A Physio’s guide to a Safe Return to Sport
Longevity Exercise Physiology Drummoyne, Edgecliff, Marrickville, Bella Vista, Randwick, Lindfield and Balmain team up with Michelle, from Flow Physio Randwick,to take a closer look at safe return to sport.
Ashleigh has been working closely with Michelle to help clients at our Randwick Gym Location.
Michelle Bowman is a Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist with nearly a decade of experience. She is part of the team at Flow Physio in Randwick offering Physio, Pilates, Massage therapy and counselling. Book a Consult Now
Check out her Return to Sport Guide:
Did COVID crash your motivation and curb your enthusiasm? Well you are not alone!
The gyms were shut and sport was cancelled…it’s been tough to keep active over the last few months and for many of us, we have ceased moving all together. This is a recipe for disaster when it comes to your chance of an injury. Follow these top tips to minimise your chance of pain and maximise your successful return to sport.
1.Pace back in
Consistency is actually very protective when it comes to injury prevention. More sprains and strains happen when we have a break then try to re-start at the same level of intensity or volume. I recommend starting off at 50% of where you left off. So if you played tennis 4x week pre COVID, start with 2. If you ran 20 K a week, start with 10K per week and if you were deadlifting 80k, cut down to 40 as a baseline to start off with. You should gradually increase in terms of load and volume in an incremental fashion. Touch base with your exercise physiologist or Physio if you need more tailored advice specific to your goals.
2.Rest is as important as load
As you pace back in, be sure to adequately rest. When we exercise or ‘load’ our bodies -this stresses our tissues. At a cell level this causes mico-break down or ‘degeneration’. Over the following 24 hour period that transitions into cell synthesis – building more robust and versatile muscles, tendons and joints. The rest bit is imperative! If we load too frequently and too much, too soon – we may tip the balance and begin to break down. So train to stress your body, then rest to build it! Don’t go from zero-hero! if you need some help designing a safe and effective training schedule – touch base with your Exercise Physiologist!
- Have a mobility screen
With 3 months off and working from home – you may have become stiff or restricted in certain places. If your body doesn’t have the available range in one section – it tends to steal from another causing overload, and eventually pain or injury. A tight hip joint could lead to a disc injury in your back or a flare up of your knee arthritis, so be sure to let a Physio fully assess your available joint range of motion before you head straight back into it. Check out our return to sport packages for a great deal HERE
4.Dynamic warm up please!
Nothing worries me more than people preparing to exercise with a static stretch. If you are standing stretching your calfs and hamstrings, please stop! Stretching has been shown to actually inhibit the power of muscles pre sport. You should dynamically warm up. Think leg swings, lunging and skipping to get you ready for action.
5.Sleep is king!
Sleep and the quality of your sleep is massively important. Some incredible research out the NBA found that a 17 minute average nightly sleep difference between NBA teams correlated to a 20% increase in injury rates amongst athletes. An adult should get 8 hours a night. You can not catch up on sleep and a consistent routine (i.e. same bed time and rise time) has also been linked to a multitude of health outcomes as well as performance.
As always, we highly recommend visiting your Physio or Exercise Physiologist prior to recommencing your chosen sport or activity. Mention this blog for a special discount on booking & lets get moving again!
Written by Michelle Bowman
