Injuries are tough. There’s no way around that. You never wish an injury to occur, but when they do, it’s important to view that time as an opportunity rather than a burden. Sure, you now have more programs to write and more one-on-one time to schedule into your day, but that time is incredibly valuable. Below I outline four of the primary ways I like to take advantage of the rehabilitation window with my athletes:
Relationship Building – This is likely an obvious one, but it’s the most valuable and needs to be done with intention. Learn more about their family, their background, and their hobbies outside of sport. Find out what they love or hate about the weight room and how you can do a better job of giving them more of what they like. Go beyond the surface and ask them why they do what they do, what motivates them to keep going.
Not only will you learn more about them and build rapport, but they will likely understand you better and build trust in you as a coach and mentor. Return their openness with your own and share your experiences with them. It will only deepen the relationship and allow you to have a greater effect on them long-term on and off the field long after they have returned from their injury.
Teach Quality Movement – Oftentimes, time is not on our side, so movement becomes our top priority. New signees occur right as pre-season begins, or we are already in the middle of the season and circumstances don’t allow us enough time to truly evaluate our athletes. Now, as “movement professionals” we are going to notice how they accelerate, decelerate, and change direction, but how much time can we give them to correct deficiencies when we have a massive number of athletes also relying on us?
Start with the basics, wall drills, marches, and skips. Teach them about quality posture and take the time to explain how it will make them a better athlete and affect their play. Take them through the progressions they may have missed and spend more time on the ones that they struggle with.
Fix Other Deficiencies – While we are all doing our best to write individualized programs from day one, we simply do not have the time or bandwidth to monitor and track every minor deficiency that our athletes carry. Soccer athletes, for example, oftentimes have poor shoulder mobility in the contralateral side of their kicking leg. Time spent rehabbing a hamstring, can also be used to help correct those deficiencies because once again, we have time and their undivided attention! It also creates a time where loading on the field or court is limited and therefore, they have more physical and mental energy to pour into their body.
Develop Positive Habits – While I know this is a crazy statement, athletes don’t always have the best habits when it comes to taking care of their bodies. Rehab is a great time to form a schedule with them. What they love most has been taken away from them to some degree and they are typically more motivated to do the required work to get back healthy. If you develop rapport and trust and utilize the time to educate them, athletes are more likely to “trust the process” and develop behavioral patterns that will help them regain their health and maintain it.
Teach them the value of preparing their body and keep them on a schedule that will stick with them once they are healthy. Emphasize preparation, prehab, recovery, and speak to them about the value of these things when they are healthy in order to prevent other injuries. Oftentimes they magically begin feeling better with the increased emphasis on self-care which should translate to long-term habits and them taking more ownership over injury-reduction.
I always say, “everyone wants to eat their vegetables once they are sick.” The same concept applies to athlete health: if they do the right things when they are healthy, they will have a longer, healthier career. Explain to them how to be proactive in their health and how they shouldn’t wait for injuries to derail the career that they’ve worked so hard to achieve.
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