 Mark HatfieldFounder and Head Trainer Hatfield's Athletic Development Centre. Ottawa, Canada Dryland Training and Injury Prevention  Injury takes it toll on athletes. In addition to the physical pain and discomfort of rehabilitating an injury, there are missed gamed and interactions with teammates, delays in training and development, and the potential for lost opportunities. Hockey is a chaotic game with high risk for injury. Because it is played at high-speeds with frequent changes of direction and breaking, hockey places enormous strain and demands on the body. Dryland training, including balance drills, agility training, movement skills, flexibility training and plyometrics can help prepare players for the extreme demands and rigors of the game, and reduce the risk of injury. Examples Of How Dryland Training Can Help With Injury Prevention. Deceleration Training:Most injuries in sport occur upon deceleration; that is, when breaking to change direction or stop. Breaking from a sprint in hockey exerts many hundreds of pounds of pressure on a young athlete’s knees. Teaching the body to decelerate and then change direction effectively through focused and progressive dryland drills helps prevent injury and improves performance. We decelerate properly by bending our knees, which slows and stops the body and also loads the muscles to explode into the next movement. Training deceleration is done by first explaining the biomechanics of deceleration, then by practicing it at predictable intervals, and then by adding deceleration to reaction drills. Agility Training:This prepares our bodies to change direction effectively and efficiently, while plyometrics train our muscles to be reactive and explosive. Being able to decelerate and change direction quickly and properly will improve your performance and it will also help you better navigate potential perils, like a player barreling down on you. Balance Training:Balance training improves stabilizer muscle strength and functionality which helps keep us in our power position (and off the ice!) decreasing our chance of injury and improving our performance. Good core strength is also essential to injury prevention. It helps us with our balance and also helps us successfully manage situations where our balance is challenged or we are thrown off-balance. Stretching:Teaching proper techniques of stretching for flexibility helps increase an athlete’s range of motion. This allows the muscles to be stretched while playing hockey with less chance of tearing. It will also help prevent injury from sudden falls or collisions that can put our bodies in awkward and stressful positions. Movement Skills:Teaching athletes to move their bodies efficiently and effectively helps prevent injury arising from incorrect movements. It also familiarizes the body with many different movement patterns so the body knows how to recover from variable forms of contact. And, of course, training our energy systems and speed helps our hockey players to be first to the puck and leave the competition in the dust! A final word…as hockey players enter their teens, many consider gym memberships as a way to build muscles and strength. While machines can build beautiful muscles, it is the whole body, movement-based training from a good off-ice program that will allow hockey players to develop a more functional and reactive body that is better able to meet the demands of the game and avoid injury. Take your dryland training seriously and develop good training habits, it will help improve your performance and may reduce your time in the physio room. Train hard! Mark - mark@hatfields.ca Let A Friend Know About Ottawa Hockey News - Click Here*About Mark Hatfield and More Benefits Of Dryland TrainingOttawa Hockey News Main PageWe do not warrant any of the information provided by the sites listed on ottawahockeynews.com. All links and information are provided as a courtesy and how you choose to use the information. obtained from this site and those we link to is at your discretion. |
