When was the last time you rolled up on race day feeling 100% prepared? Think back to your last big race, were you healthy, well-rested and happy with your training? There are so many factors to getting race ready; it takes a lot of planning to get it right, but it is possible.

Unfortunately, I normally work with athletes who don’t get it right. They end up hurt, bummed and sulking into our physical therapy office. The funny thing is, all I usually hear during that first appointment is, “I know better,” or  “Yeah, I felt this pain starting a couple months ago, but…”

Enough with the buts! Here are five easy steps to follow to make sure you get it right for your next big race. These steps work for any kind of race—running, cycling, triathlon, ultra or IRONMAN.

Step 1: Start training sooner.

Don’t rush into a long distance race without giving your body enough time to train to adapt. Your body is amazing and it will adapt to what you ask it to do; you just have to give it the right amount of stimulus and time. It’s pure physiology from there. Tough workouts break down muscle fibers and cause micro-inflammation in your tissues; the recovery time in between workouts allows your body to heal and subsequently get stronger each week.

However, this could be a lot to ask of your body if you decided to just go hard every day for a month in anticipation for a big race. That’s where the magical taper time comes in (See Step 5.)

Step 2: Pilates & Yoga count during your training.

Don’t skip core and flexibility training—those two are the keys to injury prevention.

Step 3: Love your tissues.

Stretch every night, use the foam roller and/or massage stick, and make regular appointments to get worked on by a manual physical therapist or therapeutic massage therapist.

Step 4: Recover.

In between every work out, use recovery tights, Norma-tech, Compex, hydrate, and eat like an athlete.

Step 5: STOP! Taper Time.

Plan for a “tapering period” and build it into your training schedule. Tapering periods can be one week for short races and up to three weeks for longer races. Start to taper by decreasing the distances/time of your workouts, then use that saved time for MORE TISSUE WORK (See Step 3.) At minimum, get one massage during your taper period, but a couple would be better!

Benefits of training tapering

By scheduling in a tapering period toward the end of your training block, you give your body the final healing and prep time it needs before a race. However, this can only occur if you take advantage of the “extra” time you have because your training volume is lower. If you get massage work done, stretch, and use strategies to benefit from this tapering period, then your body will do its final recovery from all your months training.

Finding out how much taper time your body needs is a balancing act that you’ll get better at every year. Working with an intuitive coach can help, but remember that you are the only one your body talks to, so it’s up to you to listen to what your body is trying to tell you and act accordingly.

FINAL STEP: Enjoy the heck out of your race!

Once you get into the groove of well-planned training, core work, tissue work, recovery, and tapering, you’ll realize how much easier it is to be a successful racer.

All the best to your health,

 

 

 

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As the president and founder of Rausch Physical Therapy & Sports Performance, Kevin Rausch, PT, MPT takes great pride in the care of every single patient he treats. Kevin specializes in sacroiliac joint dysfunctions, running and cycling injuries, and return-to-sport planning for athletes. Since the first day he opened his clinic in 2006, Kevin has strived to provide the best in care, service and technology so as to strengthen his patients’ total body health and get them back to doing what they love.

Find Kevin on Google+

 

You’ve seen it on professional athletes, you’ve seen it on weekend warriors, and if you’ve been to our clinic you have definitely seen it on our patients. So what exactly is that colorful, stretchy tape, and should YOU be using it, too?

Go into any sporting goods store and you’ll immediately notice that there are many different brands of kinesiology tapes out there (each claiming to be better than the other,) but what exactly separates the different brands? More importantly, how do you know which one will help best with your own recovery? To answer these questions, you first have to understand what k-tape is and how it works.

What is kinesiology tape?

The basic idea behind all kinesiology tapes is that they are elastic, which means that they stretch and move with you. This is in contrast to your average white athletic tape, which is more rigid and hence limits mobility. Most kinesiology tapes have a heat-activated adhesive component, which allows the tape to last a few days on clean skin without peeling off (even after showering!) Some brands offer cotton-based tapes with natural dyes, while others have more of a nylon component with artificial coloring. Some tapes come pre-cut, while others are sold in roll form. If applied properly, they all essentially do the same thing.

How does kinesiology tape work?

The most common ways to tape muscles or joints using kinesiology tape is to ask yourself why you are taping in the first place: are you taping to inhibit (relax/shut down)? Facilitate (activate)? Stabilize, control edema/swelling, or control pain? Each of these techniques requires specific placement and different tension application in order to perform their duty. While you can certainly YouTube “K-Tape,” “Rocktape,” “Kinesiotape,” etc. and find millions of videos on how to fix that pesky ITB issue or stabilize a knee cap that won’t stop moving, it’s best to have a professional teach you the specifics and application technique to receive optimal care and avoid the potential for other injuries.

You’ll probably notice that most brands have a swirl pattern of adhesive on the backside of the tape. Not only are they cool to look at, those swirly lines also serve a purpose. The swirls expand and recoil based on the amount of stretch a practitioner applies to the tape, targeting small receptors within the skin and underlying tissues to assist with healing. The amount of tension applied, the area of skin covered, and the directionality of how the tape is applied are all key factors in getting the best results.

Kinesiology tape DON’Ts Now, some of the following may seem silly to some and have you saying, “Duh!” Nevertheless, I have to caution you on the following issues you can run into with kinesiology tape, as I wouldn’t bring them up if they haven’t happened to some poor soul in the past. Make sure you DO NOT have an allergy to adhesives. Most tapes are latex-free, however if band-aids and other similar products irritate your skin, k-tape may not be in the cards for you. Watch out for body hair. If the area you want to tape is hairy, it may be a good idea to shave or trim the hair before application. The tape will not stick very well if there’s too much hair, as it’s meant for direct skin contact. More importantly, remember this rule of thumb: sticky + increased activation with heat + a few days of activity = OUCH!! when it’s time to peel off. If the tape is itchy or causes more symptoms, remove it immediately. There’s no point in getting a rash or having increased discomfort. The tape has water repellent properties, so pat it dry with a towel after a swim, shower, etc. Due to the heat activation properties of the adhesive, I DO NOT recommended using a blow dryer to get the tape dry (Please refer to #2 for THAT outcome!) Lifesaver tip: the tape is de-activated with oils. So, if you find the tape painful to remove, grab some lotion, baby oil, olive oil, etc. and slowly peel back while applying the oil to the adhesive side of the tape.

 

So, which kinesiology tape is best for you?

When taped appropriately, most products will give positive results and can stay in place anywhere from 3-5 days or more, depending on location, activity, sweat factor, etc.  Again, in order to achieve optimal results and ensure you’re applying the tape specifically for your body’s needs, have a professional teach you first.  That being said, my recommendation for the best go-to brands would be either Kinesio Tape or RockTape. Both have proven to be super effective and tend to last longer than their other counterparts.

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Lyndsay DeFilippo PT, DPT, CKTP received her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from New York University in 2010. She’s a Graston Practitioner and a Certified Kinesiotaping Practitioner. Lyndsay looks at each injury as a constantly changing puzzle, which is only solved when her patient returns to what s/he loves doing. She enjoys helping with the full recovery process, which includes providing the education, tools and fundamentals to prevent re-injury and the potential for new injuries.

It’s said that Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers wasn’t initially a valid prospect as a Major League Baseball pitcher. That is until one spring training game in 2008, when he sent Boston Red Sox heavy hitter Sean Casey back to the dugout shaking his head, leading Vin Scully to exclaim, “Ohhh, what a curveball! Holy mackerel! He just broke off Public Enemy No. 1.” Most Dodgers fans will remember March 9, 2008 as the day of the breakout breaking pitch that started Kershaw’s legendary career.

Kershaw was just 19 years old when he showed the world he had mastered his 12-6 curveball in that storied spring training game. However, it’s been long proposed that allowing young pitchers to throw breaking pitches, such as curveballs and sliders, has created more injuries in youth baseball. So just how much truth is there to that old adage?

The best pitches for young baseball players

Research highlights the importance of factoring in the age and physical maturity of a player before teaching certain breaking pitches. Several recent studies claim that most throwing injuries that develop later on in a baseball player’s career can be traced back to throwing breaking pitches incorrectly or at too young of an age.

Due to the immaturity of a young pitcher’s body and the lack of strength throughout his/her shoulder and forearm, the best pitches for young ballplayers to learn are the fastball and change up. These two pitches create the least amount of strain and torque on the shoulder and elbow.

The worst pitches for young baseball players

While there is no definitive proof that throwing curveballs directly causes injury, this pitch does place increased strain on the shoulder when thrown incorrectly. With this in mind, coaches and parents should hold off on teaching their players how to throw a curve until s/he is at least 15 years old. What about the slider? While the angle of release makes the slider easier on the shoulder than the curveball, due to the increased torque on the elbow compared to other pitches it should still not be initiated until a pitcher is at least 16 years old. Other pitches, such as the sinker, knuckleball and screwball, also put significant strain on the shoulder and elbow and are therefore not advisable until a pitcher is much older.

Age (in Years) Recommendation For Learning Various Pitches

This chart explains the appropriate age to start teaching ballplayers certain pitches:

Fastball: 8 ± 2	Slider: 16 ± 2
Change-up: 10 ± 3	Forkball: 16 ± 2
Curveball: 14 ± 2	Screwball: 17 ± 2
Knuckleball: 15 ± 3

Even once a ball player is determined mature enough to learn breaking pitches, there still needs to be proper instruction to safely execute these pitches and minimize a player’s injury potential. Breaking pitches are age dependent, and coaches and parents must adhere to this guideline or they’ll increase the risk of injury in their child or players.

[framedbox]References and Further Reading:

• “How Many Pitches Should I Allow My Child to Throw?” James R. Andrews, M.D. and Glenn Fleisig, Ph.D. American Sports Medicine Institute (1996)
• “Longitudinal study of elbow and shoulder pain in youth baseball pitchers.” Stephen Lyman, GLenn. S. Fleisig, John W. Waterbor, Ellen M. Funkhouser, Leavonne Pulley, James R. Andrews, E. David Osinski, and Jeffrey M. Roseman.  American Sports Medicine Institute (2001)
• “Relationships between Throwing Mechanics and Shoulder Distraction in Professional Baseball Pitchers.” Sherry L. Werner, PhD, Thomas J. Gill, MD, Tricia A. Murray, Timothy D. Cook, MS and Richard J. Hawkins, MD.  The American Journal of Sports Medicine (2001)[/framedbox]

 

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Jonathan Meltzer graduated from the University of Redlands with a bachelor of arts in biology and a minor in physical education. Following graduation, Jonathan discovered his passion for physical therapy while working as a Physical Therapy Aide. After graduating top of his class from Loma Linda University in 2012 with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy, Jonathan began his career at Rausch Physical Therapy and Sports Performance. Jonathan’s goals are to identify limitations and treat his patients with the most recent and innovative techniques in order to maximize functional independence and obtain his patients’ individual goals.