Explore the process in which we take our patients outlining the treatments and services we provide along with the benefits of these. All helping you to achieve your end goal of getting back to the activity you love.
RETURN TO ACTIVITY / SPORT
RETURN TO ACTIVITY / SPORT
RETURN TO ACTIVITY
After any injury or surgery, there is a period when there may be loss of joint range of motion (joint mobility) due to pain, swelling, muscle spasm or muscle guarding. Not only does this cause muscle atrophy and weakness around the injured area by ‘Switching muscle off and inhibiting their activation/action’, but this can also have an effect of the joints above and below the injured area, as they try to compensate, creating issues with patterns of movement and motor recruitment.
Restoring joint range of motion (movement) and motor control (muscle activation) safely by specific exercises is vital in the initial stages of rehabilitation.
Addressing the muscle weakness and atrophy is another important component of rehabilitation.
We work with you to ensure the intensity and level of the exercise administered to you at the appropriate stages of healing and soft tissue repair, with the appropriate rest advised as necessary. Using the latest technology in sport medicine to help activate and switch on weakened muscles.
The sooner we can commence the exercise part of the rehabilitation, the sooner we can strengthen the weakened ‘switched off’ muscles and the sooner you can return to full activity and life, enjoying the freedom to move again.
Taka Suzuki
“Salwa is excellent, she has great knowledge about anatomy and therefore finds the points soon that needs to be treated. I would not be able to continue to train hard for the Paralympics in 2020 without her services”
Paralympion swimming athlete
RETURN TO SPORT
For any sport competitors being amateur or professional, commencing a rehabilitation programme in a safe and pain-free environment as soon as possible without aggravation the injury/surgery is key for an early return to sport.
The maintenance of muscular and cardiovascular function is also vital for the none injured areas of your body. Impairments and functional losses are minimised by an early intervention of a rehabilitation programme addressing joint mobility, strength, neuromuscular control, motor patterning, proprioception (the body’s signalling system for the brain to know where the position of your joints and the direction & pressure of your movements) and strength endurance.
Commencing rehabilitation with simple exercises, performed slowly and perfectly executed, gradually increasing in speed and complexity.
The rehabilitation journey must also respect and reproduce the activities and movement patterns required for that particular sport. A rehabilitation programme following injury for a football player would be designed very differently to a programme for a rugby player.
We work with you throughout your rehabilitation journey with motor re-learning, refining and developing skill acquisition necessary for your sport. Helping you return to your sport and peak performance.
TESTING CRITERIA FOR RETURN TO SPORT
In the advanced stage of rehabilitation we use the latest technology and expert advice to help us assess your movement patterns and motor control to detect any compensatory movement patterns that can contribute to further injury. This phase represents an opportunity for us to identify and correct risk factors, reducing the possibility of re-injury. A preventative, proactive approach is fundamental in our medical management of your rehabilitation.
We run through a number of planned functional testing drills to assess your:
- Force generation (ability for the muscle to produce force/power)
- Force absorption (ability of the tissues to handle load)
- Reactive strength (ability to react with speed)
- Endurance strength (ability to perform repeated movement patterns overtime under load)
Through these testing sessions we are able to determine the resilience of the new repaired tissue to handle functional loads, but also to restore your confidence in sport related movement again.
We continually monitor your progress with your rehab programme by a number of parameters, pain, swelling, heat, local redness and your ability to perform the drills and functional activities.
Appropriate load monitoring can also help us determine your ability to progress with your rehabilitation and your gradual return to training and competition.
We fully appreciate that sport rehabilitation and recovery are not always purely physical, but can have some psychological influences that may need to be addressed. We monitor an athlete’s readiness to train or compete by identifying those who maybe physically recovered, but require more time and support to be fully prepared to return to competition. As and when indicated we can refer to a team of sport psychologists if you request that extra support.
