This session took place court side to the Plymouth Raiders practise session.

To begin, I brought an ultrasound machine down from the clinic and set it up court side ready for a player to have ultrasound treatment post practise on their Achilles following excessive load they had exposed it to. Following this, I conducted the warm-up ensuring I was enthusiastic and attentive to the players. At the end of practise, I called the player over who needed their ultrasound, set up the machine and went ahead. I was quite nervous treating this player, as he is one of the most valuable on the team. When giving the ultrasound, the machine kept beeping (meaning the head wasn’t touching the skin). However, I realised this is because the width of the Achilles was smaller than the width of the ultrasound head when going over a certain area. At first, it made me feel quite embarrassed due to the fact other players were stood around near me. I ensured that player who I was treating that it was ok and why this was happening. Once I realised why it was happening, I was able to make the beeping stop. Considering it went slightly wrong, I am quite nervous for when I have to do this at the next practise.

This session took place in the Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Clinic.

In this session, to begin I remembered that before this player left for 2 months, we were currently in the middle of sorting out his back/glute pain. So, I asked how this was and he stated that it has been fine ever since. Within the rest of this session, I ran through a couple of the exercises the player had just been given by my self for his ankle, as he said he had forgotten them. We then came up with ‘suggestive’ names for the exercises so that he wouldn’t forget. Following this, I performed ultrasound on his ankle as instructed by the head sports therapist, and supervised by the clinic supervisor.

This session took place in the Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Clinic.

In this session, after showing the head sports therapist and getting confirmation that the programme was acceptable, I was able to give the player with the lateral ankle sprain his rehab plan. During this, I emailed him the excel file, took him through every exercise (including reps and sets) and showed him his progressions and regressions. When giving him these exercises, I gave him adaptations where necessary if any exercises were too hard/too easy. This is something I really enjoyed as I felt as though it was a real insight to the type of therapist I want to be when I graduate; a rehabilitation therapist. I found this both useful and challenging, however I enjoyed it thoroughly.

This session took place in the Sports Therapy and Rehabiliation clinic.

A player who had gone home for 2 months following some family problems had returned, but had injured his ankle at home, around 6 weeks ago. Since then, he had had it x-rayed to ensure nothing was fractured, but had not undertaken any treatment. So, I took him into clinic and did a clinical assessment on his ankle, to which I found that he had a lateral ankle sprain. During this assessment, I didn’t have to look at my notes for any of the assessment, which is something I am really proud of. I took this information to the head sports therapist to ask if I was allowed to write his rehabilitation plan.

This session took place court side to the Plymouth Raiders practise session. In the final hour, it took place at the strength and conditioning session.

To begin I conducted the warm-up with another student therapist. During this session, I observed the player who had recently experienced a thumb injury go through his progression on his rehabilitation. I found this very useful and interesting and was actually able to answer some questions for him. He was concerned that he had a ‘bump’ in one of his thumbs, to which I was able to explain that it was nothing bad and allowed him to feel my thumb to compare (as I had this too). He didn’t have any pain over this area, so, I was able to confidently tell him that there is nothing to worry about regarding this. Following this, I went to the strength and conditioning session. In this hour, I went through a players rehabiliation for his patella tendinopathy.

This session took place court side to the Plymouth Raiders practise session.

To begin, I conducted the warm-up. Today, I was experiencing stomach pains, but luckily the players now know the warm-up well enough for me to just give verbal instruction; they don’t need a physical demonstration. During this session, I tidied the medical bag and ensured I knew where everything was again. One player who is susceptible to ankle injuries came forth saying their ankles were aching slightly. So, I ran some prehabiliation exercises with him before he went back on the court. This player has had ankle problems for years, so he already had prehabiliaton exercises he liked to do, so we ran them.

This session took place court side to the Plymouth Radiers practise session.

To begin, I spoke to a player who has recently been given his rehabilitation for his thumb to ask how he is getting on and whether he had any questions. Following this, I conducted the warm-up, this time, without the second exercise we usually do, as this is the exercise the players were complaining off. This was firstly discussed and confirmed with the head sports therapist. Following the warm-up, the players stated that they preferred this version of it, as it is shorter but they still feel warm and ready to play. Within this session, the player who had recently hurt his thumb went through his rehabilitation, allowing me to put the programme I had been emailed into a real life setting. Helping players with their rehabilitation is my favourite thing to do, as I believe it is the most important element of being a sports therapist.

This session took place court side to the Plymouth Raiders practise session.

Prior to the warm-up, I ran through a players prehabilitation for a proximal hamstring injury, ensuring he was doing every exercise correctly and using motivational language. The head sports therapist told us to research the prehab exercises prior to the session to ensure we know them, and if we had any questions to ask him. Following this, myself and another student therapist ran the warm-up. When there are 2 therapists I feel as though the warm-up is more energetic, as we can work as a team to give more input to every player. During this session, one player who usually has problems with their ankle left the court to sit on the bench. The other therapist and I approached him to ask if he was ok, to which he said his ankles were aching. Due to this player being one of the most valued on the team, he usually deals with the head sports therapist. So, he explained that he was fine and that he will let Elliot know anyway, even though he is sure he is absolutely fine. Sometimes it can feel quite disheartening when players would rather speak to the head sports therapist, but, in this case when it is a player that we have had for years and who is one of the most valued, it is understandable. This is something I must not let knock my confidence.

This session took place court side to the Plymouth Raiders practise session. In the final hour, it took place at their strength and conditioning session.

To begin, I undertook the warm-up to raise the players energy levels. During the session, one player came over complaining of ‘cramp’ in their hamstrings. So, I stretched out his hamstrings court side before he went back on to play. This time when conducting this, I was much more confident, given that I have now had quite a bit of experience doing so. Following this, I went to the strength and conditioning session. This session was on injury prevention and therefore I found this very interesting, and I was able to have more input. As the players know I am on the Sports Therapy/Rehabilitation course, during the session they asked me a few injury specific questions regarding the exercises they were given to do. I found this useful for revision and to put my knowledge into practise in a real world setting.

This session took place court side to the Plymouth Raiders practise session. In the final hour, it took place at the Raiders Strength and Conditioning session.

To begin, I undertook the warm-up with the head sports therapist watching over me, ensuring it was done correctly before making any changes due to the players claiming that they don’t like it. I ensured I used enthusiastic language and gave coaching tips to keep the players engaged. Following the warm-up, the head sports therapist said I had done it the way that he would have, and therefore we shall make adaptations soon. During practise, I observed the head sports therapist go through a players rehabilitation following a shoulder dislocation. The head therapist was looking to see if the player was competent enough to progress to the next stage of rehabilitation. Through watching this, I picked up some useful tips regarding talking to injured players. It was obvious that the player was nervous to try new exercises due to the fear of injuring his shoulder again. So, the head therapist regressed the exercises he wanted the player to do, before then progressing him a few minutes later, to prove to the player that he can do it. As well, I learnt how players are often interested in what each exercise is exactly targeting. So, I was able to take from this observation how much detail is sufficient to keep players in the know and happy. Following practise, I went to the strength and conditioning session. Within this session, I was given instruction to stay on one station to do timings and to give coaching techniques as well as motivating players to progress where I think they can or regress if it seems too hard.