Skip to content
Sports Injury | Online
  • Running training and injury
  • All injury articles
    • All injury regions
    • Injury management articles
    • Foot and ankle pain articles
    • Calf and shin pain articles
    • Knee pain articles
    • Thigh pain articles
    • Hip and groin pain articles
    • Lower back and buttock pain articles
  • About us
    • Sports injury app
    • For fitness & health professionals
    • Pete Colagiuri – Sports Physiotherapist
Strength training for leg injuries
  • by Pete Colagiuri - Sports Physiotherapist
  • Strength training for leg injuries is perfect for building tissue tolerance and movement patterns as it’s highly configurable for specific goals
  • Strength training should be carefully controlled and progressed in keeping with tissue healing and injury recovery
  • Exercises target potential underlying causes, maintenance of general leg strength and progressive loading of the injured tissue

Phase 1

  • Gentle loading on the injured structure
    • No more than mild discomfort at the injury site
    • No residual soreness after exercises
    • In stable positions (on two feet, holding on to support, etc)
    • Eg. Isometric (static) holds while leaning against a wall
  • Moderate loading on uninjured areas
    • Focus on maintaining strength in areas that can support injured area
    • Include a mix of strength, stability and movement pattern exercises
    • Complex movement patterns are not required
    • Eg. Double and single leg deadlift for an ankle sprain (no ankle movement required, double leg targets strength, single leg targets stability)
  • Cardio training without stressing the injured area
    • If possible, add some simple cardio in but not at the risk of irritating the healing tissue
    • Cardio selection does not need to be related to your sporting goals
    • Use an interval or variable intensity approach for best effect
    • Eg. Bike for 10min including 5min of 20sec hard:10sec easy repeats
Shoulder elevated single leg hip bridge – performed with speed, it improves trunk strength and leg power as you get closer to returning to full training

Phase 3

  • Load the injured tissue during complex movements
    • Select movement patterns that mimic sporting demands
    • Control the loading via speed, range and complexity of the movement
    • There should be no discomfort or soreness at the injury site, however mild tightness may be experienced
    • Eg. Walking lunge for calf tears
  • Add a combination of heavy loading, complex and high speed movements
    • Select sport-specific movement patterns
    • Deliberately involve the injured area but only with correct technique (no compensations)
    • Add load or speed based on the requirements of the sport
    • Eg. Box jumps for return to basketball
  • Sport-specific cardio
    • Focus on correct technique separately, ie. not during high intensity sessions
    • Be wary of fatigue as it will adversely affect technique
    • Short sessions of high intensity with variable workload are best for regaining fitness
    • Eg. Running intervals of 100m with longer rest breaks
Single leg TRX row – great for deceleration and downhill running with high demands on quads, hip & trunk strength and control
Talar dome lesion – a complication of ankle sprain
Bone stress reaction – what, why and how to fix it

Content

  • Running training and injury
  • All injury articles
    • Foot and ankle pain articles
    • Calf and shin pain articles
    • Knee pain articles
    • Thigh pain articles
    • Hip and groin pain articles
    • Lower back and buttock pain articles
  • Injury management articles

Most viewed articles

  • Calf pain that just won’t go away?
  • Deep hip rotator overload – buttock and hip pain
  • Pulled stomach muscle? This is what it feels like!
  • Why is my sprained ankle not getting better?

Latest articles

  • 8 best running shoes for bad knees
  • 2 reasons to avoid hip flexor stretches
  • parkrun Sydney – course description and start time for all 29 locations

Looking for something specific?

Need content for your site?

If you’re interested in sharing content on your website or you’d like content written for your site on a specific topic, message me on our Facebook page. I don’t charge any fees for my shared content.

Copyright 2021 Physio Rehab Apps (Australia)
Theme by Colorlib Powered by WordPress