The Perform Prevent Recover Podcast

Stretching for Athletic Performance and Injury Prevention: worth it, or a waste of time?

Welcome to Episode 6 of the Perform Prevent Recover Podcast series and in this episode we take a look at the topic that probably has the most controversy surrounding it in the sports world - stretching!
Stretching has been around for decades, and has always formed just an accepted component of the athlete's world, be it as part of a warm up, or warm down, or part of the training program to help increase flexibility.
But so many questions are now being asked of stretching: Does it work? Can we actually increase flexibility with stretching? Do we even need more flexibility? Is there any potential harm in stretching?
This podcast delves deep into the purpose and goals that so many people give when justifying why they stretch, including:
1. Stretching to increase flexibility
2. Stretching to warm up
3. Stretching for injury prevention
4. Stretching to prevent exercise soreness
5. Stretching to treat and manage injuries
6. Stretching for performance enhancement
7. Stretching for muscle tightness and trigger points
8. Stretching to feel good
We will go through each and every one of these reasons, explain the research and evidence available to us, and give you all some food for thought regarding stretching in sport.
By the end of it, any of you that do a lot of stretching, may just find you can free up a lot of time for other more important and more beneficial performance enhancers!

Managing Injuries With Ice - Have We Reached Melting Point?

For years, putting ice on sporting injuries has been the widely accepted method of managing acute damage, maximising healing times, and ensuring return to play happened as quickly as possible.
Even now, the RICE regime is one of the first things taught in a First Aid or Sports Trainers Course. Nearly everyone knows what the RICE acronym means:Rest - Ice - Compress - Elevate
But we're starting to hear a few grumbles about ice, and questions on whether it is doing what we think it is! 
- Does ice help stop bleeding after an injury?
- Is swelling and inflammation reduced if we apply ice as soon as the damage occurs?
- Will ice application speed up the healing process, or inhibit it?
- Should we not apply ice at all?
What a massive question this is for not not only all the athletes and sporting participants, but all coaches, physio's, doctors, and health professionals who routinely prescribe ice for many injuries and conditions - falls, strains, post operative etc.
To understand why there are questions around ice, and to be able to make up your own mind, you need to first understand the physiology behind healing. What happens in the healing process, and will ice potentially contribute or impede this healing process? SSPC Physiotherapist Anthony Lance will take your through the four phases of healing as listed below, with particular emphasis on the Bleeding and Inflammatory phases:
(Image Credit: Watson, 2006; Electrotherapy & Tissue Repair)
Listen to Anthony explain in detail these healing phases, and compare this to what ice application actually does. Anthony will look at what other health professionals are saying and explain a new acronym that may well replace the RICE acronym we are so accustomed to!
By the end of this podcast, there should be enough information to have you thinking seriously about how long you will use ice for after an injury, or if in fact you will use ice at all!

Recovery Strategies - What does the research tell us?

Recovery! Almost every athlete has their own strategy. We know that recovery is critical - good recovery allows us to return to our next training session ready to train hard again, or ready to compete at our maximum possible potential!
But what works and what doesn't? In this episode we chat to Physiotherapist and athlete Emily McLean and ask her what recovery methods she advises in her Physiotherapy role, and what recovery methods she uses herself in her athletics world.
In particular, we delve into the research project on Recovery she completed on Recovery, and discuss what the evidence suggests we should do. Emily chats about
- Cold Water Immersion Therapy
- Contrast Water Therapy
- Compression Garments
- Massage Therapy
- Overtraining and Undertraining
- Periodisation of Recovery
- Sleep and Nutrition
and a whole lot more.
Hear a general overview of recovery techniques as a preparation for our next few episodes which will dissect the modalities of stretching and ice, and look even more specifically into these two popular recovery methods.

Athlete Feature: Donna Urquhart, Ultra-Distance Runner, Australian Representative, Physiotherapist

During my 30 years working as Physiotherapist I've had the privilege to work with many great athletes, but possibly none as inspirational and humble as Donna Urquhart.
Beginning jogging in her late teens just to take a brain break from her heavy Physiotherapy undergraduate studies, Donna progressed quickly to triathlons, completing arguably in the pinnacle of triathlon events - the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii - then to outdoor endurance adventure racing and finally to ultra distance running, where the distances have increased from 50km events, to 100km, and now to 24 hour ultra events.
What makes Donna's story so fascinating (and relevant for so many other people) is the fact that her running began as a pastime, not an obsession, and has always been fitted in between studies, her important work as a Physiotherapy researcher at Monash University, and her number one role as wife and mother.
In this podcast, I delve into Donna's amazing progression, not only through different sports, but also in becoming an Australian representative in ultra distance running so soon after becoming serious about the sport. Many topics are discussed, including:
the many races she has completed and difficulties encountered along the way in each race.
"The Trail Beyond" race concept initiated by Donna: 4 Australian women, the 4 toughest ultra marathons in the Asia Pacific region, in 4 months.
her battle with injuries and amazing ability to turn negatives into positives.
an average weekly training schedule
mental strategies for coping with in-race hurdles and dark times.
race strategies for 24 hour endurance events.
the research she has completed on pain tolerance in ultra distance runners...  and a whole lot more!
In this episode you will hear Donna talk about all the highs and lows, the lessons learnt, the mottos she lives by, and her next plan - competing in a "Last Man Standing" event. There are so many "take home" messages from listening to Donna, regardless of what you do in life.
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How Kipchoge, Sport Science & Nike Combined To Break The Magical 2 Hour Marathon Barrier

What happens when a great athlete combines with sports science and technology, and has an assault on a previously unattainable barrier - success...and controversy!
There has been a huge buzz in athletics world as Nike, in partnership with Eliud Kipchoge, planned an assault not only on on the marathon World Record, but also the previously unbreakable 2 hour marathon barrier. Kipchoge held the official world record time of 2:01: 39 seconds, set at Berlin in 2018, but this was just an all out attempt to break 2 hours.
In the first attempt, Nike's "Breaking2" project at Monza Italy, the world's greatest current (and maybe all time) marathon runner missed by only 25 seconds.
On 12th October 2019 in Vienna, when Kipchoge managed to succeed on this second attempt, he did so in arguably the most orchestrated and controlled running event ever held. Reaction has ranged from joy and amazement at a truly incredible athlete, to despair at how so many variables, other than Kipchoges pure ability, were responsible for his performance.
Perhaps the most overwhelming reaction and talk amongst the running packs surrounds the shoes that Kipchoge wore, and that’s what this podcast delves into – has technology and science overcome raw human capability and performance?
In this episode we hear from multiple Australian National and State Cross Country champion, Rob O'Donnell, and discuss everything that went in to the second attempt to enable Kipchoge to go under the 2 hour mark. And Rob is uniquely qualified to comment on these topics, being not only a former elite level runner, but being a Physiotherapist for almost 30 years and now treating many of Australia's great distance runners.
Whilst the focus of the podcast is the Nike Alphafly that Kipchoge wore, Rob also discusses the course, the timing, the pacers, the assistance, and the great man Kipchoge himself!
Enjoy!

Load Management: Why Training Harder IS Training Smarter!

What is Load Management, and why is the general perception of this term contributing to increased injury risk? 
In this podcast we take a look at the definition of Load Management and why the wrong perception may lead to Detraining or Undertraining, and even occasionally Overtraining. 
For many, training smarter automatically conjure up the thought of training less, but we'll explain why training smarter often means training harder. To achieve optimal human performance in any sport (and to reduce injury risk), athletes may actually need to be training harder.  But to train well, whether you need to train more or less, you will need a system. And we'll explain how the "Acute Chronic Workload ratio" is a great component of a system to help you do achieve this. 
So delve into the fascinating world of Load Management, and let us help you develop a system and approach that helps you have High Performance at the forefront of your training ideas, whilst at the same time reducing the risk of injury along the way.