It is one of the most important ways to avoid injury and to promote overall health. Here are some of the reasons everyone, active or not, should stretch:

• improves range of motion and flexibility
• promotes muscle balance
• prepares your body for activity
• helps your body recover from activity
• decreases joint stresses/compression
• minimizes unwanted muscle tightness and knots
• promotes circulation
• develops body awareness
• enhances performance by improving overall speed, balance, endurance, agility, and strength

Stretching Tips from our Experts

• Stretch only what is tight. This helps to reduce the number of stretches you’ll do!
• Ensure your stretching targets the area intended.
• Stretch when warm – after activities or later in the day – to improve range of motion.  
• Practice dynamic stretches before your activity, and static stretching after the activity.
• Feel tension in the muscle as you hold the stretch. Avoid pain, overstretching, bouncing or rocking.
• Relax. Stretch in a quiet, comfortable area; on a matted area in the gym; on the warm soft grass; or on the carpet while watching TV.
• Make stretching a habit. Progress is the accumulation of many efforts.
• A kinesiologist can guide your exercise planning and lead you to healthier daily living, faster recovery, less pain, and enhanced sport performance.

One of the main reasons dancers, gymnasts, cheerleaders, figure skaters, and all athletes for that matter, become injured is due to joint hypermobility. Hypermobility refers to a joints’ ability to move beyond its average range of motion. 

A recent study done with young ballet dancers between 9-19 years of age showed that joint hypermobility was the number one predictor of future injury. To a small degree, our genetics and anatomy play a role in our natural joint mobility, however, with proper cross-training, injuries can be easily prevented!

Here are some tips for dancers (and all types of athletes!) to help if you are currently dealing with hypermobile joints, or if you want to prevent injury.

• Strengthen, strengthen, strengthen. Strengthening is one of the best ways we can prevent injury to a joint.
• Avoid overstretching. I know those oversplits are impressive, but without proper joint reinforcements this can lead to further joint instability.
• Cross-training. As dancers we are often caught in a cycle of the same movements. And although we are often placing ourselves into different positions, we need more variety in our training to prevent overuse of muscles, and underuse of others. It’s all about balance! 

What you can do before a practice or performance to prepare and optimize your joints.

• Raise your heart rate. Try doing some jogging on the spot, jumping jacks, or some burpees to get your blood pumping!
• Stretch dynamically before class and statically after class. Your muscles are made up of little links and if we over stretch these links before we begin dancing, it will make it more difficult to contract our muscles due to the links being too far apart from one another.
• Do some heel raises! Ankles and calf muscles are pertinent for every style of dance. Waking up those muscle will help activate them and prepare them for all your big leaps and jumps.
• Incorporate large muscle groups in your warmup. Engage the whole lower and upper body through things like squats, lunges, and planks.
• And of course, have a positive mindset. Our mindset for dance class can make or break how we perform.

Working alongside a physiotherapist who has a vast knowledge base in dance and other athletic fields can help optimize your overall performance and prevent further injury. If you are interested in increasing your overall strength or taking your athletic training to the next level, book an appointment with Allie Bruce-Fuoco Physiotherapist and former 2023 National Highland Dance Champion.

Each year in the Okanagan, golfers like me take to the links to whack balls left, right, and occasionally down the middle of the fairway. It’s often a humbling experience.

The sport of golf requires coordination, strength, flexibility, and most importantly, mobility. From the ankles, knees, hips and upward into the spine, rotational forces are generated to create precision and speed at the time of impact between the club face and ball. The golf swing is too complex to correct in this article (if I could fix this problem entirely, I’d probably be on my way to retirement), but I can explain some hip and spine movement mechanics that can help reduce stiffness and improve mobility – to ultimately achieve a more accurate output.

:In most cases, golfers struggle to move their bodies into the correct position at impact, possibly causing a “slice” or “hook”. These types of swings happen by either coming across the ball with an outside-in swing plane, or an inside-out swing plane. During the golf swing the hips are required to perform internal and external rotation. The hip muscles must work in conjunction with one another to properly move the leg within the hip socket. An inability of the hip joints to do this can cause an increase in arm movement, leading to inconsistency at impact. This is the same for the spine. The lower and middle back (lumbar/thoracic), are required to rotate and side-bend. Stiffness through the above regions reduces mobility and therefor minimizes the club arc, causing golfers to reduce their backswing which affects their follow-thru.

Through range-of-motion-exercises synchronized with breathing, golfers can improve their mobility of the joints, as touched on above. Once improvement is seen with mobility, it’s imperative to strengthen into the new ranges of motion. Golf is like any other sport, you need to prepare your body to perform. Below will be some attached exercises that you can implement at anytime throughout the golf season. I can’t promise more birdies, but I can help ensure your body will feel better during your round of golf!

Spine Health Exercises For Golf

1: Thoracic Extension with Foam Roller 

2: Thoracic Rotation with Foam Roller

3: Half Kneeling Thoracic Rotation with Foam Roller

4: Half Kneeling Oblique Thoracic Rotation with Foam Roller

Gymnastics is a sport that requires strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, and endurance. While its aerial and acrobatic movements can shock and awe, these movements can increase an athlete’s risk for injury. 

What are the common injuries in gymnastics?

For paediatric populations, the most common gymnastics injuries include: sprains, strains, fractures, and dislocations. It has been reported that roughly 97% of gymnastics injuries end up in emergency departments. The most common sites of injuries are the ankle, lower leg, shoulder, Achilles, trunk, and foot. 

One of the most prevalent chronic issue experienced by gymnasts is low back pain. Low back pain has been reported in up to 85% of gymnast populations. The most common low back injury is spondyolysis.

What are the risks?

Risk factors for injury in gymnastics include: a previous history of injury, competing before complete recovery, improper technique, overtraining/overuse, and environmental factors such as landing surfaces. 

How can I prevent injury?

To begin, it should be noted that 80- 97% of injuries happen in practice compared to competition. 

Some of the best ways to prevent injury are to:

• Avoid over training.
• Learn proper form and technique for skills in order to protect the body from repeated motions. 
• Engage in a proper warm up.
• Engage in specialized strength and conditioning programs that have been developed for gymnasts. 
• Manage pain and physical issues early, before they become chronic.

Why is physiotherapy important?

Nearly 90% of elite gymnasts report sustaining one or more injuries that result in reduced training capacity. These athletes spend roughly 14% of their time training at sub-optimal levels. Physiotherapists can help to prevent and manage these injuries, which in turn increases optimal training time. 

Physiotherapists with training in gymnast populations can help to identify risk factors, diagnose and treat acute and chronic injuries, educate on proper warm up techniques, provide relevant strength and conditioning programs, and screen for proper form in the performance of gymnastics skills to prevent biomechanical errors. 

Credentials

Lindsay Wourms, PT, MScPT, Special Focus in Paediatrics
Former competitive gymnast 
Gymnastics coaching experience with both recreational and pre-competitive groups
Special education in gymnastics rehabilitation and injury prevention
Physical Therapist on site for gymnastics at the BC Winter Games 2023

References:

References Hecht, S. S., & Burton, M. S. (2009). Medical coverage of gymnastics competitions. Current Sports Medicine Reports, 8(3), 113–118. 

Heinen, T., Pizzera, A., & Cottyn, J. (2010). When is manual guidance effective for the acquisition of complex skills in Gymnastics? International Journal of Sport Psychology, 41(3), 255–276. 

Kerr, Z. Y., Hayden, R., Barr, M., Klossner, D. A., & Dompier, T. P. (2015). Epidemiology of National Collegiate Athletic Association women’s gymnastics injuries, 2009–2010 through 2013– 2014. Journal of Athletic Training, 50(8), 870–878. 

Kirialanis, P., Dallas, G., Di Cagno, A., & Fiorilli, G. (2015). Knee injuries at landing and take-off phase in gymnastics. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 7(1), 17–25. 

Kirialanis, P., Malliou, P., Beneka, A., Gourgoulis, V., Giofstidou, A., & Godolias, G. (2002). Injuries in artistic gymnastic elite adolescent male and female athletes. Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, 16(4), 145–151. 

Kolt, G. S., & Kirkby, R. J. (1995). Epidemiology of injury in Australian female gymnasts. Research in Sports Medicine: An International Journal, 6(3), 223–231. 

Kox, L. S., Kuijer, P. P. F. M., Kerkhoffs, G. M. M. J., Maas, M., & Frings-Dresen, M. H. W. (2015). Prevalence, incidence and risk factors for overuse injuries of the wrist in young athletes: a systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(18), 1189-96. 

Kruse, D., & Lemmen, B. (2009). Spine injuries in the sport of gymnastics. Current Sports Medicine Reports, 8(1), 20–28. 

Nemeth, R. L., Von Baeyer, C. L., & Rocha, E. M. (2005). Young gymnasts’ understanding of sport‐ related pain: a contribution to prevention of injury. Child: Care, Health and Development, 31(5), 615–625. 

Sands, W. A., McNeal, J. R., Jemni, M., & Penitente, G. (2011). Thinking sensibly about injury prevention and safety. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 3(3), 43-58. Singh, S., Smith, G. A., Fields, S. K., & McKenzie, L. B. (2008). Gymnastics-related injuries to children treated in emergency departments in the United States, 1990–2005. Pediatrics, 121(4), e954–e960