09 Mar Staying Focused and Mat Ready
As cheer athletes, you have to keep your body healthy all year round. The following are a few tips for you to put (and keep) your best foot forward this season!
Techniques For Preventing Injuries
Rolling – Grab a small roller, softball, lacrosse ball or something similar. Work the muscles in the back, sides and front of the calf. The back is where the muscles exist that have tendons that surround and control the ankle for jumps, tumbling, balance and stabilization. Let the roller or ball place pressure on the calf, then do ankle circles, flex and point the ankle and/ or put extra pressure on from the opposite foot and leg. Don’t forget about the arches! Stretching – Static stretching should be done both before and after cheer. Preventing strains and keeping the Achilles (tendon of the calf muscles) healthy is the primary foot flexibility concern! Ensuring you are always warm before stretching is key. Holding a calf stretch with the knee straight, and then again bent, are equally important – remember to keep the heel flat to maximize effort.
WARM UP!
Joint Health – Time is always a struggle, especially during the season – with the demands of school and extra hours spent at the gym. Getting there early enough to allow the body to get warm is essential in maximizing joint health. Dynamically moving the foot to focus on the toes into flexion and extension (using your hands to pull down and push back), the arch (making it pliable with a roller or a ball), the ankle (all directions including flex and point, rolling in and out, and ‘winging’ in and out) will help to make sure the body is ready for motion.
Flexibility – After the body is warm and after blood is flowing, focusing on preparing the muscles for their flexibility demands is essential! Athletes need to be flexible (the allowable length of a muscle) but they also need to be ready for the end range of flexibility, which is where tears and strains happen. This is achieved with dynamic stretching – meaning stretching with motion. Push up position heel bounces help the calf prepare for end-range stress, and nerve glides can help with pliability of the sciatic nerve (the big nerve that supplies juice to the muscles from the spine to the feet).
Balance – It’s essential to wake up your vestibular system, especially after a long day sitting in school, or after a long car ride to practice. One way to do this is by standing on one foot with eyes open, bent knee, and moving forward/backward (like a teetertotter), then side to side (like a teapot), and then rotate left and right, back and forth. This will help ankle stabilizers to “kick in,” as well as vision, inner ear, and general balance systems. Next, close your eyes standing on one foot, adding some head motion to make it harder! This is especially important for flyers!
RECOVERY!
Soreness – A quick ice bath from the knees down immediately following cheer practice can help to get ahead of any inflammation starting from overuse. Fill a painters bucket a quarter full with ice, then fill halfway with cold water, and stick your feet in the cold plunge! Five minutes is plenty of time. Blood Flow – Compression boots are a great luxury to have if you have access to them. They surround the feet through to the thighs and provide a “squeeze,” moving from the toes on up, helping to keep the lymphatic system healthy. If you don’t have this, then compression socks (full to toes, not just calf) up to the knees are a great option. They help to stop the fluid (which is built up from side effects of the muscles working) from ‘pooling’ in the legs. If it’s an especially hard day, you can even wear them during practice to minimize after effects!
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