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<lastBuildDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 13:17:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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<title>Preventing Tendon Injuries in Explosive Athletes</title>
<description><![CDATA[ Per Aagaard of the Danish Institute of Sports Sciences and Clinical Biomechanics recently lectured at the High Performance Centre in Perry Barr, Birmingham.

I had the good fortune of being invited by Neil Black, the Head of Sports Science and Medicine for UK Athletics, to listen to Per relay his extensive knowledge and latest research findings.

The most interesting part of day involved his findings showing that tendon loading via targeted resistance training may enhance injury resilience. His findings may warrant a total rethink on current rehab/prehab protocols for athletes prone to tendon injuries.

Tendons are made of collagen fascicles. There are 3 main types of collagen:

Type I: Important for tensile strength
Type II: Main component of cartilage
Type III: Laid down post injury.

It has been previously thought that only muscles can hypertrophy from resistance training and that the tendon and aponeurosis are unaffected.

Interestingly, Aagaard and his colleagues in Denmark have shown in their studies that there was up to 40% increase in the cross sectional area of the tendon after undergoing the resistance-training program compared to the control group. This findings were shown on MRI scan.

MRI scans on athletes involved in sports that predispose an overloading on a leading leg (Fencing, Badminton) confirm such findings.

The training regime involved 12 weeks of heavy resistance knee extension training on a Technogym machine. Subjects trained 3 times per week. They undertook 10 sets of 8 repetitions at 70% of IRM. There was 3 minutes of rest between each set.

The control group consisted of light resistance knee extensions on the other leg under the same conditions.

The benefits of tendon hypertrophy are plentiful. Tendons are essentially elastic and must deform as huge loads are transferred through them. 

If the collagen fascicles increase in size then the amount of deformation will be reduced and thus the tendon can absorb more load.

The point at which a tendon will strain is called the 'Yield Point'. This occurs when the tendon has lost its elasticity and can no longer function within its anatomical limits. 

Tendon hypertrophy prevents a tendon reaching the 'Yield Point' as early in an untrained tendon. Consequently the muscle will now be able to generate more power within its muscle belly and joint stability will be greatly increased.

Clinical applications in sport should be in the rehabilitation of athletes with previous tendon injuries and in the prehab routines of athletes who are involved in explosive activities that cause massive strain at large tendinous insertions i.e. Semimembranosus and Achilles.

Recap:

&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Heavy resistance training causes hypertrophy of tendons
&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Larger tendons have more strength
&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;An increase in tendon stiffness allows more energy to be absorbed
&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Specific training of tendons may help prevent tendon injury


David Cosgrave BSc (Hons) MSc DC
Sports Chiropractor


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<link>http://www.istadia.com/article/Cosgraved/220</link>
<dc:creator>David Cosgrave</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 13:17:00 GMT</pubDate>
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<title>Rehabilitating Professional Soccer Players post Spinal Surgery</title>
<description><![CDATA[ I have been a Sports Chiropractor to numerous premiership clubs over the years and I am often parachuted in to help resolve a dramatic incident of some sort: I presume I am a trouble-shooter when all else has failed.

One such event is post spinal surgery!

I know it sounds amazing but professional athletes having spinal surgery is a common occurrence even in this day and age of advanced Pilates protocols, gym ball work outs, heated yoga sessions and Bosu ball functional ballistic movement programmes. Some players just refuse to put the effort in and end up in the hands of the surgeon.

Firstly, a player should never get to the stage that he has any sort of discal irritation. This should be prevented by specialist manipulation that can be delivered by an osteopath, a physio, a physician or a chiropractor.&nbsp; It does not matter who delivers the high velocity thrust as long as they have undergone the appropriate training. The main thing is that all players require spinal manipulation to improve neuro-muscular tone.

In this day and age it is a crime to overlook this but it still happens.

When this is overlooked by the medical team a pattern on neural dysfunction is allowed to develop that creates inhibition of the local stabilisers (multifidus and rotatores spinae). This inhibition now allows an increase in aberrant motion and ultimately a positive feedback mechanism of inhibition that allows low-level irritation of the surrounding tissues such as the intervertebral disc, ligaments and neural tissue.

On a macro scale the larger muscles of the spine now start to compensate. The psoas muscles will now become involved and, as they hypertrophy there is a reflex inhibition of the glut maximus. As you can imagine this is fatal in a footballer who needs stability and explosive power. The end result is spinal pain, neuralgia and greater inhibition.....and a referral to the surgeon.

Once the surgeon has cut away the offending irritated disc and offered the nerve some breathing space the player is given the all clear. However no one has dealt with the inhibition that has caused the problem in the first place and the player often reports that they have lost their 'power'.

It is now essential that there is an increase in local spinal afferent information and this is best achieved by spinal manipulation. The spinocerebellar tract carries information to the cerebellum, which then up regulates the messages to the local spinal muscles via the corticospinal tract. There will be an immediate and objective change that can be demonstrated by manual muscle testing and a subjective report from the player that the 'power' is back.

Frequent manipulation allows neural potentiation and before you know it the player is performing close to a level they have not achieved for a long time.

The benefits of high velocity manipulation by a skilled practitioner cannot be under estimated and the performance improvement is immediately noticeable and importantly measurable.
 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/article/Cosgraved/215</link>
<dc:creator>David Cosgrave</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:46:28 GMT</pubDate>
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