The Role of Plyometrics in Injury Recovery
If you’ve been through an injury, you know the frustration of the recovery process.
You may have been given standard exercises to “strengthen your muscles” or told to rest and take it easy.
This can feel like a never-ending cycle, and often, progress can be slow or nonexistent.
While I firmly believe in the importance of progressive exposure to exercise for improving recovery and resilience, today I want to focus on a specific approach that’s often overlooked: plyometric training.
People often go from rest to strengthening (usually not well enough) and then just return to sport or activity, and they completely miss out plyometrics.
Which is crazy, as they’re essential for preparing us for activity.
Plyometric training bridges the gap between strength work and real-world, high-impact movements, ensuring the body is truly ready for the demands of sport.
What Are Plyometrics?
Plyometrics are explosive movements that train the body to generate and absorb force efficiently.
They utilise the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC)—a natural mechanism in which muscles quickly lengthen before contracting forcefully.
This process consists of three key phases: the eccentric phase, where the muscle lengthens and stores elastic energy; the amortisation phase, a brief transition where the energy is retained; and the concentric phase, where the stored energy is released in a powerful movement.
Exercises like jumping, hopping, and bounding take advantage of this cycle to develop speed, strength, and resilience—making them a key tool in both performance and rehabilitation.
Restoring Muscle Power and Function
After an injury, your muscles and joint stability can decondition.
Plyometric exercises focus on rapid, explosive movements, which can help restore lost muscle power and joint function.
They improve the body’s ability to efficiently generate and absorb force, enhancing overall movement quality and reducing excessive strain on joints and tendons—both crucial in rehabilitation.
Gradual Return to High-Impact Movements
One of the key benefits of plyometrics is their ability to facilitate a safe and controlled return to high-impact activities.
A structured approach—starting with low-intensity movements like pogo jumps or skipping, before progressing to more demanding drills like depth jumps—allows your body to adapt to mechanical stress without overwhelming it. This progression is essential in reintroducing impact gradually and ensuring tissue capacity is restored.
Improving Coordination and Neuromuscular Control
Injuries can disrupt the communication between your muscles and nervous system, leading to coordination issues.
Plyometric drills have been shown to enhance motor control, improving proprioception and balance.
This is particularly important when returning to sports or daily activities where quick, coordinated movements are necessary.
By incorporating exercises that challenge landing mechanics and reactive control, such as hopping drills or lateral bounds, you improve the body’s ability to absorb and redistribute force effectively—reducing stress on joints and lowering injury risk
Building Resilience to Prevent Future Injuries
Plyometric training contributes to long-term resilience by increasing tendon stiffness and enhancing muscle-tendon function, making your body better equipped to handle unexpected forces.
This not only aids in recovery but also lowers your risk of future injuries.
Research supports the role of plyometrics in developing robust tendons and improving energy transfer efficiency, which is key for both injury prevention and optimising performance.
While strength training is important, incorporating plyometrics into your rehab will significantly enhance your recovery process.
By restoring function, improving coordination and preventing future injuries, they offer a vital approach to rehabilitation.
If you want to learn more about how to integrate plyometrics into your recovery plan, let me know. I’d be happy to help.
If you want help with anything injury-related, then feel free to Book In, and we can get you on the journey to becoming pain-free again.
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If you want to help with anything injury related then feel free to Book In and we can get you on the journey to becoming pain free again.
Give us a follow on Instagram for more free and informative content.