Not a question today
More of a rant.
I train at my kids' hurling club gym.
It's small, but has everything I need, more or less.
Some days I am in with some of the players,which I enjoy.
And I often ask them questions about why they're doing particular exercises or offer tips for improving an exercise if appropriate.
The other day I saw one lad bench pressing with his feet up.
Before I got to ask why, one of the other lads did.
And he told us about his back injuries.
And then mentioned an old hamstring issue.
Later, it was just he and I left in the gym and he was doing some back squats.
I was impressed.
And related how my own history of back injury made the back squat impossible for me for several years.
He opened up at this point, and this is where my rant begins…
He told me he was following his sport S&C program today.
He also had a physio who gave him a rehab program that he follows, mostly at home.
When he does the physio program he is fit to play, when he stops he quickly suffers with symptoms once again.
This has been a multi year cycle at this stage
This is not rehab.
Neither is having 2 separate programs that means he has to train/rehab 6 days per week just to keep the symptoms at bay enough to play.
Physios and S&C coaches should work together as a team.
The two programs should amalgamate into a single plan
After all, both the S&C coach and the physio have the same goal.
To help the player play to the best of their ability.
This was the precise reason I had a network of physios in Dublin, we would refer clients to each other, I'd send them for initial physio and they'd send to me for continuation of that physio into a training plan and not only back to fitness, but beyond the point they were when they got hurt.
Good thinking and programming shouldn't simply mask an injury, keep it at bay so long as you are doing an hour plus a day, but reduce it as far as possible.
Granted, I prefer to use the term “injury management” because I know many injuries actually cannot be totally fixed, but we have to manage them.
But the goal is to not have to manage them, wisdom though, that tells us we can't always reach our goal.
Injury management should be simple.
A small handful of movements that can be fidgeted with through the day, used as part of a warm up and even during breaks in the sporting arena
A good S&C training program takes the rehab into account and build on it, add intensity to it. It should take the rehab and smoothly transition it into effective training.
It's not a generic collection of Squats, rows and presses, but it's a thought out, dynamic program that evolves the rehab into training and on into performance.
Yes there will be variations of a Squat, variations of a press, variations of a pull, but these will be chosen according to the athletes needs.
Done well, some injuries disappear completely in time.
Others will need some degree of ongoing maintenance.
But we shouldn't need hours per week spent just to be able to move, excepting for that initial post injury stage.
If you do get handed a plan that takes hours to follow on a daily basis, you may be wise to get a second opinion.
And if your S&C/fitness coach isn't looking at the notes and exercises the physio sent you, then consider a new coach or at least ask them to do better.
I have likened a team of coaches and physios to the spokes in a wheel. The hub of that wheel is you, the athlete.
And if each spoke does their job in conjunction with every other spoke, that wheel will roll straight and smooth.
It's simple, not easy
But you, the hub, the athlete, the person hiring these professionals to help you, you are the boss.
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Regards
Dave Hedges
www.DaveHedges.net
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