BRINGING SCIENCE TO TREATMENT
Lack of compliance with injury prevention programs impacts their effectiveness. Jason Tee outlines how to improve buy-in and keep athletes off the injured list. Athletes want to spend their time training effectively. They often fail to see the benefit of injury prevention activities when they don’t contribute to improved performance. The importance of injury... MORE
Athletes may seek sports psychologists to improve mental toughness. Josephine Perry suggests it isn’t mental toughness they need more of; it is mental flexibility. It is clear why mental toughness is so revered. The tale of an athlete that suffers through a setback and comes out on top creates good media sound bites and a compelling... MORE
Trevor Langford explores practical methods for assessing specific sporting movements, and how appropriate feedback can help an athlete improve movement quality. Athletes frequently train under stress and fatigue, which can lead to low motivation and poorly executed techniques(1). Fortunately, verbal and kinematic feedback related to technique execution enhances performance in athletes who are less conscientious(2).... MORE
A therapist’s interaction plays a critical role in patient outcomes. Trevor Langford explores how clinicians can embrace interpersonal aspects of clinical practice to enhance their patient’s rehabilitation experience. Being in pain, out of work, or away from training can be both physically and psychologically debilitating and detrimentally affect a client’s entire well-being and lifestyle. An alliance... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology
Negative life stress is predictive of a sports injury(1). The fact that the entire population has suffered from negative life stress of late means that even star athletes in tip-top shape could have a higher risk of injury. Addressing coping skills and sociocultural expectations as athletes return to training bolsters the protective aspects of these... MORE
In this third installment in a series relating to COVID-19, Trevor Langford focuses on how to maintain an athlete’s mental wellbeing, focus, and motivation during this unprecedented time. Global lockdown and social distancing have forced athletes the world over to adapt their daily routines. With competitions canceled or postponed, it is hard for athletes and... MORE
in Diagnose & Treat, Improve, Sports psychology
Fatigue is a complex issue, rarely noted beyond athlete complaints of feeling tired. Alejandro Nino explains why an athlete or patient stops exercising and how to influence variables for improved performance. Two of the main theories of exercise regulation are the peripheral model and the central governor model of fatigue(1). These two models are mostly... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology
Injured athletes often bang away at the same exercises with each therapy session, adding weights and reps when tolerated. A crowded therapy schedule may mean knee group and shoulder group doing the same prescribed exercises each day. Researchers from Brazil wondered if changing up a workout routine would enhance exercise results. They randomly assigned 17... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Improve, Sports psychology
Just under half of the injuries that take players off the field and onto the bench are due to knee trauma(1). The number of athletes that returns to play at their previous level is significantly low(1). Typical injury recovery programs focus on the physical damage, but despite the improvement in clinical parameters, athletes may still... MORE
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
