Exercise of the Month:
Plank with Hip Extension

The plank exercise is a great way to build endurance in the abs and back, as well as stabilizer muscles. By adding the hip extension, it forces your core muscles to work even harder to maintain position and you work your glutes as well. The good news is the plank can be done anywhere, requires no equipment!

Starting position
Lie face down on mat resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor. Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows. Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels. Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air.

Action
Then extend a leg upward 5-8 inches off the floor, while maintaining the plank position, alternate with each leg.

Hold plank while alternating hip extension for about 2-3 sets of 10 reps. taking adequate breaks in between. As this gets easier, challenge yourself with more reps or adding weights to ankles for increased resistance.

Muscles worked

• Abs
• Obliques
• Glutes
• Shoulders
• Lats

Additional Benefits

• Better balance
• Increased core strength for sports
• Improved posture

Neck and Head Injuries
Part 2: Don’t ignore your brain!

In last month's article we talked about the risk of neck injuries in football and how to decrease the risk for such an injury. While neck injuries are very common in football a more prevalent injury is head injuries, more specifically concussions.

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons reported 10-15% of high school football players suffer from concussions each year. It was also reported that many athletes go undiagnosed so this number could be even greater. A nation wide study looked at the reason why athletes go undiagnosed and two of the biggest reasons included athletes not thinking the injury was serious enough to report and fear of not playing.

Concussions are a very serious injury. Many times athletes can go days even months with out noticing any real changes, but while they continue to play and take blows to the head the brain is never allowed to fully heal. Concussions cause impairment to memory, judgment, reflexes, speech, balance and coordination. Athletes often think that in order to have sustained a concussion they must have lost consciousness, this is false. Most concussions don’t involve blackouts or total loss of consciousness. The two most common symptoms include amnesia and confusion.

While it is not easy to prevent head injuries while playing a contact sport like football there are steps parents and coaches can take to help ensure the safety of the student athletes. Watching for signs of a concussion is the most important step parents and coaches should watch for fatigue, slurred speech, nausea or vomiting, complaints of ringing in their ears, and head aches. Other symptoms include loss of taste or smell and visual disturbances or unequal pupil size. If athletes are experiencing any of these symptoms they should be sent to a medical professional as soon as possible. If parents or coaches suspect a concussion they should not give athletes aspirin, ibuprofen or any other NSAID as this could cause more bleeding in the brain.

Concussions do not have to be the end of an athletes playing career but they should be taken seriously. It is important athletes tell coaches and parents when they are experiencing these symptoms and not to ignore them. It is also important that all three sides: athlete, parent and coaches take the proper steps to allow the athlete to heal and come back to the playing field healthy.