We are very fortunate to be able to work alongside and know some amazing healthcare practitioners. Over the years, it’s been a necessity to be able to network with physios, RMT’s, chiro’s and sport doctors in order to keep our amazing clients and athletes on track. When the unthinkable happens, it’s important to have a great team around you to make sure a progressive plan is formulated (and implemented) to keep us in the game.
Now, we’re not naïve. We know things go wrong. If you are an athlete, you can expect at some point in your career to be hit by some kind of injury or pain. In our experience, it’s never been a matter of “if” so much as a matter of “when”. What we hope to do is simple delay the inevitable and reduce it’s severity. Working with our clients healthcare team is a huge piece of the recovery puzzle.
All too often, we see a lot of division. Every practitioner feels their lane is THE lane. Too many egos plague an industry who’s purpose is to put the client first. In order to get clients the best care and get them back to being their best physical selves, all practitioners need to collaborate. As a client, you must be the bridge that connects them.
Our motto is “there is always something you can do to get better”. Instead of saying “I can’t because”, we encourage asking “how can I?”. So in the interest of being solutions driven versus excuse dependent, here are a few key questions clients can ask their team after an injury/issue to see how they can stay on track and get back to being their best:
Question 1: What CAN I do with the limitations I have currently?
Your rehab team is (hopefully) looking to get you back to your daily activities as soon as possible. Obviously with any injury or chronic issue, there will need to be certain parameters to ensure optimal recovery. It is important to not breach the constraints recommended by your health care team so as not to delay healing. That being said, asking if there are things or activities you can do within those parameters can help keep you in a better state of mind while feeling positive about moving forward in some way. Be sure to work with your rehab specialist on this and consider the risks within your limitations.
Question 2: What does BETTER look like?
Trying to get a better idea of what benchmarks to strive for in your recovery process can help keep you focused and on track. It can also help with progressive improvement; knowing what activities you are now capable of introducing and to what extent. Being able to identify what “better” looks like (and feels like) can help keep us in the conversation with our health care team. It puts us in the drivers seat and provides us the manual. It doesn’t have to be extremely clear cut, but having an idea of what to look for or “feel” during recovery can help quantify the process and either progress (or regress) accordingly.
Question 3: How do I know WHEN to return to play?
Building on our last question, you’d like to establish some form of timeline. Keep in mind that this is a very broad picture to paint; no two injuries or people are the exact same. However, by creating some baseline measures and objective standards, we may better know when to slowly introduce the next steps. Based on what we know to be true of “improvement” or “regression”, we can collaborate with our health care team to continue to move along the recovery road map.
In Closing
We should look to keep rehab a shared space; a collaborative ONGOING approach is best. You need both physios and S/C Coaches throughout; not just physios early and S/Cs later. All too often, practitioners bash heads or cross our lines of scope. While the intentions may be good, the outcome is usually far from it.
For clients and patients, you need both as an ongoing approach to staying healthy, active and in the game. It isn’t one or the other. It is a TEAM based approach, and we all know there isn’t an “I” in team.
