After you have had your initial assessment and treatment plan, your phase 1 home exercises and you are seeing the benefits of your care, how do you know when you are ready to return to your sport? At Wandsworth physiotherapy we take the guess work out of the equation and use objective data collected in our rehab lab.
We use the latest equipment on the market such as force decks and muscle dynamometry assessments to collect objective, reliable and validated data from a number of functional tests, movement tests and strength tests to inform us when you can return to sport.
For example, we can use the squat jump, counter movement jump and drop jump tests. This will provide data on your peak force, rate of force development (RFD) and reactive strength index (RSI). We can test this with a bilateral movement as well as collecting data on the right and left lower limbs to look at differences that may be present between injured and uninjured limbs. This is termed the Limb Symmetry Index (LSI). This data will help us to periodise your training to correct these imbalances and to bring the LSI to a value of 0.9 or more (i.e. your injured limb should be at least 90% of the strength and power of your uninjured limb).
We can use other tests such as single leg hop for distance, single leg triple hop for distance and assess differences between injured and uninjured limb. We can use the force decks to assess your balance and objectively show discrepancies between left and right leg for everyday tasks such as standing balance and sit to stand.
We can use muscle endurance tests as well as muscle dynamometry tests to individually test muscle groups for the peak force that can be applied in either kilograms or newtons (N). This gives us objective data of which muscles remain weak and whether or not it is a risk to return to sports yet according to your LSI.
We have a similar battery of tests for the upper limb using the force decks to assess shoulder force production. We can assess shoulder strength and endurance as well as reactive strength index and muscle strength using dynamometry to assess muscle strength of different muscles within the same limb and between limbs, looking at ratios and normative data, so that we reduce your risk of re-injury when you go back to sports.
With this arsenal of data we can individualise and periodised your end stage rehabilitation and make decisions on when you should return to your sport.
Anyone wanting to get back to their sports (football, swimming, tennis or running) as well as, Cross Fit, High Rocks and other HIIT events that has suffered:
There are currently no standard guidelines or tests that can inform you when you are ready to return to sports, However, using a battery of tests and objective data gathered in our rehab lab we know that having a LSI of over 90% reduces re-injury risk:
We can also use Rehab Lab to take uninjured limb pre-op scores as this will help to establish what you need to get back to post op as there will also be uninjured limb loss of strength during the initial stages of post op treatment and care.
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