Football Physio - Help!

[ophqui]

Hey guys,

Im a newly qualified physio and have been offered a post with a local non-league football team. Never really done anything sports related and not too sure what it will involve, anyone have any advice, books i should be reading etc? Cant really afford to do a sports first aid course at the moment, done a few first aid courses in my time but only the basics really.

I'll be the only physio there so i'll need a clue as to what im doing. Will i be expected to put my own first aid kit together? what would i want in it? magic sponge? lol

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[bobo]

Hi, for a book i'd recommend clinical sports medicine by brukner and khan, its a very good book.

I'd recommend doing the sports first aid course asap as it covers you. I dont know about England but im pretty sure in Scotland the SFA had/have a scheme where they aim to have one person from every club trained in sports first aid so they pay the course fee. Part of a drive to make sport safer at lower levels and im assuming its still on (im 90% sure it was when I did the course in november). Might be worth phoning the FA to see if they have anything similar as it'd save you a bit of cash.

Also you'll probably need to know how to tape joints if you havn't done it before, so i'd do either a taping and strapping course or get on youtube in the short term to learn the basics

[TheSportsPhysiotherapist]

Hi there,

I agree with Bobo - Clinical Sports Medicine is an essential text if you want to be involved in sports physio.

Another asset (particularly for someone in your financial position) is the huge amount of free information online. As well as YouTube, a good blog for you to check out is www.TheSportsPhysiotherapist.com (yes I know, I'm plugging my own site) - which discusses the aspects of being a 'sports physiotherapist'.

I would advise you to take the position, as sports physiotherapy offers an amazing experience.

I really hope this helps, and good luck!

[ophqui]

Hi there,

I agree with Bobo - Clinical Sports Medicine is an essential text if you want to be involved in sports physio.

Another asset (particularly for someone in your financial position) is the huge amount of free information online. As well as YouTube, a good blog for you to check out is www.TheSportsPhysiotherapist.com (yes I know, I'm plugging my own site) - which discusses the aspects of being a 'sports physiotherapist'.

I would advise you to take the position, as sports physiotherapy offers an amazing experience.

I really hope this helps, and good luck!

wow, that sites actually really good!

I have taken the post and have been working for the club for a month or so, really enjoying it so far. Any tips for handling a recurrent adductor strain? My pts been out of action for the last 4 weeks (he returned to training following 2 weeks of massage and strengthening with me only to find that it recurred as soon as he resumed full training). He has a history of groin strains (has been out twice in the last season) and has generally poor flexibility particularly quads and hamstrings (which we're addressing with a bit of PNF but its not had much of an effect yet). Nothing else of note really, just his history worries me and dont want him to be out for too long.

Is taping effective for groin strain or preventing recurrence? How do you tape for this?

Thanks!

[TheSportsPhysiotherapist]

Sounds excellent, I'm glad you like it.

Recurrent groin strains can be tricky. It sounds like you have concentrated on strengthening the adductor musculature, which is a great start. Some other things to consider and address are tightness in the hip abductors (which will cause overactivity in the adductors leading to strain), the athletes lumbopelvic stability (particularly core control), and adverse neurodynamics.

It's tricky without assessing the patient.

As for taping you may find success in the realm of kinesiotaping, whilst I do not have post-grad training in this, I am sure one of the readers will and could point you in the right direction. I have also found some anecdotal success using groin straps.

Hope this gives you some food for thought.

[memgem]

heya guys,
i worked for a year for a non league club and found that it made me gain so much confidence and skills that i never learnt at university, ive been able to move onto working with both a rugby club and another football club too now part time but i definately feel it has helped me a lot. I started with little experience, i had a sports science degree with no pitch side work but with time you pick up a lot of tricks.

in regard to the recurrent adductor strain do u feel that its definately only a strain and not a level of tear present. these injuries can present as strains and even once it may have settled down the fibres may not have totally be repaired therefore with any explosive movements it may re occur. I have found that ultrasound for this sub acute phase may work well.
Maybe check any changes in footwear along with the players warm up, does it include dynamic stretches or just a bog standard static stretching regime.

[PerformanceST]

Sounds excellent, I'm glad you like it.

Recurrent groin strains can be tricky. It sounds like you have concentrated on strengthening the adductor musculature, which is a great start. Some other things to consider and address are tightness in the hip abductors (which will cause overactivity in the adductors leading to strain), the athletes lumbopelvic stability (particularly core control), and adverse neurodynamics.

It's tricky without assessing the patient.

As for taping you may find success in the realm of kinesiotaping, whilst I do not have post-grad training in this, I am sure one of the readers will and could point you in the right direction. I have also found some anecdotal success using groin straps.

Hope this gives you some food for thought.

I definitely agree with all of the above.

However, have you looked into the type of boots he/she wears, assessed their kicking technique (with coaches if you can't do this yourself), what position do they play on the pitch, what is the turf like they train and or play on etc etc,

The reason why I ask these questions is that a lot of these problems get overlooked, and if you're going through the hassle of strengthening quads/hams etc without taking away the aggrevating factor first then this player will continue to get reinjured-as their past history shows.
Particularly look at their diagonal passing and crosses - ie where they're going through full hip flexion and adduction whilst kicking forcefully.
Every player on the pitch is different, so you need a good understanding of positional affects for your rehab - ie a left-sided and footed winger compared to a right-footed central defender go through different stresses in a match & kicking a ball.

I'd also get them to wear a pair of 'skins' (cycling shorts even) for matches and see if that improves as compression generally aids thigh/groin strains.
Also great post-match rehab is yet again in skins, with an ice bath, followed by pnf, a warm bath, pnf and an ice bath.
All my players go through this / know to if they get a muscle strain.

[natty1905]

heya guys,
i worked for a year for a non league club and found that it made me gain so much confidence and skills that i never learnt at university, ive been able to move onto working with both a rugby club and another football club too now part time but i definately feel it has helped me a lot. I started with little experience, i had a sports science degree with no pitch side work but with time you pick up a lot of tricks.

in regard to the recurrent adductor strain do u feel that its definately only a strain and not a level of tear present. these injuries can present as strains and even once it may have settled down the fibres may not have totally be repaired therefore with any explosive movements it may re occur. I have found that ultrasound for this sub acute phase may work well.
Maybe check any changes in footwear along with the players warm up, does it include dynamic stretches or just a bog standard static stretching regime.

I was always led to believe a strain was a level of muscle tear.

[toddchaney]

I was always led to believe a strain was a level of muscle tear.

Strain is actually a damage caused by over stretching of muscle tissue.