01/30/2024
ATTENTION: LONG READ BUT WORTH IT
This year I promise to make a conscious effort to post once a week with purposeful information pertaining to sports, fitness and wellness. Today I am just going to cannon ball on in and address the elephant in the room. LOW BACK PAIN in young athletes (pertains to everyone but Lumbar stress fractures are becoming an epidemic amongst the youth). The next few weeks I will address some of the main culprits of back pain and injury. Today the topic is barbell squats. Let me start off by saying squats are an essential part of athletic development but only a small part and MUST be done within the limits of each individual. No two people in this world are the same physically, emotionally, or mentally; therefore a cookie cutter approach to lifting is not recommended. Strength coaches....talking to you here. Please familiarize yourself with some terms.....ankle mobility, hip mobility, anterior/posterior/neutral pelvis, rib cage flare, butt wink, glute weakness, myofascial tightness, and valgus/varus knees. If you need help with these things please reach out...it does noone any good to pretend to understand them and how they relate to lifting. As coaches, parents, and healthcare personnel, we need to do better. WE MUST DO BETTER because some of these injuries can alter someone's life. These young athletes will hopefully be parents one day and need the physical capacity to play with their children and grandchildren. They will hopefully enter the workforce and need healthy bodies to provide for themselves and their potential family. It starts with education, using resources available to you, intentional conversations with the athlete (from parents and coaches), learning your child's or athlete's strengths and weaknesses, rest, recovery, maintenance, diet, nutrition and more. Thanks for hanging in there and more to come.
