Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The "N" Word

"Neuromuscular Training Improves Knee Kinematics, in Particular in Valgus Aligned Adolescent Team Handball Players of Both Sexes- Barendrecht et al, JSCR 3-11."


I am guilty of using it. No I'm not speaking of the term that you hear rappers use. I talking about the word, "neuromuscular". It has become as ambiguous as the word "core". Nordic hamstring curls are considered neuromuscular in this study. The authors achieved their goals of improving knee valgus on a drop jump test...but the control group was "usual handball training", whatever that was. Was it no strength training at all? It wasn't clear. And that's the problem with these ACL prevention protocols- they always compare to no intervention at all.

Is this the way the A.T. would do it? Would we take athletes which we had no idea of their conditioning history and have them bounding? Triple jumping? ...As part of a 10 week ACL prevention protocol? I doubt it because we know what would happen. Patellar tendinosis, patellafemoral syndrome up the wazoo. If not in 10 weeks, soon after. Since we spend years, and not weeks with our athletes (as opposed to other practitioners) we know there is no such thing as a quick fix. We think LTAD= long term athletic development= functional leg progressions. Rather than a 2X per week, it would be interwoven seamlessly into the daily warmup and conditioning modules. No P90X, no "Instanity workout"- no guru, no method, no teacher.

8 comments:

Jack Martin said...

Joe, a little off topic-but not too much. We did our second Frans Bosch running drills workout of the spring to inmprove muscle memory and identify some hurdler prospects. We are doing it weekly at this point-I do not want to overload the plyo component. What looks so effortless in the video is really challenging for kids today. I believe the difficulty has arisen from a lack of play. Even simple skipping is a challenge. The worst has been the bound on every third step drill. Martin

Joe Przytula said...

No, EXACTLY on topic. You were doing COORDINATION training, which is REAL neuromuscular training, as Bosch & Lederman intended it to be!! & remember Frans definition of strength training, "coordination training with resistance". Interesting Frans is not a big fan of traditional plyos for runners.

Brian Green said...

Pardon me but Franz Bosch is mentioned regularly here, however, I'm not that familiar with his work. What would be the best book/DVD to get...?

Joe Przytula said...

Running:Biomechanics & Exercise Physiology Applied in Practice.

Running: The BK Method DVD.

Pat Donovan said...

Brian

Frans Bosch has both a book and a DVD. The book is really good. I don't own the video but have heard really good things as well.

Running: Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology in Practice (Paperback) $62 at amazon

Running-The BK Method (DVD)$80 at amazon

Hope it helps

PAT

Pat Donovan said...

Joe beat me to it... my fault...started my message and then got distracted by a couple athlete.

Joe hope all is well...need to talk sometime soon buddy.

PAT

Jack Martin said...

Joe, I know I asked you this before-is there anyway to select certain drills from the Frans Bosch video? Great stuff on there but a pain to navigate. I would love to organize the drills to make it more efficient for us. Martin
PS Day one of pt for my hip/glutes-boy, do I need help.

Brian Green said...

Cheers....