Latest article from Mark Roe Sports Physio Academy
This article is written for players, but I would advise all parents, managers and coaches to read it and consider what your players and children are going through when they get injured.
There's never a great time to get injured, but the early season can be a nightmare. You have done a good pre-season, you are feeling fit, enjoying the first couple of games, and then bang! That first injury comes along. A little niggle is fine but if it's a bad one it can be very upsetting.
If you are struggling with long-term injury, it can be a very stressful time being concerned that you may miss the rest of the season, lose your place, and lose your motivation to play. You may even worry that you won't ever return to fitness.
The key to recovering from your injury is knowledge!
Speak to your physio and try to learn as much about your injury as possible as lack of knowledge can lead to fear and anxiety. Ask about the cause, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and how long you are likely to be out of action. Also ask about how to prevent the same injury happening in future.
Find out about levels of pain to be expected through your rehabilitation. Some pains are ‘safe pains’ but others are warning signs that you may be getting worse. When you know the answers to these questions you will feel more in control of your problem.
Checking the internet every 5 minutes isn't always a great place to find your answers as people often mis-diagnose their injury which causes even more worry. So always seek the advice from someone who works with sports injuries such as a Chartered Physiotherapist.
Once you have the answers to the questions, you will then feel much happier.
Once you accept that the responsibility for recovery lies with you, you will feel a greater sense of control.
It’s important to maintain a positive mental attitude throughout all the time you are off, and be committed to your rehab. Lose the negative thoughts and stay focussed on what YOU need to achieve. Don't worry about how the team are doing, or how well your replacement is playing. This is something you can't affect. You can affect everything you do though.
During the phase of injury a lot of people don't like to go to watch their mates play as it just frustrates them standing on the side line. Instead of frustration, just try to see this as an opportunity to watch the game and learn it. It's easier to see positives and negatives by watching a game from the sidelines, as when we are actually playing we only see the game from a small space on the pitch.
Whilst working on your rehab, try not to isolate yourself from team mates – keep involved where possible. It may be that your physio has written an exercise plan for you. Why not take that to training and do the warm-up with the team, then when they break into more specific or harder training that you are not fit enough for, just work on the exercises on your plan. Doing your exercises whilst at training also makes it easier to integrate back into the team when you are ready to play again. Doing little bits of training also helps to keep your 'timing' for when you integrate back into full training or a match situation.
In professional clubs it's easy to structure a return to fitness as players are constantly working with the medical staff and coaches. However, at grass roots this is difficult. All too often I see players recover from injury and then go straight back to playing again before they are physically and mentally prepared fully. This often causes a second injury to the same area. This is another reason why joining in with training can get your mind right.
Finally, for all injuries, I find it helps to break your time out in to smaller chunks, setting appropriate goals at each step of recovery. For example, thinking about 6 months off football - that sounds awful! Now, change this to think about 2 months to get over the initial injury, 2 months to build up cardiovascular fitness, strength training and start ball-work, and 2 months to fine tune your body back to normal. The second scenario isn't so bad.
Don't think of your injury as a crisis, consider it a challenge that you will eventually overcome, and become mentally tougher because of. Recovery from an injury proves you are stronger than whatever tried to hurt you!
Mark
As further commitment from the league to our players' fitness we have negotiated a discount for all players of the Sheffield and District Junior Sunday Football League who attend the clinic for treatment. Players from any team in the League will receive a discount of £10 off their initial consultation following injury, and further discounts should follow-up sessions be required.
Mark Roe
Senior Sports Physiotherapist
The Mark Roe Sports Physio Academy - Sheffield
0114 2390022