Injury Prevention for Volleyball

Who should use this book?

Injury Prevention for Volleyball is for athletes who are serious about staying healthy and coaches who are serious about keeping their athletes healthy. The book focuses on easy-to-follow injury-prevention exercises for four key areas of the body: shoulders, low back, knees and ankles. Whether you’re playing the game or teaching it, the information you’ll find in this book will help pave the way to peak performance and optimal health.

– – –

What’s inside:

Introduction
Section 1: Determining the Athlete’s Starting Point
Section 2: Shoulder Maintenance
Section 3: Low Back Maintenance
Section 4: Knee Maintenance
Section 5: Ankle Maintenance
Section 6: Maintenance Tools
Section 7: Injury Prevention Plan Strategies
Section 8: Nutrition, Sleep and Other Important Stuff
Final Thoughts

– – –

Sneak Peek from the Introduction: 3 Ways to Use This Book

Volleyball is one of the most violent non-contact sports on the body. The torque moments created on joints when rotating to serve or attack, the forces absorbed when landing or changing directions, the stability needed during a jump set, and the sheer volume of work that the body has to endure during just one match are exponentially high. This book targets areas of the body that need to be prepared to handle these loads and includes a graphic that will tell you exactly which skills the exercise helps.

You can use this book in many different ways, but here are three of the main ones:

1. Self-evaluate areas of your body that take the majority of the loads from playing volleyball. Once you’ve done this, you can flip to the section that targets those specific areas.
2. Focus on pain prevention in the areas of your body that get sore from a high amount of volleyball work, including the Big Four: knee, shoulder, ankle and low back.
3. Use the workout plan section to weave these exercises into your practice regime, games and strength and conditioning. Note that this book works best in conjunction with a strength and conditioning regimen separate from these maintenance exercises.

We invite you to keep this book with you as much as possible so you can reference it any time. Put it in your bag. Bring it to the gym, practice or even tournaments. Use it to accompany the start or end of your training sessions or to keep your muscles warm or to work some mobility in between matches. Eventually, you’ll be able to build your routine based on what you believe are your biggest needs.

– – –

Illustration Guide

With each exercise in the book, we’ve included illustrations to indicate which volleyball skills are targeted and which muscle groups are strengthened. For example, if the exercise targets the rhomboids, lats and triceps, the illustration will look like this:

– – –

About the Authors

Marie Zidek is the head volleyball coach at DePaul University and was previously an assistant coach at the University of San Diego. She graduated from Northern Illinois in 2006 with a Kinesiology degree and earned a master’s in exercise and sports science at Oregon State in 2010. She is also certified by the NSCA as a strength and conditioning coach. Throughout her coaching career, Marie has paid close attention to fitness and health, working closely with college and high school athletes to develop workout programs that prioritize injury prevention, flexibility, strength and quickness. She lives in Chicago with her wife, Stephanie, and their son, Primoz.

Patrick Langit is a BOC Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC) with over 10 years of clinical experience helping athletes across various sports at the professional, NCAA Division 1 and high school competitive levels. Patrick’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology-Athletic Training from San Diego State University, a Master of Science in Athletic Training from West Virginia University, and a Master of Science in Healthcare Informatics from the University of San Diego. He has continued to develop his expertise with the support of a specialization in performance enhancement from the National Academy of Sports Medicine as well as certifications in manual treatment techniques such as Graston Technique and Myofascial Decompression. He has a passion for injury prevention and treatment in the sport of volleyball and currently works in organizational development at Spine & Sport Physical Therapy. He resides in Chula Vista, California, with his fiance, Carlie, and their dog, Raja.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHORS
The text, graphics and images contained in this book are based solely on the opinion of its authors and should be used only as general recommendations. No material in the book is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.