Movement Efficiency

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Movement Efficiency Bullet-proofing the
Performance Athlete

• John Kiely
• UK Athletics

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Injury Resistance Vs Performance Training
How is injury resistance training different from
performance training?
What predisposes the athlete to injury?
- Structural predispositions
- Muscular weakness
- Fatigue
- Co-ordination errors
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Risk factors for common athletic injuries?

• Low hip adduction strength ITB in distance
  runners (Fredrickson 00)
• QuadHams ratios (e.g. St Clair Gibson et al
  01)
• Previous injury age (Orchard 01, Gabbe 06,
  Verral et al 01)
• Low pre-season H/S strength in-season H/S
  injury (Orchard et al 97)

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Implications?Why we need Diversity..

• Concept of bias
• Inherent factors lt - gt Habitual postures/gaits
• lt - gt Training bias lt - gt Injury history lt - gt
  Event specific bias
• Leads to..
• Wiring bias lt - gt Muscular/activation bias

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Practical Training Interventions to Enhance
Movement Efficiency Injury Resistance
3 Key Inclusions
1. Postural Strength Control
2. Unilateral Strength Stability
3. Eccentrics
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Postural strength control
What is it?
Ability to generate, absorb, appropriately
channel forces safely efficiently, while
maintaining postural integrity minimising
energy leakages
Whats the problem?
High preponderance of injuries either occurring
at, or originating from, the low back/pelvis/hip
complex
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Critical Issues
1. Low back is not structurally well predisposed
to generating high muscular powers
2. Hips large muscles of the upper leg can
generate high muscular powers velocities
(primary source of power in athletic events)
Problem?
High hip flexion powers may be problematic.
Large flexion bending torques imposed on the spine
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Some relevant facts
Muscle strength cannot predict likelihood of
future back problems (Biering-Sorenson 84)
No single muscle predominates in the enhancement
of spine stability muscles individual roles
vary continuously across tasks (Cholevicki
VanVliet 02, Kavcic et al 04)
In rowing levels of lumbar flexion increase with
erector spinae fatigue, increasing the injury
risk of spinal structures (Caldwell et al 03)
Metabolic cost of torso stabilisation contributes
to metabolic cost of cycling (McDaniels 05)
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Implications for developing a healthy back
A healthy back depends on the proper function of
the pelvis hips (McGill 06)
Developing a healthy back necessitates a
multi-faceted training approach
High hip powers transmitted thro a weak spine
are a significant injury risk
Ensure extensive spine stability prior to loading
with high hip powers
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Unilateral Strength Contro
Why?
Majority of athletic endeavours are unilateral
in nature
Enhance neuromuscular control around the joints
(e.g. Shields et al 05)
Correct any L-R deficits, caused by inherent
structural factors, injury or training history,
nature of event (Note, Beukeboom et al 2000,
Croisier et al 2002)

• SLS improved dynamic stability of the knee joint
• (Madhavan Shields 2007)

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Eccentric Exercise
What is it?
How has Eccentric training been traditionally
employed?
- Rehab/Therapeutic
- Machine based resistance training
- Plyometrics (i) Absorptive
(ii) Reactive
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Scientific Evidence
Beneficial clinical outcomes assoc. with rehab of
-Posterior cruciate ligament (McLean et al
99) -Chronic patellar tendiopathy (Kongsgaard et
al 06) -Achilles tendinopathy (Sayana Maffulli
06) -Increased collagen synthesis in chronically
injured tendon (Landberg et al 06) -Hamstring
muscle strain (Crosier et al 02) -Tibial
fasciitis (Gabriel et al 06)
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Injury Preventio
-Strain injuries known to occur during eccentric
contractions (Brockhurst et al 04, Proske et al
04)
-Previous H/S injury significant risk factor
-Weaker in eccentrics at high
velocities -Significantly tighter than
uninjured (Jonhagen et al 94)
-Simple programme of eccentrics can reduce
incidence of H/S injury in Aussie Rules
BUT.. (Gabbe et al 06)
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In summary..
3 Key Inclusions
1. Postural Strength Control
2. Unilateral Strength Stability
3. Eccentrics