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

In the first session, an athlete came forth complaining of tightness around their neck and shoulder. So, I gave them a soft tissue massage on their upper fibres of trapezius, scalenes, and sternocleidomastoid. In the next session, I ran through the rehabilitation with a player for their minor groin strain. During this, I used motivational language, kept on top of asking how much pain he was in whilst performing the exercises and ensured he was using correct technique. Working with players who experience intimidate injuries is something I always thought would make me nervous. However, now that I have worked with a player who has experienced this, it has made me realise that it is just like any other injury.

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

Considering this was the first session back in the new year, the therapists decided to create a new warm-up to keep the players engaged and to avoid repetition creating boredom. So, at the beginning of the session, I lead the new warm up with another student sports therapist. The warm-up is supposed to take around 10 minutes, however due to the fact we have to explain everything slightly more, it took a bit longer. Included in the new warm up is a command drill that is quite difficult to explain, and it took the players a while to get their heads around it. This section really slowed down the pace of the warm-up. The players seemed to not be enjoying the new warm-up, but for the time being we carried on being enthusiastic and decided to re-evaluate later on. During practise, we ran through scenarios and explained what we would do if the incident was to occur.

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

As always, to begin, we conducted the warm-up. Since this was the first session back after Christmas, the players seemed to bring a new, more enthusiastic energy to the court. Whilst watching court side, the other therapist and I again went through a number of different scenarios that could happen when court side, to test our knowledge and confidence as therapists. As well, one player dunked the ball and then fell onto the floor, lying on the front. As the player wasn’t moving, and was lying very still on the ground, both the other therapist and I ran over to him. However, once we got there and I began to ask if he was ok, he stood up and proceeded to play the game. This situation was very worrying, as we were both concerned that he may have had a spinal injury, due to the fact he wasn’t moving and was lying down very still. However, it seems the player was more in shock, however brought himself back around in his own head to be able to continue practising. This player in particular seems very head strong. So, if this were to be another player, they may have needed more input from myself to aid the reduction of their shock. After practise, I asked the player if they had any pain anywhere, to which they said no and clarified that it was simply shock that made them not move from the ground. Before the next session, I am going to go over how to speak to players in an emergency setting to ensure I can aid the reduction of their shock from injury.

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

To begin, I set the court up and then delivered the warm-up. During practise, one player came over complaining of cramp like pain in their hamstrings. So, I stretched the players hamstrings court side to relieve the pain before they carried on playing. Having dealt with a few players complaining of cramping in their muscles during practise, this is now something I am confident in. The last time I had to conduct something court side I felt quite nervous due to the other players and coaches being able to watch me. However, this time I felt a lot more confident. Although, this may be due to the fact I am more confident in this area of treatment then I was in conducting the neurological assessment.

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

The player came in wanting to get a whole lower body stretch. I conducted post isometric relaxation on his quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. Since I have been treating these players for a while now, their height is something I have adjusted to accordingly. Due to this, I feel like I gave an effective treatment that flowed well when getting into the appropriate positions to conduct the stretching technique.

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

To begin, I spoke to the player with an injured shoulder to ask how he was getting on with his rehab. He explained that he is already feeling less pain but thinks he is going to struggle with having confidence in using this shoulder. This is something I am going to pass onto the head sports therapist to ensure psychological considerations are taking into account with this player. At the time, I reassured him that we as a team would not let him play if he wasn’t fit enough, and that the head sports therapist is continuously staying on top of all of the latest papers to ensure his knowledge is up to date. This seemed to boost the players confidence already. Following this, I got the court ready for the warm-up, and then delivered it. The players seemed to have a lot of energy today, however, were putting it into talking to one another as opposed to listening to instruction. So, throughout the warm-up I became more assertive to ensure the warm-up was getting done correctly and more efficiently. This is the first time I’ve had to be more assertive with the team, and as they are all tall males, this is something I typically found quite intimidating. Being a female in men’s sport is something I was warned of, however today was one of the first times I’ve felt anxious about this.

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

To begin, I conducted the warm-up ensuring I gave coaching tips and used enthusiastic language. During practise, I kept an eye on a player who had recently experienced a minor contact strain to his shoulder. He has been given his rehabilitation by the head therapist but is still allowed to play due to the injury being minor. Following practise, I went to their strength and conditioning session. Within this session, I spent my time observing the head therapist go through the injured players rehabilitation, being quizzed on anatomy. Having not gone over the muscles responsible for each movement in the shoulder for a while, this was something I was quite rusty on. Before the next session, I am going to revise my anatomy to make sure it is something I almost don’t have to think about anymore.

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

To begin, I conducted the warm-up again, in the same enthusiastic manor to attempt to lift the players spirits. Throughout practise I kept a close eye on all players, as their energy levels seemed to be low, which may mean their technique is worse and therefore there may be a greater chance of injury. Within this practise there were no injuries and no need for first aid, so the other sports therapist and I went through scenarios of what could potentially happen court side and discussed how we would approach each one. I found this very useful and felt more confident as a therapist if there were to be a more serious incident court side.

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

To begin, I conducted the warm-up. Today, it seemed that the players were otherwise engaged and weren’t concentrating on what they had to do. The team has recently been going through a losing streak, so I believe the team is currently quite low energy. So, during the warm-up I decided to be extra enthusiastic to be that positive energy that the players all need to uplift them. During practise, the player who had previously complained of glute pain came forth again. This time, he explained that he did have some lower back pain and some tingling going down his hamstring. As these symptoms suggest it could be something neurological, the player was pulled from practise. I went through an initial neurological examination court side, assessing his myotomes and dermatomes, and palpating on his spine to see if there was anywhere that could recreate the symptoms. Upon examination, his myotomes and dermatomes seemed normal, and there was nowhere on the spine that recreated any symptoms. Having not get done the spinal module, I was unaware of any special tests we had to perform to check for any neurological problems, so I sent the player to the head sports therapist for further examination. I felt quite confident in delivering the neurological examination, however it look me a few minutes to jog my memory of the dermatomes. Whilst conducting assessments courtside, I often feel quite under pressure as you have no time for preparation like you do when athletes book appointments in the clinic. So, this is where us therapists need to ensure we uphold enough knowledge. As well, I also feel pressurised due to the fact the coaches and other players are witnessing the assessment.

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

Within this session, I took the player from practise who was complaining of glute pain into the clinic to give him some better treatment. I gave the player a soft tissue massage on the glutes as well as soft tissue release, applied in a better position to when I did it court side. The player explained that they felt a lot of relief after. I felt confident in treating this player, having built a rapport with him due to him also being on the University team.