Flexibility For Soccer Injury PreventionThere are current trends in flexibility for soccer injury prevention with young athletes. This article covers age appropriate exercises to help improve mobility and range of motion. We will look for definition and then address it from both a "scientific" and practical view. What is flexibility? It is the ability to move a single joint or series of joints smoothly and easily through an unrestricted, pain free range of motion.(Kisner & Colby 2002). The ability to lengthen muscle and soft tissue around a joint is based their ability to relax and yield to a stretch force. Dynamic flexibility is the active range of motion of a joint. this is dependent upon the degree to which a joint can be moved by a muscle contraction and the amount of tissue resistance met during the active movement. Passive mobility is the degree to which a joint can be passively moved through available range of motion and is dependent upon the yield or stretch from the muscles and soft tissue that cross and surround a joint. Flexibility for soccer injury prevention is different at each joint and varies dependent on the age of the athlete as well. There are also different types of "stretch" relfexes in the neuromuscular system (nervous system talking to the musculoskeletal system). In general there are changes as we age. Flexibility is high in young children and starts to decrease in high school years. Most flexibility for soccer injury prevention challenges occur during puberty. During this time bone grows faster than muscle and tendon. How many kids have you seen grow significantly in a two year span and develop hamstring strains, quad strains and "groin" strains. This occurs in part by the athlete's sudden growth and inability to handle the load. When bone develops faster than muscle there is tension between the attachments of muscle. For example, take an elastic band and stretch quickly and hold it. You have just created tension between the two ends of the elastic band. This occurs during rapid growth in puberty. Compare this to gradually increasing the distance between the two ends of the elastic band each day. Another reason for decrease mobility in puberty is the decrease in production of the elastic property in soft tissue. This is elastin. According to Dr. Evan Osar and Tony Reynolds CSCS (Developmental Essentials 2005) elastin production ceases around age twelve to to thirteen. Another factor at the time of puberty is the fact that most kids are sitting all day in school. Furthermore physical education is slowly being removed from school curriculum's. So there you have it. You put all these factors together and you have a serious case of stiffness. After years of research and working in the trenches both in a clinic and on the field I discovered a simple solution through a series of practical steps that athletes of any age may take to increase flexibility with out causing injury. Developmental Essentials. International Youth conditioning Association 2005. www.IYCA.org Therapeutic Exercise 4th edition. Kisner, Carolyn; Colby, Lynn Allen. F.A.Davis Company Philadelphia, 2002. www.fadavis.com
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