Coaching THE HEALTHY SKATER PREVENTING


INJURY in the Young Skater


by Andrea Sobieraj, MS, CSCS G


ood athletes of any sport are defined by their genetics, training (and trainability), nutrition status


and psychological traits. Our goal as coaches is to continuously advance their skills and performance, while maintaining their interest and joy of the sport. Growing skaters have many considerations as they are experiencing major physiological changes that can increase their risk for injury. Skating requires balance (often


long, eccentric holds), power, agility and endurance. You must consider where your athletes’ base talent arises. Are they endurance-domi- nant or power-dominant? You want to train to optimize their strengths while enhancing their weaknesses. Muscle is made up of slow fibers


(endurance) and fast (power) fibers. Te distribution that each person has is mainly determined via our genes.


You need to train a muscle in the velocity in which you want it to perform.


Exercise load causes microscopic damage to muscle fibers, and this is necessary to cause the cellular changes that will lead to a larger, stron- ger muscle. Tis also means that after the training session (the alarm to the muscle), a skater needs time to recover for these positive cellular changes to occur. Failure to give ample recovery time will lead to accumulated stress and an over-trained skater.


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and technique. It is especially important to have intensity and technique high and volume low near key competitions. Prior to puberty, hormones that create muscle bulk are just not yet available so the main gains in strength are through neurologi- cal growth. Tis is an optimal time to focus on agility, speed (plyometrics) and


Think of recovery as a training day — it is that important.


Simple signs that a skater is becoming over-trained are frequent upper respira- tory tract infections, staleness, repetitive injuries, elevated resting heart rate and decreased performance. Always taper training volume first and keep intensity


Fig. 1


technique. In particular, agility (e.g., lots of footwork patterns) will lead to stron- ger biomechanics and quicker responses, which can prevent an injury. You also may have noticed that many


young skaters, when even performing a simple dip, have their knees go in a valgus (“knock-knee”) position. Tis is referred to a Q angle (Fig. 1). Although females have larger Q angles post-puberty than age-matched males, pre-puberty males and females both have a tendency to push their knees together. Te quad muscles just are not strong enough pre-puberty to keep the knee in position past a cer- tain squat point. Review correct squatting technique off-ice. Look at the knee posi- tion and make sure that the knee is not going over the toes. A one-leg quarter- squat to half-squat is in a majority of skating positions, so teaching proper posi- tion is one to tackle and correct early on. Tis will also lead to neurological and strength gains continuously in the quads. When a skater has a large growth


spurt in height, this leads to a muscle imbalance as the neurologi- cal growth and muscle growth are mismatched. A skater may suddenly seem to regress in skills while accom- modating their new body mechanics. Tis is a time when skaters are most vulnerable to fractures as bone tissue is elongating at a great speed and coordination temporarily falls. During a peak height velocity, it is


ideal to focus on flexibility and agility. In addition, a female skater who has gone through puberty has the intro- duction of the hormone relaxin (an overall whole body ligament relaxer). Relaxin is high post-ovulation and, if


combined with a large Q angle and poor landing mechanics, is a perfect recipe for a ligament injury to the knee. It is essential to continuously work on landing mechanics off-ice. Off-ice train- ing must also include strengthening of the core muscles. Without a strong core, posture fails and injury can occur.


ISI EDGE SPRING 2015


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