sports medicine cq3; physical preparation Flashcards
What are the factors of physical preparation?
- Pre-screening
- Skill and Technique
- Physical Fitness
- Warm up, Stretching and Cool down
What is pre-screening?
The use of physical questionnaires and assessments to identify an athletes information regarding their medical history.
What are things to identify during pre-screening?
- Previous injuries
- Medical conditions
- Personal Goals
- Potential dangerous risk factors (e.g. high blood pressure, previous experiences)
Why is pre-screening information valuable?
This information helps establish an exercise prescription that outlines the frequency, intensity, type and time of training optimal for the athlete
What are factors that pre-screening helps identify?
- Pre-disposing factors that may lead to injury (e.g. history of high blood pressure → ensure training does not stress circulatory system.
- Risk factors to injury (e.g. poor joint mobility and weak bone density)
Why is correct skill and technique important as a preventative action?
Correct skill and technique allows for an improvement in performance and prevention of serious injuries occurring as athletes are more aware of their playing environment, surroundings and movements.
What does inefficient or potentially dangerous biomechanical technique increase the risk of?
- Acute injuries
(e.g. Spinal injury from poor tackling in rugby) - Overuse injury
(e.g. Lower back stress fracture from excessive or incorrect technique in fast bowling in cricket)
What is the difference between skilled and less skilled performers in risk of injury?
SKILLFUL performers are able to perform difficult movements with ease and precision as they display a high degree of temporal patterning, pacing and control.
Whereas, LESS SKILLED performers will often be more focused on performing the skill rather than ensuring they execute the tackling technique with correct body positioning, increasing risk of injury.
What are sports that require very precise skills for safety?
- Rugby Union (Lineouts, Scrums and Tackling)
- Gymnastics (Vaulting and Tumbling)
- Weightlifting (Lifting technique and Falling)
- Pole Vault (Execution and Landing)
Why is physical fitness crucial for preventing injury?
Physical fitness provides a degree of safety in ensuring the athlete is physically prepared for the sport as having physical fitness namely, aerobic fitness will reduce fatigue preventing poor biomechanical technique and concentration that would lead to acute or overuse injuries.
What do warm ups do?
Warm ups redistribute blood flow away from internal organs to muscles where oxygen and nutrients are required for muscle contractions → This increases muscle temperature allowing for safer stretching that avoids tearing and improves muscle response to stimuli.
What is the benefit of warm ups and stretching?
Warm ups and stretching improve mental preparation, relaxing the athlete, building concentration and preventing anxiety induced injury.
What should a typical warm up include?
- General body warm up (e.g. jogging and skipping)
- Static & PNF stretching to increase elasticity and muscular extensibility
- Callisthenics to strengthen muscles and increase blood flow to skeletal muscles (e.g. squats)
- Skill rehearsal to prepare for game readiness (e.g. dribbling for basketball)
How long should warm ups be for explosive sports?
Explosive sports such as sprinting and gymnastics require a longer warm up to ensure that once the muscles and joints are stressed, injuries do not occur.
What are specific sporting examples for warm up?
- For Soccer, dynamic stretching which puts joints in the range of motion that reflects the game (e.g. leg swings)
- A Gymnast may utilise dynamic stretching that reflects the sport and some PNF stretching to ensure joints are as flexible, to prevent injuries during performance.
