What is Strength & Conditioning?

The fitness components of strength and conditioning (S&C) can be classified into two groups; 

The health-related are designed to improve body health which consists of 

• Muscular Strength: force or tension of a muscle group which can be exerted against a resistance in one maximal effort. 
• Muscular Endurance: The ability to sustain muscle performance and resist fatigue.
• Cardiovascular Endurance: The ability to perform prolonged aerobic activity at moderate to high exercise intensities.
• Flexibility: ability to move without restriction during a normal range of movement.
• Body Composition: Refers to the proportion of fat and fat-free mass throughout the body.

The skill-related are essential to the athletic performance and ability to perform activities of daily life.

• Power: The rate of performing work
• Speed: The ability to perform a motor skill as rapidly as possible.
• Agility: The ability to change direction rapidly.
• Balance & Coordination: The ability of an individual to maintain equilibrium
• Reaction Time: The ability to respond rapidly to a stimulus.

S&C programs are based on the SAID principle, which states that when the body is placed under some form of stress, it starts to make adaptations that will allow the body to get better at withstanding that specific form of stress in the future. An S&C program depends on the performer and what their goals are and this determines the training that will be worked on, it also becomes much more important in order to decrease the likelihood of injury.

Why is Strength & Conditioning important?

As the name suggests, strength and conditioning aims to strengthen an individual based on their goals, sporting demands, or both in order to improve athletic performance. The focus on individual components of fitness varies depending on the sport, but those usually involved are (not limited to) flexibility and mobility, balance and coordination, strength, endurance, and explosive power.

Main fitness components covered in S&C:

• Body composition
• Flexibility and mobility
• Balance and coordination
• Cardiovascular endurance
• Muscular strength
• Muscular endurance
• Explosive power
• SAQ

Most sports require a mixture of some, if not all, of the fitness components but the focus on each will be different depending on the physiological demands and nature of the sport. 

Why is Prevention & Reconditioning important?

While S&C aims to improve performance and prevent overall injury, prevention and reconditioning specifically aims to either prevent a specific injury or reinjury. Specific areas of weakness will be addressed, as opposed to S&C, where the focus is on performance. 

The fitness components would be similar to S&C. The only difference between the two is that the target would be the fitness component contributing to the injury in prevention.

Typical Injuries we treat with P&R

Successful prevention of sports injuries relies on a multidisciplinary approach, which includes the sports & exercise science perspective.

To a certain extent, strength & conditioning principles are used to counter any imbalances & weaknesses that can lead to injuries. Below are typical injuries that would benefit from strength & conditioning:

A lower back/neck injury for instance would often benefit from an injury prevention program. Post spinal injury tends to lead to further muscle imbalance due to improper use due to compensation as well as disuse. A program that combines a core stabilizing plus mobility program ensures a longer and more sustainable injury prevention and maintenance.

Knee injuries such as the likes of jumpers knee would often be due to repetitive stress on the patella tendon. From a strength & conditioning point of view, this problem can be managed by increasing the tolerance of the tendon via strengthening the quadriceps muscle that attaches to the patella tendon.

Common shoulder injuries such as shoulder impingement are often caused by a combination of anterior-posterior muscle imbalance plus a reduced subacromial space hence and would very much benefit from a program that focuses on strengthening the shoulder stabilizer as well as improving shoulder mobility.