5. Are you hurting? If you are in pain at it’s 4/10 maybe 5/10 I’d say you might just be in a pain cycle and give it some time. If it creeps up past 5 it might be time to see a PT. In Indiana we have direct access which means you can go directly to a PT and don’t have to see a dr first. So head to your nearest Indiana Physical Therapy of course.

6. Do you think you have tendonopathy of some sort? Eccentric contractions, icing, stretching, scraping, dry needling, cupping can all be helpful, while still staying active. 

   1. M.E.A.T. Movement, exercise, analgesics, treatment vs RICE

   2. Let’s talk quick about eccentric contractions - concentric builds the belly of the muscle, eccentric builds the ends/tendons

   3. Throwers ten is good for shoulders/elbows, progress that to weightbearing like planks and side planks

   4. Slow SL lunges good for knee pain

   5. Slow heel raises good for ankles/achilles