“Core strength” is an essential component to athletic performance and participating in many activities of daily living, but we may be approaching it the wrong way! The goal of this publication is to discuss the contemporary view of “the core” and how this may fit (or not fit) into your rehabilitation and your performance training.

In order to return to the field, physical outputs, such as strength, power, speed, range of motion requirements, and work capacity are prerequisites to reintroduction to sport. However, these physical outputs require top-down control to be effectively implemented on the field. Cognitive components like motivation, confidence, reactions, and decision-making have a direct effect on how athleticism is expressed by athletes.

Injuries are an unfortunate reality for many athletes, but the psychological impact can be just as challenging as the physical recovery. After an injury, many athletes need to attend physical therapy to recover and strengthen the injured area. But, what many athletes do not consider is that it’s just as important to recover and strengthen one’s mind after an injury before returning to sport.

One of the most common issues among golfers is low back pain, affecting between 18% and 54% of players at various skill levels. This pain is frequently linked to swing faults that place excessive strain on the body's anatomical structures. One of these faults is reverse spine angle.

Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome (CECS) is a condition where the muscles of the lower leg swell after the initiation of exercise, resulting in significant cramping, pain, numbness/tingling, and ischemia into the lower leg. In addition to the muscles swelling, it is also believed that the fascia in the lower leg is stiff and does not allow for adequate expansion of the muscles during exercise.

You are not what you have been labeled or diagnosed. You are human that is meant to stay moving and doing what you love to do. Surround yourself with medical professionals that support and encourage that!

What is a Concussion? If you’re an athlete, there is a high chance you or someone you know has experienced a concussion. So, what is a concussion? Characterized as a mild traumatic brain injury, it’s a complex injury caused by a forceful impact to the head or body, causing the brain to move rapidly within the skull.

One of the primary goals of physical rehabilitation after an injury is to restore an individual's prior level of function. This is especially true in sports rehabilitation for competitive athletes. Power development is a key aspect to sports performance, whether it’s generating power with a golf or baseball swing, throwing or kicking a ball, running, or jumping. Athletes of all sports and activities require some sort of power development. 

During a good rehab process you should be strengthening, working on mobility and becoming more resilient, all things that are pushed aside when you are just focusing on your sport. These X factors not only assist in the process of going from 80 to 100 but beyond that!

Please treat all ankle sprains seriously and make sure that when you do go back to sport you are beyond 100% ready. Your rehab should normalize your ankle so that you cannot tell the difference between your injured and non-injured ankle in terms of motion, strength, stability and control, Make sure that you are challenged in rehab so that you are prepared for the load and stress that you will experience in your sport/activity.