Fall sports are here! With the kids back in school, it’s time to make sure everyone is ready to have a safe and healthy season.

If you are an athlete, or have kids who are, sports like soccer, cross-country, football and volleyball can be a fun way to spend the fall season. But there are some safety tips you should probably be aware of, so you – and your children – can keep playing and not be sidelined with an injury.

So, what can you do to prevent fall sports injuries? Here are some things to consider.

Strength and Conditioning

One of the best things you can do to prevent injuries from fall sports is to focus on strength and conditioning that spans three specific phases (i.e., endurance; basic strength; strength and power). In the preseason leading up to the first game or competition you’re going to want to start with hypertrophy (muscle building) in an endurance phase where you are focused on low- to moderate-intensity exercise with high volume (many sets and reps of an exercise). Note that these exercises are not intended to be specific to the actual type of athletics. The next phase of the preseason is basic strength, which consists of high intensity (80-90% of your 1 repetition maximum (RM)) with moderate volume (3-5 sets of 4-8 reps) using exercises that target the muscles specific to the sport. By the end of the preseason, you’ll want to work on the strength and power phase keeping the intensity high but the volume low (3-5 sets of 2-5 reps) using power exercises that are specific to the sport.

When you start into the season, expect that you’ll hit a peaking period in the early part of the season that involves very high-intensity exercise with very low volume, and then you’ll transition into the maintenance phase where intensity is moderate, and volume is moderate to low. If you missed the preseason, no worries. To continue conditioning during the season, try working on a combination of the basic strength phase and the power phase with moderate intensity (3-5 sets) and moderate to low volume (2-4 repetitions) so you don’t burn yourself out or suffer from an overuse injury.

These exercises don’t refer to just strength training or lifting weights, they can also consist of running, sprinting, cycling and/or rowing. Developing strength and conditioning programs can be very challenging with regard to deciding which specific exercises to use, and when, as well as how many sets and repetitions you should perform, and during which phase. You will want to seek out an experienced strength and conditioning coach – and we at Beacon PT have exactly what you need. Our staff has strength and conditioning expertise, and we’re ready to help.

In addition to strength and conditioning, proper warmups and cooldowns are essential to preventing injuries in fall sports, as is knowing your limits and avoiding overtraining. Stretching, mobility drills, and making sure to warm up and cool down before every practice and game is something you should do as an adult – and be instilling early in your child athlete.

Consider getting an assessment from a physical therapist

We’ve got you started using these tips above. However, if you or your child is serious about fall sports, get an assessment from a physical therapist to ensure there aren’t any dysfunctional movement patterns, muscle imbalances, and/or weaknesses or limitations in the body that could lead to injury down the road.

Physical therapists can help “pre-habilitate” the athlete, prevent injury in the future, and help them perform better in their sport right now.

Beacon Physical Therapy

At Beacon Physical Therapy, we support our clients in establishing healthy movement patterns that help maintain strength, flexibility and mobility. If you are having an issue, make an appointment today. We’d love to meet you and get you back to doing what you love.