Although most athletes at all levels of competition suffer injuries, the highest level athletes suffer injuries despite their elite level of training and performance. Two key muscles that are susceptible to injury are the hamstrings and the calf muscles including the Achilles tendon. These muscles are more susceptible to injury because they are paired with other groups of muscles on the other side of the leg, also known as antagonists.
In general, muscles shorten when they contract. This is called a concentric contraction. The best example is that of the biceps. When you lift a dumbell (or beer for that matter), your biceps contracts and shortens and bulges when it does this. However, there are some muscles in the body that can lengthen when they contract. The hamstrings and calf muscles are examples of this.
When an athlete lifts his leg up such as when he is doing hurdles or sprinting, each time he elevates the leg forward the hamstring is lengthening and it is also contracting. This is called an "eccentric" contraction. In the calf muscle, when you dorsiflex your foot (lift the toes toward your head) and you push off such as in running or going up stairs, the calf muscle is contracting and also lengthening at the same time. Thus eccentric contractions such as those put the muscle at risk for injury.
The key to injury prevention is eccentric strengthening. It is not enough to exercise and practice, it is essential to do strength training where muscles are susceptible to injury.
Some great exercises to strengthen the calf eccentrically is to do toe raising on a step. If this is too easy, add weight to your upper body. An alternative is to use a leg press machine with your heel off of the press platform with your toes on the platform in dorsiflexion.
Some great exercises to strengthen the hamstring eccentrically are to use a flat leg curl hamstring machine and to use a "drop and catch" exercise where you curl the hamstring and flex the knee, then as you start to lower the leg, let the weight fall and "catch" it near the bottom of the motion arc. This simulates an eccentric contaction. An alternative exercise is to do straight legged deadlifts lifting the barbell from the floor to a standing position. Using a similar "drop and catch" method you can catch the weight at the end arc of motion where the hamstrings are tight.
Some of the best athletes in the world do not know about eccentric strengthening. Learning how to strengthen muscles in this fashion will help prevent that season ending hamstring or calf injury. |
