Stay in the Game: Preventing Basketball Injuries

Basketball is one of the most popular sports played throughout the United States and certainly a focus of the Lawrence community.  Today’s game is played at a fast pace with emphasis on explosive jumps, sudden movements and physical toughness. From youth recreation leagues, to college hoops, playing this dynamic sport can lead to unwanted injury and a loss of playing time.

 

You want the big stage? Make sure you train smart to prevent injuries. 

Youth injuries sustained while playing basketball are surprisingly high. It is estimated that over 325,000 basketball related injuries are evaluated and treated in hospital emergency departments each year from ages 7-17 according to recent data obtained from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Basketball injuries are also shown to be the most common sport to lead to emergency department visits for male athletes and second most common for female athletes. The most frequent diagnosed injuries, in order: ankle sprains, finger sprains, finger fractures, knee sprains, and facial lacerations. Surprisingly, females had a higher rate of knee sprains and males had a higher rate of ankle sprains.

Basketball players are at risk for traumatic injuries, such as finger injuries due to the nature of the sport. Fortunately, there are strategies you can implement to help reduce ankle and knee injuries common to both male and females.

Develop and maintain appropriate cardiovascular endurance: Many competitive and recreational athletes suffer knee and ankle injuries toward the end of basketball games. When players become tired or fatigued, it appears muscle control decreases leading to increased stress on fragile ligaments.

Perform a dynamic warm-up routine before playing: Research studies have shown cold muscles are more prone to injury.  Prepare your body for the physical demands of basketball by performing a series of dynamic movements to increase your core temperature, activate muscles for explosive movement, and excite your nervous system for activity. Examples of exercises to perform include 10 repetitions of body weight squats, forward lunges, side lunges and simple jump jacks.

Increase functional glute strength: Greater than 70% of season ending ACL knee sprains are non-contact injuries and are associated with poor knee position when cutting or landing. The glute musculature complex is the foundation that controls knee position. Glutes must be developed to protect the knee and ankle from injury when the leg decelerates or stops. Consider adding single leg dead lifts and monster walks with elastic band wrapped around your ankles to your exercise routine.

Players need to be medically evaluated for persistent pain: Many of the injuries in basketball can be treated without a visit to the emergency department. Avoid the mistake many players and parents of injured players make by not seeing their primary doctor in fear of being held out of participation. It is not uncommon for athletes to have chronic pain that seems benign; however, not treating the cause of this pain may lead to significant injury and more aggressive treatment.

As a sports enthusiast and physical therapist, my goal is to help keep you in the game and free of injury through education. If in need of sports or orthopedic injury rehabilitation services, please call Lawrence Memorial Hospital Therapy Services at (785) 505-2712 for a consultation.  

This information is provided as an educational service and is not intended to serve as medical advice. Anyone seeking specific medical advice or assistance should consult his  or her physician.

Adam Rolf is a licensed sports physical therapist, certified athletic trainer and certified strength and conditioning specialist employed at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. He can be reached via email at adam.rolf@lmh.org and twitter @lmhsportsrehab.

Core Stability Training

Guest Post by Emily Sis, University of Kansas Intern at LMH Therapy Services

Many people think that having a “good” core means rock-hard abs and chiseled, six-pack muscles. Sure, performing a couple hundred crunches per day will make your abdominal muscles more noticeable, but it doesn’t help you use the core during everyday functional activites or sports. Unfortunately, just because you have a six-pack doesn’t mean you can correctly perform a simple squat or lunge. These exercises require integration of all the core muscles, not just the superficial abdominal muscles that are isolated with crunches. This shows the importance of core stability.

A stable core is necessary to hold the spinal column in alignment during all the movements you do throughout the day. The deep muscles of the core that surround the spine are the transversus abdominis, multifidus, the diaphragm, and the pelvic floor muscles. If the spinal column does not get enough support from these muscles, other muscles must compensate and are overused. This can lead to muscle strains, ligament tears (ACL tear) and back pain.

Since these core muscles link the trunk to the shoulders and hip, their activation is essential for initiating limb movements, like throwing a baseball or kicking a soccer ball. Performing exercises to gain core stability helps with balance and coordination needed in all sports and daily activities.

If you’re not sure where to begin building your deep core muscles, first just practice activating these muscles. Often called “bracing” or “hollowing,” work on tightening in your tummy as if you are laughing or are about to be punched in the stomach. After practicing this, the next step is working on stabilization by doing bridge exercises and planks.

You can then progress to functional movements using balance and coordination with a stability ball or resistance bands to further increase your core stability. By building your core with these exercises, functional movements can be performed correctly and athletes will see a higher performance level and fewer injuries.

Looking for a challenge? Check out these rotational stability ball exercises:

The Scorpion

Single Leg Bridge 'n Curl

Composed by Emily Sis, University of Kansas Exercise Science Intern at LMH Therapy Services

The dreaded ACL rupture epidemic: Part 4 "Reduce ACL Tears"

ACL ruptures in youth athletes lead to surgery and minimum 6 months of rehabilitation before returning to competitive play. Coaches, athletic trainers, parents, athletes, performance coaches, physicians and physical therapists are important in helping reduce the incidents of this debilitating injury. 

How you may ask? 

1) Recognize the warning signs: Athletes with high potential to rupture an ACL while playing adolescent sports show signs of poor jumping, landing, and cutting mechanics as described in the previous post discussing "knocked knee" positioning.

2) Train athletes to move properly: Train athletes with poor mechanics to properly move in athletic positions. Encourage or develop body weight training programs to ensure athletes can move their body weight perfectly before adding resistance type exercise. Exercises involving single leg squats, step ups, step downs, one leg hops, and jump rope are excellent to develop leg stability and strength that translates well to sport!

3) Develop and maintain appropriate cardiovascular endurance: Many competitive and recreational athletes suffer knee and ankle injuries toward the end of basketball games. When players become tired or fatigued, it appears muscle control decreases leading to increased stress on fragile ligaments.

4)Perform a dynamic warm-up routine before playing: Research studies have shown cold muscles are more prone to injury.  Prepare your body for the physical demands of basketball by performing a series of dynamic movements to increase your core temperature, activate muscles for explosive movement, and excite your nervous system for activity. Examples of exercises to perform include 10 repetitions of body weight squats, forward lunges, side lunges and simple jump jacks.

5) Increase functional glute strength: Greater than 70% of season ending ACL knee sprains are non-contact injuries and are associated with poor knee position when cutting or landing. The glute musculature complex is the foundation that controls knee position. Glutes must be developed to protect the knee and ankle from injury when the leg decelerates or stops. Consider adding single leg dead lifts and monster walks with elastic band wrapped around your ankles to your exercise routine.

LMH Therapy Services is dedicated to helping the youth of Lawrence and surrounding communities through education and resources to help reduce sports injuries. If you would like to speak to the sports injury rehabilitation specialist, call 785.505.2712 and request to speak with physical therapist and athletic trainer Adam Rolf. He is willing to speak to parents, coaches and sports teams about ways to reduce injury and train smarter. 

Adam