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Are Your Kids Learning Integrative Muscular Training?

Posted by Jordan Snider on Feb 2, 2015 1:00:55 AM

Synopsis: Sports injuries for children can be painful, upsetting and expensive. A recent study found that a great number of them can be avoided with the simple implementation of a good old fashioned workout before the game starts.

Health is one of the most commonly cited reasons parents give for encouraging their children to play sports from a young age. Parents believe that playing sports will help their children develop a love of fitness, avoid obesity, and promote great physical development. Many parents also believe playing sports from a young age will reduce their child’s risk of injury in the future.

Researchers have identified, however, that engaging in sports is not enough to reduce the risk of injury in children. In an interesting research study published in Curr Sports Med Rep, researchers looked at ways to reduce the risk of injury through sports. In many ways, risk is an integral part of sports, and many parents encourage sports participation as a safe way of letting their child take risks.

Though integrative neuromuscular training (the fancy term for warming up) is considered a normal part of sports practice for adolescents and adults, it is not yet commonplace on the fields of younger sports teams. Neuromuscular training does come with its own set of risks, and it was previously thought that younger children were not old enough to handle warm ups safely. The research study published in Curr Sports Med Pub, however, found that age appropriate, properly supervised integrative neuromuscular training progams may reduce the risk of sports injuries in younger athletes.

Integrative neuromuscular training is a particular type of warm up program that teaches athletes safe ways of moving during play so that they are less likely to injure themselves during the game. Individual programs differ, but many contain elements such as squatting, marching, side-to-side shuffling and jumping, with particular attention paid to alignment and positioning. Injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament are unfortunately common amongst sports players of all ages, but integrative muscular training can reduce the number of these injuries by as much as 50 percent.

The researchers identified that this type of training may even be most beneficial during pre-adolescence, highlighting the importance of more youth teams taking up this important training technique. Training programs should be tailored to accommodate the individual needs of each child, focusing specifically on developing motor skills. It is believed that introducing this type of training early will reduce the risk of sports related injury both now and in the future.

The cost of introducing a new training program like this is estimated to be less than $2 per child, making it financially beneficial compared to the cost of potential medical bills. Speak to your child’s coach to find out whether they are currently using an integrative neuromuscular training program, and if not, why not?

Topics: Views, training

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