Like any other movements a goalie makes, the Reverse VH looks pretty straight forward until you try to get into position and realize your body doesn’t really want to bend that way.
Over the last year I have received a myriad of emails about how to reduce the strain in this position – sometimes you tell me that you are feeling it in your hip, some of you your ankle and most of you are feeling it in your knee.
So when I was out on the ice with Future Pro Goaltending’s Jason VanSpronsen and the Sarnia Sting’s Justin Fazio we had a closer look at the position and technical modifications you can make on the ice to reduce that feeling like your knee is going to explode AND put you in a better position to recover and respond to the play.
Here’s what I mean…
If you cannot see the video above, just click the link below
https://vimeo.com/user2591012/review/121388011/a96aa7e9ec
Do Not Try To Stretch In This Position
For the knee that is down, this is a really tough position for the knee – it requires extreme internal rotation at the hip and extreme external rotation of the tibia relative to the knee – so this means your knee is literally being twisted to its limit.
Not only is their torque on the medial collateral ligament, but there is compression on the menisci – so this is not a position you are going to sit in constantly as you try to improve your flexibility. The reason it feels bad is because your knee is not designed to do it.
What Can You Do?
The good news is that by working on the stretches you should already be doing for your hips, such as hip internal rotation, you can help share the rotation across both your knee and your hip, this will help take some pressure off.
You can take off a little more knee strain if you are looking after your ankle mobility so it can help share the load.
Here’s How…
If you cannot see the video above, just click the link below
https://vimeo.com/user2591012/review/120012595/5e3a2b300a
Do 1-2 sets of 12 reps each way for the inversion and eversion and do five circles each way for the closed chain ankle circumduction.
Cheers,
M
PS – if your season just ended (a little earlier than you would like) here’s what to do – take a couple weeks off and then hit it HARD for the off-season. THIS will help make the past season a distant memory and next season unforgettable.