Stretching.

 

Here you'll find out about the importance of stretching out as part of a warm up and cool down routine and how to go about stretching your leg muscles and achilles tendon.

Note*: ICE are not a team of doctors nor physiotherapists, these are simply guidelines and basic stretches. We cannot be held responsable for injury incured by these excersizes, if in doubt or in need of more advice please consult a qualified physician.

Stretching is a very important part of an athletes training program, not only does it warm the muscles, tendons and ligaments before they engage in imense physical activity, but it also makes them more supple and stretchy if practiced regulary. Obviously there are various different stretches, designed specifically to stretch each part to its best. Stretching should be done on arrival at the ice rink, before the athlete starts jumping or goes onto the ice. A small jog (one or two laps of the ice pad) before starting to stretch warms the body nicely before going into a stretching routine. It's bets to find a quiet place to stretch out so you can concentrate, lack of concentration at this stage could be crucial as stretching wrongly or over-stretching/forcing when the body isn't ready yet can cause serious injury. Click to see a photo of a leg with the muscles and achilles tendon labeled so you can easily identify each one and understand better when we go onto talking about stretching each muscle and the achilles tendon individualy.

Ok so if you took a look at the pop-up photo, you can cleary see where the groin, quadricep, hamstring, calf muscles and achilles tendon are located, we can start to talk about stretching them. It's very important not to bounce during stretching as this can cause tiny muscle fibres to rip apart and can end up in serious injury. As you go down into your chosen position, exhale, relax once in the position (you shouldnt feel pain, just tension on the muscle, feel the stretching, if you experience pain you're pushing the muscle past its barrier at this point) and try to get fairly comfortable. If then you want to apply more tension by say, bending further over on a hamstring stretch then exhale whilst doing so, it makes everything feel a bit more controled and relaxed. Spend an equal amount of time on each leg, and try to arrive at your rink in plenty time so that you are ensured time to stretch out as part of your warming up routine. Cooling down after a performance is also important, you may experience some stiffness, pain, and basically, problems, if you come off your training session, take off your skates and jump straight into the car for a half an hour. Once you've changed out of your skates you should always spend a little while on stretches, the same as you did before getting on the ice. Below we'll look at some stretches for the above mentioned muscles.

Hamstring Stretch • Quadricep Stretch • Calf Stretch • Groin Stretch • Achilles Tendon Stretch • Lateral Splits • Facial Splits

Other info: A guide to stretching from the USFSA