Part 2: Prevention of Injuries
The National Injury Illness Reporting System surveyed 351 colleges and universities and determined that the number one factor contributing to player injury is improper training methods. Dr. Joseph Farrell Waeckerle, former physician for the Kansas City Chiefs and a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians, states, “The majority of these injuries can be avoided with the proper training and technique.” When it comes to most exercise programs, little consideration is given to the safety of training techniques. If the number one goal for your exercise program is “safety” (and it should be), the effectiveness and efficiency will automatically follow. Let’s explain these variables in more detail:

Safety:
“Part 1” of this article stated that the key to minimizing injuries while exercising is to minimize the amount of force your body is exposed to. It also indicated that various aerobic type movements place a tremendous amount of force on our muscles, bones, joints and connective tissues. Therefore, this article defines exercise as “proper strength training”. Even though strength training uses more resistance than other forms of activity, proper strength training exposes the body to significantly less force to the joints. The goal of this article is to provide you with a few practical suggestions on how to reduce force to the lowest level possible while performing strength training movements

From part one, we also learned that the slower we perform exercise movements, the less force our body is exposed to. A sticker that is placed on the dashboard of any U-Haul rental truck states, “Speed Kills”. This may be an exaggeration when it comes to exercise, but it carries more truth than most of us realize. According to Matt Brzycki, the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Princeton University, “We must be concerned with an exercise’s speed of movement because we simply do not know the structural limitations of the human body’s various connective tissues.” Limiting the repetition speed also means avoiding movements such as sudden jerking, bouncing, lunging or jabbing. One may ask – “How slow is ‘slow’?” Essentially, each exercise must be carried out in a fashion whereby you work against the resistance with the slowest and smoothest movements possible while still maintaining a constant tension on the muscular structures. The type of equipment that one utilizes will determine how slow the exercise movements can be performed. Ideally, it is best to utilize equipment with the least amount of friction. This leads us to the next question – “Can a person perform repetitions that are too slow?” Yes. This is rarely seen, but repetitions that are too slow will unload the tension from the working muscles and make the exercise easier and less effective. A final question to consider is – “Can a person with a pre-existing injury perform proper strength training?” If you perform your repetitions in this slow and controlled manner, strengthening the damaged structure directly will speed rehabilitation and greatly reduce the possibility of exacerbating the injury.

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