At the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine conference in San Diego, Dr. Daniel Herman and his constitutes presented important and interesting findings regarding the concussed athlete. Herman and colleagues examined several sport programs for a five year period, they looked at football, women’s basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. They found that athletes within 90 days of a concussion were 3.79 times more likely to get a muscle or ligament injury. The assumption is that changes in reaction times and decision-making could lead to further trauma.
Once an athlete is injured the rehabilitative process begins so the athlete can 'return to play'. Return to play refers to reentrance to activity safely at a pre-injury level. It is widely known that inadequate rehabilitation after sustaining an injury puts the athlete at further risk.
One of the most frequently occurring conditions in the head and neck area is whiplash. Whiplash appertains to the movement of the head and neck during a collision or other high velocity forces on the body. Excessive forces on the neck are known to cause sprains, strains, varying amounts of soft-tissue damage, as well as concussions.
To have adequate rehabilitation for whiplash or a concussion the athlete must return to pre-injury levels of strength, as well as pass the appropriate neurological evaluation. The conundrum is that the pre-injury levels of neck strength must be known.
Make sure neck training is a part of your exercise program. Knowing the strength levels of an athletes neck is certainly and arguably more important than knowing the values of the bench press, squat or clean.
Get the head and neck Strong and Keep it Strong.
The Pendulum 5 Way Neck Machine