Ways to Be Fit, Pro-Style

By: Marian Uhlman
Posted In: Sports

PHILADELPHIA – Face it, weekend warriors. You are more likely to win the lottery than get the 24/7 health services dished out to superhuman professional athletes.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t fantasize. Or at least gain a few nuggets to take back to the workout room.

First, you can’t hope to replicate the Philadelphia Eagles’ health care. Period. Head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder speed-dials for the best of everything, from physical therapists to nutritionists. He has 30 doctors on call, including a gynecologist for players’ wives.

He’s got the latest gadgets and three therapy pools — one is set at 50 degrees to reduce swelling after a hard workout.

And he has handy access to players’ daily medical tests. He knows how hydrated players need to be and when to dole out Gatorade, pickle juice, or the baby product Pedialyte, to replace lost fluids and salt from intense sweating.

“I have endless funds, endless health-care providers,” said Burkholder, 40, who has been the Eagles head athletic trainer since 1999.

“You are limited by what your insurance company allows you to do,” he said. “And you are limited by your lack of stardom, by the health-care providers you can use.”

And you won’t get an immediate IV as Eagle safety Brian Dawkins did last month. He left the playoff game against Minneapolis to receive fluids against leg cramps. He returned before missing a play.

Yet even though professional athletes get more and better care, some of their regimen works for mere wannabes. None of these ideas is new, but they are evolving, and Burkholder is paying plenty of attention to them.

At the forefront, he said, are two strategies that are important to the pros and applicable to the average sportsman: strengthening the body’s core and focusing on balance.

CORE STABILITY

The concept involves tuning up an athlete’s thighs and midsection, Burkholder said. When a player pulls a hamstring, for instance, the treatment is not focused just on that muscle group, but also will involve strengthening the buttocks, the abdomen, and the lower back.

The team uses large Swiss balls, which also are becoming popular with the general public, to firm up these muscles and improve balance during the preseason. One exercise involves sitting on the ball and alternately raising and lowering a leg. Another has a player placing his stomach on the ball and raising and lowering a leg, bent at the knee.

Jim Thornton, a director-elect of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, said “a gazillion” exercises can help average people strengthen their cores and become more athlete-like (but check with a health professional before you start an exercise regimen). One example: Put your shoulders and head, face up, on a Swiss ball, stretch out your torso and bend your knees so your feet are on the floor. Hold the L-shape, then drop your buttocks, as far as is comfortable, and bring it up again. Repeat.

Another suggestion: Lie face up on the floor with knees bent and feet planted firmly on the ground. Lift your torso, leaving only your feet, head and shoulders on the floor.

Strengthening the core isn’t new, but the concept is gaining a large following in exercise programs around the country. A stronger core is a goal of Pilates, an 80-year-old system that coordinates body and breath to firm up the abdomen and back.

“Pilates and yoga add to core stability and balance, making you a healthier person,” Burkholder said.

The Eagles haven’t adopted Pilates as a team program, Burkholder said, because it is “tough for our guys,” who lose interest too quickly. “They don’t have the attention span,” he said.

But a few players may soon have the practice added to their training program, he said.

BALANCE WORK

In conditioning and rehab, Burkholder emphasizes proprioception _ a person’s ability to sense the location of his body. This ability is important for an athlete to make quick adjustments in movement and maintain balance. Allen Iverson’s proprioception must be off the charts, Burkholder said, because he can change direction so rapidly.

But an injury can shut down sensory receptors that signal information to the brain about the body’s position, Thornton said. He said balance training helps re-educate the receptors to gain neuromuscular control. Someone may be recovering from a sprained ankle, but fall down and blame their weak ankle. The ankle was probably strong enough, Burkholder said, but it hadn’t regained its sense of balance.

He uses a variety of techniques to help athletes enhance proprioception and muscle control. He puts injured players into a current pool and has them stand on one foot as the water pushes against them.

He’ll also have players stand on balance boards and large balls cut in half. They’ll perch on one foot and then the other.

Balance training should be part of a complete workout – for anyone, Thornton said. Here is an idea: With hands on hips, squat on one leg, but only so far as maintaining control. Then come up and switch to the other leg.

HYDROTHERAPY

Water treatment has become more sophisticated, too. When the Eagles moved into their new training facility several years ago, they got three new pools for training and rehab: the cold plunge, the hot spa, and the main pool with a hydraulic floor that allows players to be lowered into the water.

The pool’s depth can be adjusted — deeper for a recently injured athlete, shallower for someone on the mend. Injured athletes who can’t walk because of a sprain can exercise in water the next day. The water offers them the benefits of movement without the stress of weight.

The pool also contains a treadmill so that injured players can start running. And it has cameras to help analyze their gait.

Burkholder said pool therapy is excellent for everybody.

“They can get back on their feet quicker,” he said. “Most people who sprain an ankle or tear up a knee sit around for six weeks until the swelling goes down. They never move and then they never catch up. If we can get them in a pool right away, that will help them.”

Thornton said he routinely gets athletes into a standard pool at Clarion University, northeast of Pittsburgh, where he is head athletic trainer.

He has them jog in chest- or waist-deep water. They also jog backward, run sideways, and slice Figure-8 patterns. They can be injured – or not. These exercises can be used to prevent injuries or help in rehab. Besides, Thornton said, water exercises can provide a tough workout and offer a break from other regimens.

POINTERS FOR THE PUBLIC

So what about people who just want to stay in shape or maybe even win an occasional Saturday afternoon tennis match or two?

They should avoid doing too much, too fast, Burkholder said, or they risk inflammation, pain and injury.

They also should make sure that they are getting good advice about their form – from swinging a golf club to playing catch with a kid. Many injuries result from poor technique, he said.

The take-home message?

“Just live your life healthy and active and you are going to be further along in the long run,” he said.

“Eat right, sleep right, train right.”

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c 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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