by Dan Williams | May 19, 2011 | Blogs, Improving Athletic Performance, Musculo-skeletal Rehabilitation
In understanding Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries, we must understand what the ACL does. It resists anterior tibial translation, a fancy way of saying it stops the shin moving forward relative to the femur (thigh bone). ACL injury can be caused by anatomical...
by Dan Williams | May 2, 2011 | Blogs, Exercise, Health, Improving Athletic Performance, Musculo-skeletal Rehabilitation
The Knee is responsible for the majority of energy absorption during the running cycle, while the hip is responsible for the greatest energy generation. Basically, this tells us that strong hips (specifically hip extensors, gluteals) will increase the ability to run...
by Dan Williams | Apr 29, 2011 | Blogs, Exercise, Improving Athletic Performance
‘I could do that with my eyes closed!’ you cry. Apply that to exercise and you just might be able to. Proprioception is your brain’s knowledge about your body’s position. Close your eyes and bend your arm. Even though you can’t see your...
by Dan Williams | Apr 25, 2011 | Blogs, Chronic Conditions, Exercise, Health, Improving Athletic Performance, Musculo-skeletal Rehabilitation
The hamstrings muscle group has been plagued by injury, injury recurrence, improper rehabilitation and impaired performance. Bahr and Holme (2000) proposed that injuries result from a complex interaction of multiple risk factors and events. In terms of prevention and...
by Dan Williams | Apr 21, 2011 | Blogs, Chronic Conditions, Exercise, Health, Improving Athletic Performance, Psychology
There is a close relationship between stress and performance. This relationship can exist in both a negative and positive way. Stress is a stimulus that causes a physiological or psychological effect. Good stress is termed ‘eustress’, while bad stress is...
by Dan Williams | Apr 19, 2011 | Blogs, Exercise, Improving Athletic Performance
We want to increase strength. No surprises there. And yet we fail to use eccentric training as a mainstay of our programming. So what is eccentric training, and how can we use it to maximise performance. Eccentric training involves training the ‘lowering’...
by Dan Williams | Apr 11, 2011 | Blogs, Health, Improving Athletic Performance, Psychology
Sleep is a highly sought, frequently underachieved necessity of life. And yet, people don’t really know what’s going on when they’re asleep. Probably because they’re… well… asleep. Sleep is an immediately reversible, perceptual wall...
by Dan Williams | Apr 10, 2011 | Blogs, Chronic Conditions, Exercise, Health, Improving Athletic Performance, Musculo-skeletal Rehabilitation
In parts one and two of this series we covered the need for more effective hamstring injury screen, prevention and rehabilitation. In this, the final part, we discuss initiatives to fill this need. To aid in effective injury prevention, mode specificity is a vital...
by Dan Williams | Apr 5, 2011 | Blogs, CrossFit, Exercise, Improving Athletic Performance
Fatigue is a bad thing. Or it is when you’re trying to maximise performance. Fatigue is the recoverable reduction in the maximum force generating capacity regardless of the type of work being done. Basically, getting tired so you can’t keep going. So how...
by Dan Williams | Apr 2, 2011 | Biomechanics, Blogs, Chronic Conditions, Exercise, Health, Improving Athletic Performance, Musculo-skeletal Rehabilitation
In part one of this blog series, I discussed the prevalence of muscular injuries in general. In this, we discuss the specific need for further examination of the hamstrings – and why this muscle group is so predisposed to injury. Askling et al (2002) stated that...
