PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT

By sports rehabilitation we usually mean the return to sport for athletes, but at SmileyMed we also treat amateur athletes alongside our professional athletes for whom sport is a way to relieve daily stress, participate in social life, improve physical well-being and have the opportunity to lead an active life.

Among sports injuries, the most common are sprains, followed by tissue tears (ligament injuries, muscle-tendon tears, cartilage injuries), bruises, fractures and sprains. Injuries affect the lower limbs twice as often as the upper limbs or the trunk and spine.

In the case of major injuries, if surgery is required, rehabilitation will begin according to the professional protocols for that surgery. For example, after anterior cruciate ligament surgery, we work with the exercise material and development times designed for that surgery.

In the case of minor injuries and sprains, at the beginning of rehabilitation - after medical treatment and with a specialist opinion - we assess the patient's range of motion with the Functional Movement Pattern Test and determine which part of the movement chain has been affected and which has led to the injury. Whether the injury is the result of acute, high impact trauma or ongoing chronic overuse is a very important aspect of treatment. Other methods of physiotherapy are used to restore the stability, mobility or neuromuscular connections of the dislocated link. Other problems that arise during treatment are addressed from our treatment options.

Once the function of the failed link has been restored, we begin to incorporate or rebuild it into the movement chain. This is greatly helped by movement in front of a mirror, with the help of eye control.

Once the conscious movements are perfect, we then perform the exercises on increasingly unstable surfaces, using smaller and smaller supports, until they are routinely performed well.

If the unstable surfaces are not a problem for our patient who is playing or wanting to play sport again, we take away the possibility of eye control and then perform it with the eyes closed, and with the eyes open and blindfolded. If our patient does this perfectly, we move on to the next stage of development.

Then start to increase speed, develop explosiveness, improve endurance in general and sport-specific movements.

With these skills in place, the athlete can safely return to a more active sporting life, but usually at this stage the rehabilitation coach is part of the team, whose role increases as the sporting rehabilitation progresses and whose work helps the athlete to reach a level of fitness where he or she can continue his or her career to its full potential.