Physiotherapy & Sports Med Articles

The ACL Game-Changer: How Cross-Bracing is Transforming Recovery

In the ever-evolving landscape of sports medicine and orthopedics, new paradigms often emerge, challenging established norms. One such paradigm shift has been the growing recognition of cross-bracing as a revolutionary approach to Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury recovery. This innovative method is poised to reshape how we perceive and manage ACL injuries, potentially obviating the…

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Monitoring hip adduction strength in field based athletes

Groin pain is a common occurrence in multi-directional field sport athletes. According to a 15-year prospective UEFA injury study1, groin pain accounts for approximately 12 – 16% of all time-loss injuries in men’s football (soccer). The complex, anatomical nature of the region makes groin pain challenging to diagnose, manage and rehab, with high recurrence rates of…

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Intrisics, Arches and Achilles Function – Optimising Load Sharing Systems

The athletic motions of running, jumping and landing require the foot and ankle complex to be adaptable to varying surfaces and demands. The complex needs to be compliant to dampen ground reaction forces (GFR), but also become stable as a base and lever arm for propulsion. It is one of the musculoskeletal systems most versatile…

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Rectus Femoris Injuries: A case study of a Sub 10 second Sprinter using a 7-Stage Framework

Michael Giakoumis: Physiotherapist: British Athletics, Total Performance & Centre of Health and Human Performance (London)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Carles Pedret MD, PhD: Sports Medicine and Imaging department. Clinica Diagonal (barcelona) Sprinting places a significant demand on the rectus femoris (RF) and is one of the most common mechanisms of injuries for this muscle (Hasselman et al., 1995). During the initial…

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Athletic Shoulder Health & Performance

“The multifactorial complex nature of sports injuries arises not from the linear interaction between isolated and predictive factors, but from the complex interaction among a web of determinants” Bittencourt et al. (2016)1 Shoulder overload injuries in the career of elite level throwing & overhead athletes, tendon problems in jumping athletes, hamstring injuries in soccer players;…

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Limb Symmetry vs Symmetry + Performance

  We place a lot of stock in limb symmetry but critically we need to couple this with performance. During a conversation with Mick Hughes (soon to be released as a podcast) we  discussed the significance & need for baseline information during RTP benchmarking. Especially in the context of a potentially de-conditioned uninvolved limb becoming…

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