Pre-Season Screening and Injury Prevention
Monday, March 13, 2017
As sports are getting more competitive and the emphasis on producing better and positive results is increasing, coaches, administration staff and athletes want to ensure that they are only bringing forward the performers who are totally fit to make it to the field. Be it football, rugby, tennis, or AFL; sports medicine is the contemporaneous solution that everyone is resorting to nowadays to improve rehabilitation and minimize injuries.
Pre-screening is one facet of injury management and includes both physical and medical screening, and has been getting the media hype due to its varying benefits within the spectrum of sports and how it prevents players from spending time in the sideline.
So how does pre-screening assists athletes? Well, that's exactly what we are going to find out in this article.
What is medical screening?
Medical screening makes more sense for older athletes, those who haven't participated in sports for some time. However, there is a general medical screening that tests for whether there are any athletes who are at a risk of any complications. Medical screening looks into whether athletes with any medical condition like asthma or coaches with blood pressure are fit to be part of the sport.
What is physical screening?
Physical screening is more extensive and includes identifying the musculoskeletal condition of the players. The best time for screening is to do it beforehand earlier in the pre-season phase. So what includes in physical screening? Well, physical screening is very sport-specific and is totally focused on determining an athlete's ability to perform before actually making them a part of the pre-season training.
A typical physical screening looks into:
- Identifying how past or current injury could hamper the ability of an athlete in the upcoming seasons.
- Setting fitness standards and encouraging lower-level athletes to strive to achieve better fitness. It includes direct conditioning programs that define the parameters of a sport.
- Determining how an athlete has physically changed over time and how it could affect their participation for long hours in the training camps.
- Providing exercise prescription that includes customizing training programs for every athlete.
Each physical training program measures the posture of an athlete, and also the muscle length, neuromuscular health, and joint flexibility. Other things include gait assessment and functional-specific training.
Once the pre-screening phase is over, it's time for the recommendations that are based on reviewing each athlete's results and then modifying a particular program to meet each their needs more specifically.
Having a regular sports medicine staff largely helps with building a harmonious relationship between athletes, coach and the staff members. And in the case of adolescent athletes, the review could allow discovering any predisposition that an athlete may have to injury.
Physical training is a vital phase allowing sport medicine practitioner to come up with valuable insights for the coaches, athletes, their family members and other participants to understand how injury management is vital for the sport. So if you are planning to give some sport a try, it's essential that you have a pre-screening to avoid risking yourself to any injuries during the peak of your career.
If you are looking forward to book your musculoskeletal screening, or just need some free advice from a physiotherapist, you can give our clinic a call anytime.
Finding a good Sports Physio is hard, we get it. There is no need to take any needless risks this year with getting back onto the field or on the court for 2017. Book online at https://www.alexandriaphysiopilates.com.au/sports-physio-landing2 or over the phone today 02 9699 6540 for a comprehensive assessment.
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