The Benefit of Physiotherapy in non elite sport.

Now as you all know, at the elite level athletes have Physiotherapists, massage therapists, sports psychologists, strength and conditioning coaches, technical coaches, dietitians etc. etc. etc.

Now in the world of elite sport, money and time are less of a problem, meaning all of the above is more possible. But clearly all of this is a necessity otherwise they wouldn't bother.

So why do they bother?

It improves training, improves performance, faster recovery times, reduces injury risk and gets them back much quicker.

Now I'm not saying that all of this should be done to the letter in non elite sport as it wouldn't be possible but I think that elements are required and this is highlighted by what I see everyday.

For example: I see runners who just run, nothing else and believe it or not, they get inured. I see athletes who have no recovery time and believe it or not, they also get injured.

When athletes get injured they simply rest for a few days and then try to return to sport and guess what? They have gone back too soon and they get injured.

This was really highlighted yesterday when I was on twitter. I was on a few local running clubs profiles and the amount of runners that were talking about being injured was amazing and some actually had written "Constantly or always injured runner" in their bio descriptions! Damming evidence that something is drastically wrong. It is frustrating as a physio because with a little help it doesn't have to be this way.

Now I'm not going to cover old ground but here are a few examples:

Strengthening:

Muscle-building exercises reduces the risk of sporting injury by 68% and stretching was found to make no difference to injury risk (Lauersen et al 2013). How many athletes do loads of stretching and no strengthening work?

Recovery:

Athletes with less than 2 rest days per week have a 5.2 times higher risk of injury (Ristolainen 2014).

If you want more details about how much more you should be doing then have a look at the following:

General stuff:

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/muscle-blog-series-part-1-introduction.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/muscle-blog-series-part-2-muscle-injury.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/muscle-blog-series-part-3-muscle.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/muscle-blog-series-part-4-delayed-onset.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/muscle-blog-series-part-5-muscular.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/muscle-blog-series-part-5-strength.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/muscle-blog-series-part-6-power.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/muscle-blog-series-part-8-core-stability.html

Stuff for runners:

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/running-blog-part-1-injury-incidence.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/running-blog-series-part-2-strengthening.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/running-blog-series-part-3-running.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/running-blog-series-part-4-core.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/running-blog-series-part-5-nutrition.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/running-blog-series-part-6-stretching.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/running-blog-series-part-7-footwear-and.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/running-blog-series-part-8-recovery.html

http://mathewhawkesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/running-blog-series-part-9-what-to-do.html

As you can see this is a lot of information, which means you probably aren't doing enough of the right things to keep you going.

If you need any further information or would like to book in for a session then visit my website for all the details:

www.hawkesphysiotherapy.co.uk