I used to think Strength and Conditoning were two distinct things. We make people as strong as possible and as fit as possible. Speed, mobility, flexibility, core stability and all the other cool bits and pieces fitted in there but those were the “Big Rocks” as such.
Well, evolve along the journey and now there are so many “sub-species” of the humble Strength and Conditoning Coach! So, today we will talk about how a Rehabilitation Strength and Conditioning Coach can arguably change your life.
One of the aspects to being in the private sector, is we are able to work with, improve and learn about so many different sports, injuries, athletes. This gives us a great perspective and ability to rapidly change plans and actions as we are used to thinking on our feet, seeking out the best path for a particular individual. However, in rehabilitation, in a discussion with Lachlan Waye, who has just joined us as an Accredited Exercise Scientist, we we talking about the different approach and almost personality you need to have when working in a rehabilitation setting.
Part of our role is to “set the energy” of the room we are in as a coach. Do we want the temperature to be moderate or hot? In rehabilitation, the temperature needs to be on the mild side, as we have to think about actions to perform with a little more caution, due to the injury or pain that someone is presenting with. We cannot be high-temperature at the start, as we have to think about a graduated return to function. This means a slight incline of progress but done on a daily basis. We want to try to aspire to see daily, then weekly gains in function in rehabilitation. In Performance, at the start you see big step gains, but over time it is like one step up, 10 forwards, and one step up as the physical gain in performance becomes harder to improve.
So, back to the question, how does a Rehabilitation Strength and Conditioning Coach help?
- 1. They help bridge the gap between sport or functional capacity (the end goal) and the place you are in right now. For example, a rugby player who has a knee injury still needs to find a way to maintain muscle mass, conditioning and skill work. Whilst the Physiotherapist is working with the knee specifically, the role of the REhabilitation Strength and Conditioning Coach is to find ways to help the athlete maintain all other physical factors whilst in the rehabilitation stage. As the injury matures and improves, the Rehabilitation SC Coach then takes over the reins and steers the athlete back into harder physical work, ensuring that there is limited risk of reoccurence and of another injury happening due to fatigue or de-conditoniing because of the injury rehabilitation timeframe.
2. Generally, a big difference between a Physiotherapist and Strength and COnditoning Coach is the way of thinking. Physiotherapists have to be good at dialling into the injury, diagnosis, specific thinking about that problem. Strength and Conditoning Coaches tend to be more global thinkers, more about the physical performance and the whole body, rather than one part. So, the way of thinking combined helps the athlete make sure they have a balanced rehabilitation plan.
Here is some science behind the timeframes of deconditioning in a sport like Rugby League:
An extended period away from full training due to injury can lead to significant declines in a rugby league player’s physical performance. Research indicates that during off-season periods without structured training, players experience reductions in key performance metrics. For instance, a study observed that after a 10-week unsupervised off-season, academy rugby union players showed deteriorations in physical qualities, including sprint performance and jump height. Similarly, another study reported that after an 8-week off-season with reduced training, 75% of rugby players returned with decreased sprint times over various distances, along with reductions in force, power, and velocity. These findings suggest that even within a few weeks of reduced or unsupervised training, rugby players can experience measurable declines in performance attributes. Therefore, it is important for players to engage in structured training programs during a period of injury rehabilitation to at least do their best to maintain physical capacity for the game.
So, if your club or school has issues with re-injury rates after a player has had an injury, or you would like someone to work with your program to assist your players to return in a timely and safe manner with the best level of performance possible, then this is something that we can help you with. Return to Sport is a science-based process. For many injuries there are defined testing processes that an athlete and coach can see where the strengths, weaknesses and especially assymetries lie. Our clinic has invested heavily in the Vald Forcedecks and Dynamo to help our staff assess athletes to provide relevant feedback to enable a return to sport that is most likely to achieve performance and less likely to result in further injury.
Reference List
- Read DB, Jones B, Till K, et al. The physical characteristics of match-play in English schoolboy and academy rugby union. J Sports Sci. 2021;39(18):2023-2030. doi:10.1080/24733938.2021.1959944
- PMC Physiotherapy. Injury: Why We Have an Off-Season in Rugby? Published online 2021. Available from: https://pmcphysiotherapy.ie/injury-why-we-have-an-off-season-in-rugby/
- Mujika I, Padilla S. Detraining: Loss of Training-Induced Physiological and Performance Adaptations. Sports Med. 2000;30(2):79-87. doi:10.2165/00007256-200030020-00002