Tag: recovery
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Recovery Series: Are Massage Guns Worth It?
Massage guns have become increasingly popular, but they come at a cost. What’s the hype about? Are they overrated? Let’s see what the research has to say. What Do Massage Guns Do? Massage guns (like Theragun and Hypervolt) are percussive instruments that allow you to self-massage. In scientific terms, this type of massage is called…
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Recovery Series: How Do We Educate Players on Mental Recovery?
Man, researchers sure know how to churn out information on physical recovery in athletes. But… something’s missing. Where is all the research on mental and emotional recovery? Athletes don’t just leave the field physically tired… they’re mentally tired, too. Competition is a mental battle. Performance vs nervousness. Pressure vs composure. Even the professionals have trouble…
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Recovery Series: When to Use a Foam Roller (& When It’s Useless)
Welcome to Integrative Soccer’s recovery series, where we give you the most updated evidence for (and against) the most common recovery tools on the market. What’s good? What’s overrated? We’re here to tell you. Let’s check out foam rolling and bridge the gap between what we think it benefits and what it actually benefits… …and…
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Athlete Health, Wellness, and Performance: A Complete Resource List
It’s hard to know what to trust on the internet these days. Health and wellness trends flood our newsfeed. Conflicting advice clouds our judgement. How do we know what’s legit? The best way to stay informed is by listening to the professionals who are up-to-date with the latest research and/or perform their own. Some of…
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How Many Hours Should Soccer Players Train Per Week?
This is not an easy question to answer, especially in youth athletics. The answer is very athlete-dependent and has so many factors to think about: Take on too few hours, and you miss out on developing to your full potential. Take on too many hours, and you risk overtraining. You’ll only know if you’ve over-trained…
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A Growing Worry: Heading and Concussions
Concussions are a growing concern in soccer, particularly those that occur from headers. Why now? What does this mean for the future of soccer? More Studies Means More Data, Not More Injury Over the past 10 years, concussion diagnosis and treatment has evolved significantly. Because there’s more research, there’s more data available to see more…
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Three of the Best Exercises to Prevent Hamstring Strains
Hamstring strains are extremely common in athletes. It accounts for over a third of muscular injuries in professional athletes, and can have almost a 60% recurrence rate. (3) Those stats are gross. There’s so much information on hamstring injuries, yet they keep happening. Why?! It may be that players aren’t using certain preventative strategies frequently…
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Why is the R.I.C.E. Method Outdated?
What’s the first thing anyone tells you after an injury? “Rest it and put some ice on it!” This was once good advice, but now, research points in a different direction. The R.I.C.E. Method RICE stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. The acronym was first coined in 1978 by Dr. Gabe Mirkin as the…
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Growing Pains or Something Else?
Young soccer players are always going and growing. It’s hard to know which aches and pains are serious, and which ones you can ignore. Any serious athlete will look after his/her body. They will… … and do what they can to stay fit and healthy. But injuries are inevitable in any sport. Athletes can only…
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What’s the Best Recovery Tool For Youth Soccer Players?
Players and parents wants to know: what should I buy or do to make sure the body recovers quickly and efficiently? What’s the best recovery tool for youth soccer players and how often should I use it? A young soccer player’s body goes through a lot. Practices, games, tournaments, cross-training, strength & conditioning, private coaching……