From the Trainer’s Room

Let’s go camping

No, I don’t mean it’s time for a trip out into the woods!

I’m talking about the upcoming training camps that will officially start the new hockey season. These final weeks of the summer will also bring about a batch of tournaments.

Are you prepared to perform at your best?

The offseason for a hockey player is getting shorter and shorter every year. As your time on the ice increases leading into the season, you need to be aware of your limitations. We have had all summer to train and get in good condition, but we can also run the risk of overtraining.

One key to being healthy on the first day of camp is deloading in the week prior. I’m not saying do not work out or skate, but you should reduce your overall workload to let the body recover. There may be some nagging injuries and soreness from the amount of work you have put into your offseason program.

Now is the time to go back to the basics of corrective exercise to ensure you don’t enter your first tournament or training camp already feeling less than 100 percent.

To maintain strength, athletes need a minimum dose of one strength training session per week. As ice time increases and games are added to the schedule, recovery becomes a critical factor to maintain optimum performance levels. There are many methods for recovery that have been discussed in previous articles. Some modalities include foam rolls, percussion guns, pneumatic compression boots, and soft tissue massage, just to name a few. Seek out medical professionals such as athletic trainers who can help instruct you in these techniques.

Being intentional with self-care can go a long way in injury prevention.

Don’t let the added stress of an upcoming season cause you to overdo your training now. Tournaments are fun, but with the possibility of multiple games a day, they can be exhausting. Prevent injury and increase your performance by taking a step back to focus on feeling healthy prior to that first drop of the puck. Use multiple recovery methods to take care of the body now before it’s too late.

There is a lot of hockey yet to be played this upcoming season and it would be a shame to miss any of it.

Mike Hannegan is an athletic trainer and strength coach with 10 years of experience in the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues. He is currently the director of the Compete Sports Performance and Rehabilitation facility inside The Rinks-Yorba Linda Ice, located in beautiful Orange County. He can be reached at mike@ competeperformance.com.

Groin injuries in hockey

Groin strains are common injuries in the game of ice hockey.

Previous reports in the NHL have shown than up to 10 percent of all injuries sustained have been due to strains of the groin or adductor muscle group. In today’s NHL, it is a little tougher to note since these injuries are now classified as “lower body” and not specific.

The main groin muscles include the adductor longus, magnus and brevis and the gracilis. Their primary function is to bring the leg back towards the middle of the body or adduct the hip. Groin injuries can be debilitating as the muscle group is elongated on the skating stride and contracted on the recovery phase, so it is constantly being stressed.

Strains of this nature can cause an athlete to miss significant time off the ice. When a strain of a muscle occurs, the force placed on the muscle is too great and causes the fibers to tear. The severity can differ from one injury to another and usually affects either the muscle belly, near the middle of the inside of the thigh or the origin up near the pubic bone where the muscle turns into a tendon and attaches to the bone.

Two noted factors that pre-dispose an athlete to a groin injury include decreased flexibility of the groin, hip flexor and glutes and weakness of the adductors/groin muscles.

When a groin injury occurs, it is important not to play through it and to seek medical advice from a qualified physician, athletic trainer or physical therapist who works with athletes with these types of injuries. If a strain affects your stride, speed, or power on the ice, it will typically get worse if you continue to play with the injury.

Normal treatment will include rest, flexibility exercises of the adductors, glutes and hip flexors which should all be painfree and strengthening of the adductors and hip flexors as they aid in the recovery phase of skating. A slow, gradual return to skating followed by return to practice is also a key to the recovery before returning to games.

Once the pain has subsided, it is still important to maintain the flexibility and strength in your hips to help prevent future injuries.

Chris Phillips is an athletic trainer and strength and conditioning specialist with over 20 years’ experience in professional sports. Chris has worked in the NHL with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Washington Capitals and was also the head athletic trainer for the 2002 USA Hockey Men’s National Team. He is the founder of Compete Sports Performance and Rehab in Southern California. Chris can be reached at chris@competeperformance.com.

Heat illness

With the new fall sports season just around the corner, we want to discuss the important topic of heat illness, or Exertional Heat Illnesses (EHIs).

EHIs can be a very serious medical emergency that can cause serious damage to your body and even lead to death. The risk of EHIs are ever present during