BRINGING SCIENCE TO TREATMENT
in Improve, Sports psychology, Tools and technology
How soon can an athlete return to sport? Tracy Ward looks at the best-practice research and comes up with three guidelines for clinicians. Returning an athlete to sport following an injury requires clinicians to be part of a decision-making team. While they must ensure adequate rehabilitation, they must also weigh the negative consequences of keeping... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Knee injuries, Sports psychology
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are the bread and butter for many an outpatient orthopedic practice. Still, physios the world over would happily go into semi-retirement if they could improve the outcomes of ACL repairs (ACLRs). As it stands today, just over half of the 250,000 to 300,000, who suffer an ACL injury in the... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology
Sportsmen and women, as well as members of the general population, injure their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) more than any other ligament. The exact incidence is hard to pin down. What we do know is that around 50% of athletes who suffer an ACL tear never return to the same level of play(1). In addition,... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the United States since the start of the 2000s has increased almost 50%, with some surveys citing the incidence up to 11% in children 4 to 17 years-of-age(1,2). It seems likely, then, that the number... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology, Tools and technology
March madness culminated in the NCAA men’s championship finals when Texas Tech met the University of Virginia. With both schools given the chance to win their first basketball championship, the Raiders of Texas Tech were celebrating what has been for them a comeback season. To what did they attribute their success? Sleep! After a three-game... MORE
in Sports psychology, Tools and technology
Trevor Langford explores the physiological effects of stress, and the implications for athletes seeking to reduce pain and return to normal function. Figure 1: Stress and homeostasis Through its impacts on the CNS, endocrine and immune systems, stress can alter the physiological homeostasis in the body. Background Athletes at all levels of sport are exposed... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology
In our series on pain in athletes, we’ve explained how pain perception effects an athlete’s potential to return to their previous level of play. If an athlete has a tendency toward catastrophizing, they will see only the negative aspects of their injury. In addition, they may tend to focus more intently on their pain, increasing... MORE
in Sports psychology, Tools and technology
Andrew Hamilton looks at new research on the growing popularity of analgesic medication use by athletes, and considers the implications for clinicians with athletes in their care. As an ex-triathlete, researcher and writer, I spend a lot of my spare time searching through the scientific literature on sports health and injury. It was with great... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology, Tools and technology
Fear is an emotional response to a threat, either real or perceived. It is a great motivator and rapidly modifies behavior. Fear avoidance is making behavioral choices to avoid that which instills fear, like taking a circuitous route to keep from driving down a street you know is a police speed trap. As discussed in... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology
Let’s face it, no one ever walks into the physiotherapist’s clinic because they feel awesome. The thing that usually brings them in is pain of one sort or another. Whether it’s acute pain from a recent incident or a niggling pain that’s been bothersome for a while, people seek out physios because something hurts. Embracing... MORE
