FAILING TO PLAN = PLANNING TO FAIL ¦ The Process of Getting an Injured Athlete Ready to Return - Blog

[Guest Prosoft Admin]

OK, so yea – you got hurt.  You took the time off and did your rehab.  The pain is going away or maybe even gone.  The Range of Motion and Strength are nearing normal.  Day to day life is easy.  Your chomping at the bit.  It’s time to play again right?

WRONG!

Taking an athlete from the level of normal low key life and “good motion and strength” up to actually returning to the playing field or the court can be a dangerous game of skipping ahead way too quickly.  Stop and think for a moment.  Walking, stairs, up and down from sitting, carrying a book bag, reaching into a locker, getting dressed, maybe even cleaning your room or cutting the lawn…they’re all nice examples of physical success.  But they’re hardly comparable to the rigors of competitive sports. 

Running.   Cutting on a dime, suddenly.  Reacting unexpectedly to your opponent’s move.  Banging into other playes on the field.  Swinging or throwing hard.  Falling.  Dealing with unexpected twists and turns.  This takes those “physical successes” to a whole new level.  So how do you properly prepare for them? 

A big key at Peak Performance is that transitional period some call the Return to Function phase.  Since we are thinking “function” right from day one, in terms of biomechanical function and assessing function and exercising with as authentic functional movements as we can, at Peak Performance we don’t wait until the very end of rehab to call the things our pateints are doing as “functional”.   So let’s just call this the Return to Sports Function Progression. 

I have athletes right now who were taken out of a wrist cast and told they could go back to sports in a week or two.  Another young Cross Country runner thinks that once the boot comes off his foot that was allowing his stress fracture to heal that he’s going to resume running and competing within days.  Are these good decisions?  Do they allow the athlete the proper preparation to ensure a safe return? 

The big key is Progression of Forces, Controlled Environments, Structured Risk Accomodation.

By putting an athlete through graduated sequencing of jogging and then running before sprinting, for example, you can ensure quality peformance as the quantity is advanced.  It gives the athlete’s body time to adapt at least somewhat to these increasing demands before putting them in riskier situations before they have proven competence at simpler and less stressful  activities with lesser forces invovled.  As they show competence and high quality then the progression can be advanced at a quicker rate…but only after they can prove success!

The same holds true for the agility phase.  Jog pace change of direction, agility, reaction, landing, and plyometric drills must be performed before higher intensities make sesne.  This is a prime area where risk of injury for the hips, knees, and ankles is higher.  For upper extremity athletes they will gradually begin a light return to their sport activity movements.  For example, a volleyball hitter can practice floor hits first, in standing or light serves before trying to do spiking.  A swimmer may do short intervals of a less painful stroke, for example oftentimes the breastsroke, before trying the stroke that gave them the most symptoms previously.  Intensity and volume of that easier stroke can be built up before trying the freestyle for example, for just 25 yds. 

If you had a young athlete pick up a 15 lb dumbbell, you wouldn’t assume they could handle a 50 lb’er next would you?  Don’t you want to see them at least pick up the 25 lb and the 35lb and maybe even the 40 lb dumbbell before letting them try a 50lb?  Progression of forces in a controlled environment with structured risk accomodation. 

Whether that sequencing happens over just a few days or over two months, it depends on the injury and how successful or challenged the athlete is with the demands provided.  Just remember, we’re not here to throw our young athletes to the wolves so to say.  You can use simple, thoughtful, structured progressions of forces and demands and risks to minimize the chance that athlete is unnecessarily exposed to a type of force, or amount of force, and unexpected movement they cannot handle. 

We’ll talk more about some key thoughts in the Return to Sport Function Progression in the next show.  So keep listening.  And remember to call us at Peak Performance at 218-0240 if you need help getting your young athlete back to their Peak Performance!