No problem, I just relay what i get told by physios etc. Learning from other more experienced board members is what it is all about criticise as much as you like! The “firing” thing is the one problem a physio has been able to fix in my athletes, everything else well not much luck, i now do most of it myself.
Like I said it was just a general comment - not aimed at you!
Thanks guys TC I know what you mean. Another of my squad has had a stability problem but its only when he is moving. When tested standing still or lying down he was fine, plenty of control. It was only detected by a biomechics specialits who has loads of expensive equipment. The athlete was given correctional exercises some while standing still and other cues for while running and jumping is now doing fine. Can you elaborate on the “firing of the glutes” or activation of the glutes before the hamstrings please. Regarding using the tempo session day for prehab work, that makes sense to me, thank you very much for that.
philg, although Im not a physio (and others on here will be more knowledgeable than me on this one) the ‘firing of the glutes’ issue is an important one.
Firstly the glutes should fire - many athletes have very inactive glutes - eventhough they complain those glutes are tight. Seems strange but tight is as back as loose and basically means inactive! This in turn puts pressure on the hamstrings as they pick up alot of the work that the glute should do. Additionally the stability of the pelvis is then compromised.
There are many areas that this might be but commonly the glute medius is the one thats not firing correctly - and I bet of your athlete squats deep they have medial rotation at the knee? and that they cant do 1 legged squats?
Secondly, the timing of the firing is important. The glutes should activate before the hamstrings in the correct kinetic chaining sequence. Again this relates to the gluites playing their part in hip extension and assisting the hamstings by not overloading them.
Hope that help, anything additional to this post would be useful.
Are there practical ways to tell if an athlete has inactive glutes?
Many thanks once again tinsoldier, he did have difficulty with the one leg squat, but since given exercises by the latest Physio this is much better. His control of his hip rotation has improved also. Thankfully there is no tear to the muscle this time so no waiting for the injury to heal. In conversation with the physio we are going to develop a plan to prevent this happening again. The key is to maintain the control while the athlete’s strength and speed improve. This guy is stronger and therefore potentially faster than he has been but has not developed his control of the muscles in the hip area. We discussed that it is pointless just performing floor based exercises as although its a starting point its no help when sprinting. We have a few ideas, one of which is using sprint drills over gradually increasing distances but stopping when the athlete feels he/she is losing control e.g. during A’s.
Once again I welcome any comments.
Trendelenburg Lurch Test
I’ll see if I can get a link to a description of the test
The lurch test is described about 1/2 way down this page. Its a standard test all physios do:
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/podiatry/hipjoint.html
The other test is simply to lie the patient down on thier front, have them bend thier knee at 90 degrees. Now place your little finger on the hamstrings and thumb on the glutes. Ask them to raise thier heel upwards. You should be able to feel which muscle contracts first. It should be the glutes. You can expand this test to include the erector spinae by using the thumb and little finger of the other hand to check the glutes and ES. Perhaps a physio can give a better explanation?
Yeah, but that’s the gluteus MEDIUS. What about the gluteus maximus? It is the primary hip extender and would be the major muscle of concern here, not that the other glutei are unimportant.
OK glute max generally isnt too much of a problem if the athlete is following a balanced programme and squatting deep enough and lifting decently from the floor in power cleans etc as the gross strength is there, but it lacks the control that glute med can provide.
As for your sprint drills philg, I would just ask a few questions - is there a merit in doing the sprint drills very slowly and holding form through the controlled range?
Drills in weighted jackets?
Is it best that the athlete monitors when they feel they lose the control? or would that be beter observed by the coach? and how would losing control be defind?
Should they not work into some level of fatigue and try and maintain that control and pull form back into line - in other words, challenge the form?
Would walking lunges have a place? esp ones using more of a running action on recovery leg?
Im not necessarily advocating these, just playing a bit devils advocate to give you some things to consider.
[QUOTE=tinsoldier]OK glute max generally isnt too much of a problem if the athlete is following a balanced programme and squatting deep enough and lifting decently from the floor in power cleans etc as the gross strength is there, but it lacks the control that glute med can provide.
As for your sprint drills philg, I would just ask a few questions - is there a merit in doing the sprint drills very slowly and holding form through the controlled range?
Drills in weighted jackets?
Is it best that the athlete monitors when they feel they lose the control? or would that be beter observed by the coach? and how would losing control be defind?
Should they not work into some level of fatigue and try and maintain that control and pull form back into line - in other words, challenge the form?
Would walking lunges have a place? esp ones using more of a running action on recovery leg?
Im not necessarily advocating these, just playing a bit devils advocate to give you some things to consider.[/QUOTE
Thanks, I figured on using both walking drills and building up into normal speed. I can watch for lack of control but I feel that the athlete has to learn to feel this themselves. I agree with you that the boundaries should be pushed a bit but we will have to be carefull with that. Good point about the lunges, we use this as a strength exercise with bar and disc on the shoulders but I agree it could be useful for this purpose. And yes we do bring through the recovery leg high to the but as in the sprint action sp would replicate this. Keep these good ideas coming folks.
Thanks Ryan, I have them, but keep the help coming.
Phil,
Are you familiar with Stuart McGill’s work? Most of his stuff deals with spinal stability, but one of the main concepts he covers is “gluteal amnesia” which he claims shifts the stress that the glutes should be handling to the lower back. His second book is excellent and just came out in a 2nd edition with additional material. Here’s a link to it in the UK.
Many thanks 