Back in the Game: How to Return to Sport after a Wear-and-Tear Injury
Description: Coming back from an injury isn’t easy. Push the athlete too hard and the injury gets worse. Keep the athlete in bed for two weeks, and her muscles will stiffen and atrophy, making a proper recovery next-to-impossible. So what do you do? How can you guide your players along that tightrope of recovery and ensure they don't fall off?
Based on my 25 years of clinical experience as an orthopaedic surgeon and professional sports consultant, I’ll teach you my step-by-step approach to resolving wear-and-tear injuries so your players can get off the bench and get back in the game.
I’ll begin with the basics of the musculoskeletal system, with a focus on understanding the different ways in which imbalances develop through overloading and repetitive motion. From there, I’ll take you through the Performance Pyramid, my graduated approach to injury recovery that begins with the fundamentals — muscle activation and the relaxation and rebalancing of the soft tissues — and then moves through the different tiers of performance: endurance, strength, power, and speed.
With these tips and tools, not only will you be able to get your athletes back to peak performance, but you’ll learn how imbalances develop so you can prevent injuries from happening in the first place.