What is Prehab and how can it help towards your fitness goals?

Prehab, also known as prehabilitation, is the opposite of rehab and aims to prevent injuries. Known as a proactive method of conditioning that is designed to build resilience in the body to prevent injury, prehab aims to strengthen common injury sites in the body, such as the rotator cuff or ACL.

The aim of prehab is to prevent our bodies from injury before it happens. By strengthening and improving flexibility in muscles, ligaments, and tendons – our bodies can be best prepared to withstand exercise and sport, reducing the injury risk and keeping athletes on track with their training goals.

Setbacks will always happen in one way or another, but by including prehab within our training we may be able to see some great benefits like reduce risk of injury, improve joint range of movement, positive carry-over impact on strength and power and more.

Prehab exercises are designed to challenge an athlete in core strength, stability, and movement, and therefore exercises can vary greatly dependent on the athlete's discipline or previous injuries. Complex multi-plane movements to prepare the body for more complex exercises or sporting demands.

With prehab being a preventative approach to sports injury, it should be included as part of your regular training to reduce the chance of acute or chronic injury. Often, it will take many setbacks from injury to motivate individuals to consider including prehab exercises within their training program, but you don't have to wait to get started.