Dear Colleague,
One of the most interesting stories I have heard concerns a good friend of mine, Sylvester Stein. It teaches a crucial lesson to all of us involved in athletics and sports.
Sylvester was developing into an able athlete until a sports injury put a complete stop to his training.
He sought help for his injury from various sources. Nothing worked. Then one of the country's top sports physiologists gave him a simple ten-minute exercise.
He quickly recovered and returned to the track to discover his performance had actually improved. He went on to become the World champion veteran runner for the 200m - and winner of two gold medals.
As Sylvester puts it:
"Most of us ignore our weaker points and avoid dealing with them. So did I until I discovered just how big a mistake this is. The 10-minute exercise I learned repaired my injury in just two days. Most importantly, my performance improved into the bargain -- as my two gold medals testify."
Everyone has his or her weak points. They hold us back – and what’s worse, they can swiftly put us out of action. A deficient warming-up routine (and, as you’ll read, most are!) can trigger a muscle tear that’s just waiting to happen. In one unfortunate moment all the benefits of training slip away. Once inactive, in just seven days for that torn muscle has lost its tone.
Why allow it to happen to you?
Why allow this to happen when there are usually clear early warning signals from the ‘weak link’? It’s this failure to act that holds us back from performing at our best, and the responsibility is all ours. We can’t really blame it on ‘recurring injury’. That’s the consequence, not the cause.
If the average athlete realised he was neglecting this ticking bomb, he could do something about it. But very little is ever published on the prevention of sports injury in the general media.
Luckily, this is where we can help. A great deal of money, time and effort is being invested in sports injury research and the results are now available and documented for you to use in your sport.
Whatever your involvement in sports or athletics you will find this up-to-date advice brings you a double benefit - improving your performance and protecting you from injury.
Yours sincerely,
Jane Taylor
Editor
Sports Injury Bulletin
Are those weak links holding you back? Replace outdated and discredited training routines with these breakthrough ‘prehab’ techniques that are transforming athletic achievement
The latest scientific research into sports injury treatment demonstrates how tactical ‘pre-hab’ exercises can benefit every athlete’s training program.
Pre-habilitation exercises work to build up your ‘at risk’ muscles wherever they exist – and avert injury too. The bonus is that by strengthening these weak points they can no longer hold you back – you clear the way to reaching your maximum potential.
In the following report, you will learn that most athletes and sports people know little about preventative exercises and how they actually boost performance. You’ll find out what action is required to fix the weak links that prevent an athlete performing at his or her best.
Most athletes stretch before exercise in the belief this 'warm up' will lower the risk of injury. Unfortunately, as we discovered, there is little scientific support for the traditional stretching routine. Our Dynamic Warm-up System is much more effective. This technique prepares the athlete's nervous system, empowering the body to perform at its best with significant improvement in:
An injured athlete can’t afford to stay injured long. He understands that the longer he is laid up, the less likely he’ll regain full fitness. Often, however, an athlete will delay doing anything about an injury. He knows he should consult an expert, but hopes the pain will 'just go away'. As any physio will tell you, this is a familiar tale.
The athlete will rely on painkillers, elastic bandage and other self-remedies. Read on to see how these can result in lasting damage if used without expert advice.
There are also other factors working against the attaining peak fitness. The greatest of these is lack of knowledge. This is because new methods of sports injury treatment never seem to filter down to the average athlete.
Luckily, there are techniques that top coaches use to resolve and prevent each problem from recurring - from a painful ankle to an immobile shoulder. These techniques we will pass on to you.
This information we offer is compiled by the world's top sports injury specialists, with studies of athletes in pain and how they were treated. Here are some examples:
John suffered from pain in his shoulder, low back and hip that could leave him limping for days. It was worsening, and threatened to stop him playing. He had tried many different stretches, with no lasting solution. Our specialists recommended a systematic stretching regime with a home programme of self-pressure massage to:
The pain quickly began to disappear and the sportsman achieved one of his best ever results in a tournament.
Take any sport you chose and a sprained ankle will be the most common injury. Few athletes have not suffered from one at some time or another in their career. Sprained ankles are double trouble. They can be extremely painful and often curtail training and competing at key times of the year. After recovery the ankle is weaker than normal and therefore at a higher risk of sustaining another sprain and even more serious ankle injury.
Our programme shows how to rebuild the ankle after a sprain. We show how to improve overall co-ordination and by doing so take excessive strain off the ankles. The result is more efficient movement, increased active strength and a dramatically lower risk of injury:
This study explains how the muscles of the spine function and how to prevent and treat low back pain.
Without understanding how the muscles of the spine function, you will never be able to prevent and treat low back pain. We show how to train the relevant muscles and recognise the six key causes of back injury.
Muscle strains can happen in the back just like they can anywhere else in the body. In fact a ‘bad back’ is one of the most common injuries worldwide. Most people believe that a strained back is caused by a sudden movement or trying to lift something that is too heavy. This, however, is often the end of a pretty common chain of events. This is how back injury happens:
Bad posture and overuse cause the muscles in the back to gradually tighten up. Because they are contracted the muscles do not get enough blood through them, resulting in weakness. So when you lift a suitcase or pull an electric plug out of a socket you tear a muscle in your back. But the suitcase or plug isn’t what caused your injury. The cause is a gradual build up of tension over weeks and months.
Our low-back injury prevention program improves posture, relaxes muscle and brings support to the spine. You’ll learn how to adopt the 'neutral posture position' in all activities to give your back long-term protection from injury.
Often, an athlete knows he should consult an expert, but hopes the pain will 'just go away'. (This is one of the most commonly heard statements by a treating practitioner.)
Amateur guesswork isn't the answer. Relying on painkillers, tape, elastic bandage and other self-remedies can result in lasting damage if used without expert advice.
Unfortunately there are many factors preventing people from taking effective action. Breakthroughs in sports injury treatment never seem to filter down to the average athlete.
Learn how to treat injury with our free report from Sports Injury Bulletin, with professional advice and procedures to tackle and resolve each problem with confidence. Click here to receive your free copy
If you are interested in a point-by-point analysis of the latest advances in injury prevention, read our free report, compiled by Sports Injury Bulletin. You'll be informed of the latest findings from the world centres of sports medicine, with practical systems to apply.
These findings are not available to the general public. Information includes tips and advice, such as:
Like most athletes, you undoubtedly want to lower your chances of incurring an injury while participating in your favourite sport. Injuries don’t just go away – they decrease the amount of time you can spend in leisure activities, lower your fitness, downgrade competitive performances, and can lead to long-term health problems such as arthritis and/or joint stiffness.
Each athlete has unique strengths and weaknesses. Standard exercise routines rarely provide sufficient protection for the average athlete. That’s why most injuries regularly reoccur. Instead, you must identify and work on your own weak links in order to prevent injury and optimise performance. Sports Injury Bulletin is the leading source of published advice and guidance on common injury problems and their solutions.
Sometimes it’s just too late to take pre-emptive action. If you are already injured you need to apply expert advice as soon as possible. With knee injury for example, if you catch it in time it can take a couple of weeks to get back on track and another couple to get the confidence that the injury will not recur.
Taking proper advice is essential. You have no doubt witnessed, as we have, the consequences of un-professional word-of-mouth remedies. Here are some consequences of inadequately treated knee pain. Remember – this could happen to you tomorrow:
Athletes accept that most doctors and medics have little or no knowledge of how to treat sports injuries. Education in this specialist area is woefully inadequate.
Their usual advice is to 'stop training'. But if you just stop everything, as we have demonstrated, you are likely to continue to suffer later.
So where do you go for useful information on sports injury? Although straightforward solutions exist, these are usually the province of a few expert sports physiotherapists - and consultation with these specialists are costly.
Sports Injury Bulletin provides a monthly summary of the latest advances in injury prevention. Send for a free trial copy to discover the latest findings from the world centres of sports medicine, with practical systems to apply yourself.
These findings are not available to the general athlete. You'll read about the 'wrong' and 'right' kinds of food and drink - and discover magical gems, such as how to counter a stitch without losing valuable time.
Our sources are worldwide. They include centres of injury research and important conferences. Our editors have summarised the latest papers and assessed the practical value of laboratory work on treatment and rehabilitation techniques. These are for use by coaches, physios and athletes.
You won’t find theory or conjecture in the Sports Injury Bulletin. Every piece of advice, every nugget of wisdom has been tested using scientific principles. You receive full details of how results were achieved and how performance and fitness was improved.
Not all injuries are what they seem. It is not acceptable to treat symptoms without first establishing the history of the injury and assess all factors contributing to the problem. It is surprising what this kind of investigation can reveal and how often it results in a completely different diagnosis. Without proper diagnosis one cannot treat successfully.
There are times when an accurate diagnosis is missed due to a lack of expert advice – and therefore subsequent treatment and rehabilitation is ineffective, time-consuming, expensive and dangerous for the athlete.
This is the kind of expert advice we deliver – and it has established Sports Injury Bulletin as the formost, highest circulation newsletter of its kind. You can read more about Sports Injury Bulletin by clicking on the link below, but before you do I suggest you read the following case-study. This is an example of a tricky situation that could have been misdiagnosed were it not for a thorough assessment of the underlying factors. It perfectly illustrates how important it is to have Sports Injury Bulletin to hand.
Case-study: an injured knee: A 29-year-old man was referred to us following a reconstruction of his right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) six months previously. He had been discharged by his hospital physiotherapist and was told he could return to sport, but the athlete, even on gentle jogging, did not trust the knee and felt it might 'give way' under him.
The anterior cruciate ligament is a crucial stabiliser of the knee joint and controls excessive rotation coupled with forward glide of the tibia (lower leg) on the femur (thigh). When this ligament is ruptured, there is increased 'play' between these joint surfaces and the knee can give way on a sudden turn or when accelerating or decelerating.
The athlete’s right ACL was reconstructed using part of his patella tendon with a successful outcome, ie, a stable knee. He then received six months of hospital physiotherapy.
The athlete had regained approximately 75 per cent strength of the knee. The muscles were considered to have been strong when sitting, but not when active.
The key goal to this man’s treatment was therefore to rehabilitate the muscles to control the knee through a series of progressive sports-specific tasks which would require the muscles to work together. He learned to monitor his own muscle activation and how to use the muscle to control the knee.
On achieving functional control of the muscles he then progressed to more sports-specific activities such as accelerating, decelerating, figure-eight running and twisting rotation of the knee.
All these activities were needed before the patient could return to his previous level of fitness and be sure the knee would not give way again.
Your first issue of Sports Injury Bulletin connects you with the leading source of world research into the prevention and treatment of sports injury and is now available for a fully-refundable $9.97 (GB£4.97).
Each issue of Sports Injury Bulletin carries techniques and case studies for sports people, athletes, therapists and other sports professionals. Here is a 'nutshell' overview of what Sports Injury Bulletin offers:
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