Raising a High Level Athlete

With the Rio 2016 Olympics coming to a close we now have a nation of young athletes who are left in awe and lit up by their new heroes.  We have had the chance to watch the BEST in the world compete against one another and they were absolutely incredible. Sitting on this side of the TV screen we are shown the highlights, the wins and the losses. We get to know the athletes and we cheer on our favourites. But it is easy to forget about the challenges, the injuries, and the long hours spent training. Most of these athletes have spent their entire lives preparing for this one, single event. Countless hours have been spent with their coaches, parents working two jobs and driving back and forth to practice, families sacrificing holidays for more training hours and money spent on gym time rather than amusement park rides.

Growing up a child of a highly competitive mother who was a National level Gymnastics coach, I have received an inside look at the physical and mental challenges that are involved in being a high level athlete. I was lucky enough to watch two Gymnastics World Championships with my mom and my sister; one in London and the second in Belgium. I have worked beside World Class coaches and their athletes. I have a brother who ranked 5th in the world in Tae Kwon Do only to break his leg in an exhibition fight during trials to the Athens Olympics. I have seen the highs and the lows first hand. I have taken part in the sacrifices made to ensure another gets to follow their dreams. And I have seen these dreams being shattered. So when I see a gymnast break their leg on their first vault after they have already qualified for finals on another event, or a swimmer who dives too early and is nearly disqualified, you can bet I am close to tears, as I  know how much work has just been lost with one wrong move. My mom would say this is why I was never a great competitor, but you can bet I won team spirit award!

When it comes to sports there are many factors that can affect how far an athlete will go. It takes an entire team to get one athlete to the Olympics; coaches, parents, siblings, physiotherapists, massage therapists, school teachers, dieticians, community support, and even psychologists.  For any high level athlete it is extremely important that they learn to listen to their body and trust their instincts. From a young age, athletes are pushed to their limits, their potential shining through in the eyes of a well trained coach in a matter of minutes. In the world of gymnastics, kids can start participating at the age of 18 months, basically as soon as they are able to walk. By age 4, coaches are looking for kids who are talented, flexible, strong, and hard working. By age 6 they are already training a couple of days a week.  A female gymnast peaks around age 17. This is an incredibly young age and these athletes must be taught from the beginning how to understand and communicate what their body is telling them. 

Ensuring your child has a good, supportive and educated team can mean the difference between success and failure. But as a parent there also needs to be a great level of trust with all the members of the team. It can be difficult to step back and let someone else take over. At a certain level, your child will spend more time with their coach than with you. So what can you do to keep your child safe and supported?

• Remind them that no matter what happens you are proud of who they are and what they have accomplished. They need to know their mistakes do not define who they are. 

• Never push them too hard. You cannot make someone love a sport, and it takes a certain passion to develop the skills necessary to win.

• Teach them how to communicate. Ask them how their body is feeling, how they are feeling mentally. Teach them how to express those feelings. This way they can have a more enriched relationship with their coaches.

• Don't let them quit. It is never easy to accomplish your dreams no matter what they are. Everyone wants to quit at some point. Have an expectation that once they start something it is their responsibility to finish it. Once the season is over, if they still aren't fully committed, this is the time to reassess the end goal. 

• Ensure they are taking care of their bodies. Speak to their coaches to get insight on how you can help. Do they need to work on certain stretches? Would they benefit from seeing a massage therapist, physiotherapist or chiropractor? Should they be doing any hydrotherapy?

• Fuel their bodies. Send them to training with fruits and veggies. Encourage them to drink lots of water. Starving your kids or putting them on a diet is NOT the goal here. Teach them to respect their bodies. Moderation is key, not deprivation. So let them eat that piece of cake!

Massage therapy can play a huge role in the journey of an athlete. When it comes to sports massage there are three different phases. Pre-Event massage is a fast paced treatment, done without any oils or lotions, used to wake up the muscles, increase circulation and hype-up the athlete. Post-Event massage is a much slower treatment focusing on tissue drainage and soothing fatigued muscles. Most important is the Maintenance massage where athletes of all levels can benefit. This is done between events and used to decrease recovery time, reduce potential injuries, and allow for more intense practice intervals. 

One aspect of sports massage that is not often talked about is the psychological benefits. By making massage a part of the routine, a safe space is created for the athlete to process the highs and the lows of their sport. Whether they take this time discuss it with their therapist or not, it is a great way for them to focus on their body and their breathing, to mentally go over their techniques and to deal with any major set backs in their training. It is not uncommon for athletes to go through a period of depression when their career is suddenly ripped out from under them due to injury or their time has come naturally to retire. By having that comfortable routine established and the space available to them, they have the potential to navigate through this major life change and go through the expected stages of mourning in the privacy of the treatment room.

We can't say enough here at Bloom how important it is for kids of all ages to spend time on the table. Especially if we are expecting them to work and make decisions like adults. Being an athlete isn't easy but as a team we can create kids who not only excel at their sport but who grow into responsible, hard working and driven adults. 

Back Pain in School Kids

Does your child come home and complain about back pain? It appears odd that at such a young age they are suffering from something that seems reserved for adults and the aging population. But think about it. School kids are carrying around loaded bags every day of the school week and they are usually overloaded or the wrong bag entirely. As adults, many of us go to work where our computer is waiting for us without the need to carry around textbooks and binders. Until each student is set up with their own personal computer this isn't a problem we are going to escape easily. But there are ways we can minimize the impact of school bags on kids. 

First of all backpacks are so much better than messenger bags, shoulder bags and purses. That much is obvious. When worn correctly, backpacks distribute weight more evenly creating a healthier spine. Lets talk about anatomy for a minute.  Your spine is made up of 33 bones separated by discs that act as shock absorbers. With correct posture your spine has three curves, a cervical curve, a thoracic curve and a lumbar curve. This alignment maximizes shock absorption,  assists with balance and promotes optimal range of motion. Abnormal posture includes hyperkyphosis in the thoracic spine, or hunchback posture, hyperlordosis in the lumbar spine, or sway back posture, and scoliosis, which is a curve in the spine from side to side. All of these variations can be brought on by poor use of a backpack or other bag. Your children are wearing these every day, encouraging and strengthening poor posture. It takes years to build up, it could take just as long to break it back down. 

So what do we do about it? Well I have a few simple tips for you to encourage proper and healthy posture for your child throughout the day.

1. WEIGHT. You should try and keep the weight of your childs backpack at under 10% of your child's body weight. A heavy backpack can pull a child backwards, forcing them to bend at the hips or arch their back, which can compress their spine. This can lead to back, shoulder and neck pain. 

2. SHOULDER STRAPS. Your childs backpack should have two wide and padded shoulder straps. They should wear both of these straps. Wearing one strap will cause them to lean to one side and can lead to scoliosis of the spine. We want wider straps to prevent any nerve compression which could lead to numbness, tingling and weakness in the hands and arms. 

3. SIZE. Your childs backpack should fit them snuggly. If it is sagging below the waist, with the straps tightened, it is too big. Remember bigger isn't always better. The bigger the bag, the more they can stuff into it and believe me they will! As a student I carried pens of every colour and as many textbooks as I could fit, just in case I needed them. Now they have iPods, phones, chargers, video games, laptops etc. They will fill it up. 

4. MULTIPLE COMPARTMENTS. A bag should have multiple compartments so that weight can be evenly distributed. They should carry the heaviest items closest to their backs, and lighter items further away. 

Now this seems like it could solve all the problems but your children may have more control over it than you think. So here is what you should encourage them to do. 

• Only carry what is absolutely necessary. Make frequent stops at your locker between classes or store things in your desk. Only carry what you need for each class. 

• Plan your homework. Don't wait until Friday to get everything done for the next week. This will force you to carry all your books home for the weekend. 

• Lighten the load. For high school students, try carrying around a folder with loose leaf paper in it and then inserting them into your binders after class. 

• Be active. Participating in other sports and activities will encourage your body to move through a wider range of motion indirectly stretching and strengthening the areas that are often ignored.

So now that we know how backpack should be worn lets talk about how to improve posture and combat some of the issues caused by wearing a backpack. 

If you notice that your child becomes rounded throughout the shoulders while carrying a backpack, the first thing you are going to want to do is stretch out their pectoral muscles and open them up in their chest. A really easy stretch for this is what I call the wall or door stretch. With either one arm (on the wall), or both (in a doorway), they will place their elbow to fingertips on the wall. From there, turn their body away from that arm and they will feel a stretch through their chest. If using the doorway, lean forward, opening up in the chest. Hold for at least 30 seconds! Any stretch under 30 seconds has no effect on your connective tissue and will not solve any problems. Another very easy and passive stretch is to roll up a towel or yoga mat, place it along their spine and have them lay on their back with arms outstretched to the sides with palms up. 

If you find them bending forward at the hips, encourage them to stretch out their quads. This is as simple as it sounds. Either laying down on their stomach or standing on one leg, bend at the knee so that their foot comes towards their bum. Another option, as they might need to take this a little deeper into their psoas, is a lunge stretch. With their back knee on the ground and leaning into the lunge, make sure their chest is up and almost leaning back slightly. They should feel this through the front of their leg and up through their pelvis. 

Most often they will be tight in their neck as well. A simple neck stretch, even while sitting at school will make a huge difference. While grabbing on to the bottom of their chair with one hand, tilt their head to the opposite side until they feel a stretch. They can slowly rotate it to look up and down to hit different muscle fibres. 

The other thing you are going to want to do is strengthen their core. I suggest turning this into a challenge. Every evening do a family plank hold and see who can hold it the longest with correct alignment (tummy in, bum down, no sway back). One person is a rockstar at it and unbeatable? Use one of those textbooks and place it on their back to make it harder (as long as they are showing correct posture). Write this time down every night and try and improve it. Maybe even have a prize for hitting targets!

As you can see there are a few things to consider when carrying a backpack but there are also some simple solutions. And remember, we also love having kids and teens as clients. We believe that it is never too early to start taking care of your body. Teach your kids to respect and listen to what their body is telling them and you will be setting them on the right path to a healthy body for life. 

Kristy