The central nervous system (CNS) is composed of the spinal cord and brain. Information is sent from the brain to the neuromuscular junction within the muscles that are being activated. This process happens every second of every day even with the tiniest movements. The CNS is extremely important when it comes to the topic of collegiate athletes and their strength and conditioning.
Athletes at Northeastern University are consistenly bombarded with many stimuli, including their strength and conditionig, team practices and games, and even their life as a college student. All of these have a major impact on the CNS. It is primarily up to the strength coach to monitor the CNS of each athlete to ensure it is not being fatigued.
Currently at Northeastern, we are using the OptoJump system. This system is rather complex but very beneficial in terms of data acquisition. On a weekly basis, we test the men’s and women’s hockey team on a battery of tests ranging from ski jumps to reaction times. The purpose of these tests are to ensure our athletes central nervous systems are not being fatigued. At the beginning of the competitive season, we established a baseline for each athlete and throughout the season, we continue to test to ensure they are at or relatively close to their baseline levels. This monitors the fatigue aspect of the CNS. A marked decrease in reaction times, jump heights, and ground contact time can signal the athlete is being overtrained. We also use it to determine when an athlete is ready to return from a concussion or any other head trauma they may have experienced. By having baseline levels, we can determine when the athlete is able to return to play with the assistance of the Athletic Training staff.
It is extremely important to establish a battery of tests for an athletic team that directly tests the CNS. Once the data from these tests are in place, one can adequatley monior the athlete’s CNS throughout the season to ensure the athlete is in top physical condition to compete on the playing field.