We all know that agility and the confidence to change direction at speed is important for any patient that wants to return to sport after an injury. I would argue that this is particularly important for the patient that is a recreational player because unlike elite sports men and woman they often don’t have access to strength and conditioning coaches.
So, my aim here is to outline some of the secrets that S&C coaches use to improve change of direction ability and how you can use this for injured patients.
1. What goes up must come down!
You must teach deceleration before acceleration!
This point is very important for change of direction ability and an importance that is not lost on S&C coaches. When a patient runs into a change of direction task the confidence they have to execute it and not reinjure themselves will depend upon how much they trust themselves to slow down. The ability to decelerate is of critical importance from a performance and reinjury perspective. The research is clear, the faster they run into the cut the higher the breaking forces needed to execute it safely. In fact, several reviews have shown that deceleration in the last two steps before the change of direction task is critical for the athlete’s safety.
So, what does this mean for you clinically?
Well as you begin to plan your patient’s rehabilitation for change of direction ability you must teach them to slow down. This can be done by improving their technique (see video). Biomechanically deceleration is associated with a backwards lean of the body with the centre of mass distributed towards the mid and rear foot. The athlete should be cued to take shorter steps to increase the time with which force can be applied into the ground. Also larger knee and hip flexion angles should be cued to utilise the mechanical advantage provided by the quadriceps and the gluteal muscles thorough eccentric muscle actions.
2. Muscle strength is critical!
In order to speed up or slow down when changing direction you need muscle strength. High levels of muscle strength relative to the patient’s body weight is critical. So, if we apply some fundamental physics you will see what I mean! The fundamental concept we need to understand is Isaac Newton’s 2ND Law of motion.
The LAW OF Acceleration! F=mA
· F = The patients muscle Force they can generate
· M= The mass of the patient
· A= The patient accelerating into the change of direction task
What does this really mean? Well without going into too much detail all you need to know clinically is that in order to accelerate or decelerate there must be a change in velocity … (or put in everyday language the speed that you were moving at!) So, if we want to improve acceleration or deceleration then we need to apply a lot of force into the ground using our muscles. In regards to mass we don’t need to worry too much about that clinically because that won’t change during a specific drill or task unless the patient is wearing a weighted vest or something similar.
But,we can change a patients ability to produce muscle force by improving their strength with a sensible training programme.
3. Pick out the phase that needs work !
A change of direction task can be broken down into district phases …. Acceleration, entry, deceleration, foot plant, exit and re-acceleration. Why is this important? Well if you time the change of direction task with a stop watch or timing gates and video recorded it with your phone you can be more targeted in regard to your rehabilitation intervention. For example, if you see that the patient has difficulty decelerating during the entry phase because they keep over shooting the exit … Logically your target might be to improve deceleration ability as a target! But on the other hand, if they are slow to re-accelerate after the exit phase and they need a really long run up hit top speed then maybe acceleration is where you should invest your time.
Hopefully you can now see that there is more to change of direction ability and agility than just getting out a few cones and a set of agility ladders. When you understand the principles that underpin change of direction ability your rehabilitation becomes more effective and more enjoyable for you!
Further reading
de Hoyo, M., Sañudo, B., Carrasco, L., Mateo-Cortes, J., Domínguez-Cobo, S., Fernandes, O., Del Ojo, J. J., & Gonzalo-Skok, O. (2016). Effects of 10-week eccentric overload training on kinetic parameters during change of direction in football players. Journal of Sports Sciences, 34(14), 1380–1387. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1157624
Dos’Santos, T., Thomas, C., Comfort, P., & Jones, P. A. (2018). The Effect of Angle and Velocity on Change of Direction Biomechanics: An Angle-Velocity Trade-Off. Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 48(10), 2235–2253. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0968-3
Fiorilli, G., Mariano, I., Iuliano, E., Giombini, A., Ciccarelli, A., Buonsenso, A., Calcagno, G., & di Cagno, A. (2020). Isoinertial Eccentric-Overload Training in Young Soccer Players: Effects on Strength, Sprint, Change of Direction, Agility and Soccer Shooting Precision. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 19(1), 213–223.
Hammami, A., Gabbett, T. J., Slimani, M., & Bouhlel, E. (2018). Does small-sided games training improve physical fitness and team-sport-specific skills? A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 58(10), 1446–1455. https://doi.org/10.23736/S0022-4707.17.07420-5
Harper, D. J., & Kiely, J. (2018). Damaging nature of decelerations: Do we adequately prepare players? BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 4(1), e000379. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000379
Nimphius, S., Callaghan, S., Bezodis, N., & Lockie, R. (2017). Change of Direction and Agility Tests: Challenging Our Current Measures of Performance. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 40, 1. https://doi.org/10.1519/SSC.0000000000000309
Paul, D. J., Gabbett, T. J., & Nassis, G. P. (2016). Agility in Team Sports: Testing, Training and Factors Affecting Performance. Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 46(3), 421–442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0428-2
Santoro, E., Tessitore, A., Liu, C., Chen, C.-H., Khemtong, C., Mandorino, M., Lee, Y.-H., & Condello, G. (2021). The Biomechanical Characterization of the Turning Phase during a 180° Change of Direction. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 5519. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115519
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