The Importance Of Post Rehab Fitness And Return To Play Programs
The Importance Of Post Rehab Fitness
The number of injuries is astounding in our youth athletes, whether it is the lower limb with ACL sprains or the upper limb with UCL “Tommy John” sprains. It seems to be happening more and more each year. Some of the factors include over-training, single-sport specialization, and lack of strength and conditioning programs. All these factors need to be addressed to help prevent these injuries, but that is a conversation for another day.
To be able to “prevent these injuries is an important part, but what happens if you’re already injured and are going through this painstaking process? Minor injuries happen all the time and are often managed in a few weeks or so and you return to playing without a problem. On the other hand, are the more significant injuries that can take 6 months to over a year to recover from and are the injuries that are devastating to youth athletes. It not only affects the short term but long term as well with an increase in serious osteoarthritis and the need for joint replacement in their mid 40’s. Remember there is no guarantee they will return to play at the level they did prior to the injury. Only 50% of athletes with ACL replacement surgery return to their previous level of competition. While the prognosis is a little better for UCL elbow injuries there has been an increase in the re-tears of the surgically repaired ligaments in recent years. This leads me to question: are we missing something and what gaps need to be filled?
So when these injuries occur what naturally happens to that athlete? A decrease in cardiovascular conditioning, overall strength, and stability, which leads to weight gain and a lack of coordination. In turn, an increased amount of stress is placed on the injured joint and compensatory factors throughout the body. Now you might say You can still play the sport but are you able to do it proficiently and as effectively as you did before? To address these issues we must be patient and comprehensive. Too often we think that physical therapy is enough and we go until our visits run out or even worse we come back way too soon. In these instances, the body is unprepared and guess what everyone else on the field has been playing and training while you have been recovering.
This is where proper post-rehab fitness and a return to play sport performance programs are so important. Youth athletes have access to skilled athletic trainers and strength and conditioning specialists to monitor their ability to perform and can help determine a safe return to play. They are experienced, knowledgeable, and can fill the void from rehab to performing at your best. A comprehensive strength program along with a tailored conditioning plan will serve to benefit these young athletes not only immediately on the field, but improve their quality of life after sport.
