In the past few years, a growing number of Health and Fitness experts and athletes have started to come to the realization that an ounce of Prevention (Prehabilitation) is worth a pound of Cure (Rehabilitation) - when it comes to sporting injuries.
"What does this mean? ", I hear you ask.
Well, in the not to distant past, there was a fairly predictable path athletes would follow in their quest for optimum performance. This is how it might have looked (and unfortunately still often does):
Train....Train...Train some more....Train harder than last week...Race....Race....Train harder than ever ..... Injured!
You get the picture?
I am pretty sure we have all been there, and once we were trying to overcome the injury, hindsight kicked in and we could see the error of our ways.
The scenario after becoming injured would be numerous visits to Physios, Therapists and anyone who could offer us some hope or resolution to our injury woes.
After working through various Rehabilitation exercise protocols, aimed at getting the injured area of the body functioning "normally again", and getting us back to the sport we so desparately want to take part in, we would gingerly get back into our training routine, fearful that the injury would recur, not sure how to proceed, and most importantlt, how to ensure it did not happen again. Here is where Prehabilitation came to fore.
The thought process was that instead of addressing injuries Reactively (after they had occurred), why not be Proactive in an effort to avoid, or reduce the chance of these injuries occuring?
By adding a few specific exercises and movements, we are now able to target those areas of the body more prone to injury.
An example would be a runner who suffers from Ilio Tibial Band Friction Syndrome (ITBFS). By combining various stretching exercises and techniques, some basic strengthening activities, and working on running technique, the incidence of ITBFS would be reduced, and the athlete could get on with running.
I will be looking at a few easy steps, and activities, for all athletes, to not only minimize the occurance of injury, but also improve the functioning of their body as a whole.
