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Throughout a Volleyball season, certain injuries are more common than others. Some of these include Ankle Sprains, Facet Mediated Lower Back Pain, Concussions, Knee Sprains, and Rotator Cuff Injuries. As you can see these injuries can be located anywhere from head to toe and aren’t confined to one area of the body. Here are a few things that you can do to help decrease the risk of all mentioned injuries.
One thing that parents and youth volleyball athletes ask me is what is one thing they could be doing to not only prevent injuries but also improve performance. I always ask about their training and lifting schedule. In many cases, this is something that these athletes may have had little to no experience in and can build a strong foundation on to build general strength before focusing on sport-specific skills. Every other major sport focuses on this so why would volleyball athletes be any different? Injuries also originate when volume and intensity overcome the body’s physical tissue capacity so why not increase the body’s overall resiliency to external forces and risks? Other things we can do is have as defined warm-up, cooldown, and recovery routines. Even something as simple as a consistent sleep schedule can make a tremendous difference in the body’s ability to recover optimally throughout a long season.
Rest is often recommended for every injury imaginable but relative rest is what evidence shows works the best. If you play volleyball and other sports throughout the year evidence shows that having a 2-4 month “off-season” from volleyball is the most effective. During an off-season or non-volleyball season playing another sport can be super beneficial not only in improving the player's athletic abilities and physical capabilities but also has been proven to have a tremendously positive mental effect.
One way we’ve been able to be so successful working with Volleyball coaches and athletes is that we can our clinical side of what we do to assess the athlete’s functional deficits using movement screening and exams to determine what areas the athlete should focus on specifically moving forward. Also, another common thing is for a parent or athlete to “hand wave” an old injury or just say that it's not a big deal or that he has always dealt with insert injury here. It is NOT normal and should be taken seriously to not exacerbate the injury or cause other injuries as well. We have world class equipment that can not only decrease your injury time but can help the damaged tissue heal more efficiently and decrease your pain levels to give you the best chance to recover from your sports injury.
All of that to say, our goal is the same as yours. We want you to not only get back to playing volleyball but to come back stronger and more resilient!
Injuries can happen even if you do everything right, but I hope this can help answer a few common questions regarding volleyball players regarding injury prevention. We would love to help get you back to performing your best. Give us a call at 727-228-3030 or schedule a FREE 30-minute Discovery Visit online at strengthchiro.com
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