Author: wstuart

Today on placement I am aiding the team to prepare for varsity as this will be the last time, I will see them before the day. I need to be mindful of players who are already injured and the ones who are feeling niggles and ensuring that they are not over indulging in exercise as to not increase the severity of the symptoms that they are displaying.

Today I noticed how all the players were more cautious of getting injured due to the fact that they had a big game in a weeks’ time and they all wanted to ensure that they were fit for selection for what is easily this teams biggest game of the competitive season.

Today at placement I was involved with leading an extended warmup and cooldown in order to get the team prepared for the session taking extra care to make sure the body is prepared. The warmup involved a pulse raiser the stretching and warming up each individual muscle groups and finally sports specific drills to warm up proprioceptors. During the main session I was working one on one with players who were feeling tight in certain areas and using neuromuscular release to aid them to ensure they could carry on.

Today at placement I was nervous as I know how much it would mean to anyone of the players to play and if one of the players got injured they might be ruled out of selection and therefore I would feel bad but I know that it would be the best thing for the player to do in terms of rest and what’s best for the entire team in their not being a weak part of the team.

Today at placement I want to be as helpful as I can be pitch side with the boys in order to make sure they are as fit as possible. I need to be mindful of players with existing injuries don’t aggravate them at all.

Today at placement I had to be mindful of the numbers of players there as it meant that I had to be even more observant of off the ball movement as players could sometimes come into contact with one another and this could be made worse as there are more players involved.

Today on placement I was working with a player complaining of knee pain, he is a new player but has been suffering with pain for the last few months. I was unable to decisively diagnose the issue so will have to go away and revaluate. As well as this I strapped a knee due to a light MCL injury.

Today at placement I felt disappointed that I cannot always help injuries but as I get more proficient as a therapist, I will learn to help injured people in other ways such as psychologically.

Today from placement I want to aid in the improvements of the boys throughout the session in terms of their lifting form. This needs that I need to be mindful of regressions if the players are not confident enough to perform the whole movement. My aim is to simply make every player more confident in lifting technique.

Today I found that a few of the players did not move well under when squatting with a barbell for this I added a bench so it turned into a box squat this meant that players did not have to go to the same depth but they can still refine their techniques.

Today at placement my main role was to aid in spotting players while they performed movements such as the back squat. As well as this there was a player with a bad wrist, so I performed an assessment on and concluded a grade 1 sprain due the positive tests in active and passive movements

Today after placement I was pleased with the progress that all the players made with their lifting techniques. As well as this I am confident that the players could go away recreate the exercises and be safe.

Today from placement I want to be able to continue to develop my skills as a team-based therapist. I need to ensure that I am mindful of different players requirements and how they can differently respond to being injured.

Today I found myself in a few different situations all of which I felt comfortable in. there were a few injuries through jolting on the ground when playing a powerful shot, I then conveyed to the coach that its important to warm up individual shots as they put on different stressors.

On placement today my main responsibility was the care for one of the players who came over dizzy due to the lights in the gym, I ensured that the player was in no danger of fainting and requested that the player sit out of the rest of the session which he did.

Today at placement I was slightly anxious when the player came across as dizzy and lightheaded but reflecting back on the situation I did the correct thing in monitoring them and ensuring that they stayed safe.

Before my placement I was hoping to aid in the development of the players through assisting them in learning gym-based exercises. I need to be mindful of the experience levels of each player as some may have never been in a gym and not be aware what a ‘challenging’ weight for them is.

Today I noticed that a few of the players were very nervous of the session, these players were the ones who seemed to be less experienced in the gym environment. I was able to aid some of the boys in the development of their gym skills.

Today at placement I was involved in running a Strength and conditioning session focused on agility. I ran a dynamic warmup and cooldown. As well as this I was involved in the coaching some of the boys on their technique to ensure that they didn’t injure themselves.

Today at placement I was pleased with the level that I was able I was able to improve some of the boys techniques in exercises such as ladder runs and box jumps.

Being an academic break from university, I suspect a low numbers count at training, this means that I have more time to work with specific players and I will have more of an opportunity to speak to

During my placement today I noticed how relaxed everyone was, as a therapist I enjoy these sessions as you can get to know the players in greater depth because there focus isn’t on competition, it also allows me to talk to them about lifestyle and training outside of the timetabled sessions and how they would get the most out of doing some.

Today on placement I worked with three players all who were complaining of muscular soreness and tightness. After a ROM test on everyone I was able to see for myself that movement was limited due to muscular tightness especially in the hamstrings, this as a group was interesting as they were all presenting tightness in the same area, to help with the issue I performed RI of each of the players and they all reported that they felt better and a retest of ROM showed an improvement,

Today at placement I was pleased with what I was able to achieve with the players who were present, smaller session give me a change to get closer with the team and for me this is one of the most important things about being a therapist.

Today from placement I want to improve my knowledge behind tennis injury’s and the mechanisms that cause more injuries. I feel like I have good background knowledge in injuries, but I would like to develop my understanding of specific common injuries in the sport of tennis.

Everyone seemed to be chilled out and not had time to be treated compared to when they were playing and were perhaps more hesitant to be assessed in case they were told that they couldn’t carry on.

Today at placement I helped in the rehab of tennis elbow. The main way that I did this was through frictions to the lateral epicondyle and used isometric muscle contraction in wrist flexion and extension.

Today at placement I felt fine, due to the lack of numbers at the session I was able to manage everyone who was carrying injury well.

I felt that the boys all responded well to the circuit. They all put in a string effort and worked harder when I asked them too. I asked after how they felt I explained it and they said that they thought it was all said concisely but everyone had all the information they needed to perform the different movements without asking.

Today I ran a circuit designed by the club chairman and myself, he knew that he wanted to run a circuit based on core stability, we searched for exercises that recruited the full core such as the plank and incorporated it into a fun well balanced circuit.

Today I was nervous to run the circuit but once it had started and I saw how responsive all the boys were then I soon relaxed and my confidence grew.

Today at placement aside from my normal responsibilities I was aiding a few players in their preparation for their game the next day. This could consist of pre massage, stretching or activation exercises.

During placement again I noticed an attitude change in some of the players, especially in those who have a game the next day. As I noticed before when the players know they’re about to go into competition they are much more concerned with how their bodies are feeling and come for treatment much more.

At placement today some of the things that I undertook were PIR and RI stretching, this was in order to stretch out muscles on the players which were tight. I did stretching on the glutes, quads, chest, hamstrings and the calf muscle group.

Today throughout placement I felt confident in everything that I did as I am familiar In all of the techniques that is used. The main thing that I am getting better at is giving the players a more concise answer when they are worried about things, this gives them more of a piece of mind and also allows their confidence in me as a practitioner to grow.

Today from placement I want to run the cooldown that I developed for the boys to make sure that they don’t develop injuries too easily. Futsal is played on a hard surface and a lot of force is generated through ground contact putting a large force through the ankle and knees, this is why the primary muscles targeted in the cooldown will be the calf muscle made of the gastrocnemius and soleus, the tibias anterior, and the knee flexors such as the hamstring group.

During my placement today I was noticing the different movement styles of the different players. This is as I am still getting used to everyone as this is a new team that I am working with. I was involved with a few of the players who were talking to me about extra training outside of Futsal and I recommended some exercises such as glute bridges to help with glute firing.

On placement today I ran the cooldown to aid in the recovery of the players to try and reduce the onset of DOMS by flushing the lactic acid out of the muscles and into the blood stream which will be then taken to the lungs through gaseous exchange.

Today at placement I felt really confident as the players responded very well to my input and they reported that the session ran by myself was useful and they felt the benefits.