It’s August and Winter sports are in full swing! Depending on the sport this can mean early starts, late nights and driving here and there getting kids and family members to games.
We all know that sport is great physical activity - it gets our blood pumping, body moving and improves different aspects of our fitness. However, more sport and physical activity can mean more injuries and time out from what you love doing if you don’t look after yourself properly!
A warm up and cool down is important to prevent injuries
The key to avoiding injury is a good warm up and cool down before and after your physical activity. Everybody loves a good long stretch to get their tired and tight body moving. Whilst stretching is a big part of most people’s fitness routines, how and when you do your stretches is really important when it comes to keeping your body injury free.
Traditionally, static stretching (where you stretch out and hold a muscle at length for a sustained period) was the way to go for your warm up. Go for a light jog, sit down and have a stretch, get up and train/play. You know the drill!
As with all things, a wide variety of methods for warm ups and cool downs have come and gone over the years, but all methods have the same goal in mind - preventing injuries. So what does the current evidence suggest is the best way to warm up and cool down to prevent injuries?
Unfortunately, we don’t have enough clear-cut evidence to suggest one type of warm up over the other to prevent injuries. However, current research favours what is called dynamic stretching for your warm up.
What is a dynamic warm up?
Dynamic stretching is just an impressive way of saying stretching with activity or movement. In practice, what this looks like is a gradual progression in speed and range of movement with a sport/exercise specific focus.
For example, if you like jogging it might mean starting off with a slow jog to get muscles going, progressing to some high knees (to help improve hip mobility) and butt kicks (to help improve quad length). This type of gradual progression warm-up has been shown to actually improve athletic performance through the means of activity preparation.
But what about static stretching?
Static stretching is still a very valuable tool with research suggesting that static stretching is best used AFTER exercise as a method for improving flexibility and muscle soreness.
If you have any questions about which type of warm up and cool down is best for you, please feel free to discuss it with your physio. And if you’re currently suffering from an injury, book in for a Free Initial Assessment and we can get you back to doing what you love.