STRIDE
Strength Training to Reduce Injuries & Develop Excellence.
What is the Stride Program?
A free physio led injury prevention training program for grass-root clubs across Northern Ireland.
This physio led training gives coaches and players an opportunity to discuss warm up routines with professional trained physios to help reduce ACL injuries within sporting groups. Youth knee injuries requiring surgery have increased 29 fold in last 20 years. 50% of these could be prevented by the regular use of a simple warm-up programme. The practical training for the coaches will help them gain confidence to regularly use the warm-up routines with their youth players.
Benefits to the club:
- Free Physio lead injury prevention training
- Free leaflets to hand out to the players and coaches
- An opportunity to discuss warm up routines with professional trained Physio’s
- Reducing injuries within your sporting groups
Regular compliance with injury prevention programs like this has shown >50% overall injury reduction. It is important to encourage multisport participation particularly among children to ensure these young athletes develop a broad range of transferable skills and global strength and balance.
Physical literacy means having a broad range of athletic skills, coordination, balance & stability which improves performance with the added side effect of reducing injuries.
Injury prevention should be looked at in 3 main ways:
Warm Up
Other sports specific warm up programs are available. Please use the links below to access prevention programs specific to your sport.
Programs should be performed as a warm up 2-3 times per week
Evidence suggests 50% injury reduction in Males and 70% injury reduction in Females
Strength and Conditioning
Improving your overall muscle strength and stamina improves the stability of the knee/ankle/hip joint when landing or changing direction. Progressive resistance training builds foundational strength to reduce excessive strain on ligaments and tendons and aims to correct muscle imbalances which can predispose to injury. Injuries secondary to poor movement patterns due to fatigue later in games can be reduced with improved muscle endurance.
Plyometrics
These add speed and agility to a players game. Plyometrics focus on explosive movements with the goal of improving neuromuscular control, dynamic stability and explosive power. These exercises enhance the ability of the limb to absorb forces quickly during high-impact activities (e.g. Jumping, landing, cutting). They are valuable in teaching proper movement mechanics to prevent injury.