Aerial Surfing and Injury Prevention

Preventing Ankle and Knee Injuries

Coach Craig CSCS, ACSM-CPT, CPTS

Like a viral infection, the aerial attack has swept over the surfing nation. From inverted slob grabs to the rodeo flips, air innovation has slowly crept it's way into all facets of surfing. Whether you like it or not, airs are here to stay and probably continue to march into further progression.

While surfing, surfers target their launch ramp, compress, extend, launch, and land. Air heights can vary depending on the force produced by the wave and the surfer himself. The higher you fly, the harder you will fall. Landing an air is the tricky part due to the fact that you land on a surface that is constantly changing and is unstable. Quite often our center of gravity during a landing is not centered between our feet which leads to awkward recoveries (especially if inverted or rotating in the air). Knee and ankle injuries are stacking up in numbers because of the critical landing phase of an air. Unfortunately a good sprain or strain can keep you out of the water for a good ten weeks.

How can we prevent these knee and ankle injuries from occurring?

Since no wave is ever the same, it is safe to assume that no landing will ever be exactly the same. As mentioned earlier, our center of gravity will most likely vary on every landing. But we do know one thing for a fact, that when an individual lands from jumping, their “gluteus maximus”, aka their butt or glutes, should be the primary muscle that decelerates the body while landing. Without deceleration (slowing down), we would end up flat faced on the ground.

The glutes should be responsible for taking care of deceleration, BUT yes there are other muscles that can assist. In fact the hamstrings are often referred to as the glute's "assisters". If the glutes are inhibited or weak, these hamstrings along with other muscles, have no choice but take on the most of the workload when decelerating. Since the hamstrings aren't anatomically designed to take on deceleration alone, undo stress can be transferred down to the ankle and knee joints. This stress will eventually lead to strains, sprains, or even breaks.

So point being, we must make it a priority to strengthen the glutes. It is the most powerful muscle in the lower extremity of our body. These muscles cross over one joint (the hip) thus making it a mono-articular muscle.

The glutes have several functions. First, they allow for hip extension. Without hip extension we wouldn’t be able to walk, run, or jump. The glutes also assist in lateral stabilization of the hip and knee joint. They are also responsible for external rotation of the femur. Last but not least, it allows for DECELERATION of the body.

There are tons of exercises out there to strengthen the glutes. Squats, dead lifts, or even leg presses are all great. But why not get to the meat of things and actually use an exercise that functionally trains the glutes to decelerate. Training the glutes with an exercise that mimics deceleration (like that which is used in landing airs) will provide better and faster results.

One such exercise is the reaching lunge. This particular exercise trains the glutes to decelerate from the forces of gravity. Heck you don't even need to go to a gym or need any equipment to perform it.

The video provided will give visual instructions on performing this movement. Watch the video before reading onward...

1. The first exercise is the forward reaching lunge. Now in the video I am holding a medicine ball, but if you have never performed this, go ahead and use your fingertips to reach out. The beginning position is in lunge position. Both knees are flexed and you have about one to two feet between each foot. Make sure the front foot is flat, and the back foot has the heel off the ground. Perform the exercise by reaching forward and keeping the front foot flat. Make sure not to let the front foot heel come up as it will might lead to unnecessary loading of the front knee. When the body comes forward allow the back to round and flex. The video shows me reaching almost to the floor but beginners should take caution. Start by reaching forward to hip height, then move to knee height, ankle, then eventually to the floor. It is all about progression. If it hurts or feels uncomfortable, regress to a higher point. Remember safety first.

2. The second exercise is the lateral reaching lunge. It is performed a little different from the frontal lunge. Surfers should start with the feet apart, slightly wider than the shoulders. If you look into the mirror your body should form an "A frame” with your arms on the side. Unlike the frontal lunge, both feet will be flat on the floor all throughout the movement. Remember start with reaching to hip height then slowly progress downward to the low point. Notice that the trailing leg should remain straight.

To sum up, reaching lunges are probably one of the best dynamically active and functional exercise to fire up the glutes. Since the reach is performed in the lunge position, it allows you to strengthen each side (whether the right or left glute) independently. Everybody has a weak and strong side, therefore each glute should be trained equally with this exercise. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns or questions, we are happy to answer back.

Copyright 2012 Aloha Fitness of Palm Beach Company, Surf Kinetics, Kinetics Performance Corp.