Dynamic Stretching Routines: Love Them

As I stood at the 700 degree Weber grilling steaks next to my lacrosse coach brother-in-law this weekend, I brought up the fact that my lacrosse playing population sustaining groin injuries was on the rise. Proportionally, he told me, this makes sense, as Lacrosse is a fast growing sport, and colleges are adding both men’s and women’s teams to their rosters. I therefore asked him how he and other coaches attempt to avoid injuries. I was very happy to hear that the dynamic stretching and warm-up routines are being adopted by many sports at increasingly younger levels. Holmich and team showed the importance of a pre-game and pre-practice programs, and data has continued to support these notions.

As much as I am heartened to know that the high-school and college athletes are improving their routines, I do worry about the weekend warriors. As the non-professional athlete generally has a significant lack of time, she/he will devote less time to the “warm-up.” This is probably a big mistake.