You got surgery. 

You went through PT. 

You want to return to the gym.

Now what?

How do you go from full stop to doing all the things safely? 

We want to bridge the Gap. 

 

This is a problem that Chad and I both experience and that is why we chose to learn more!  We went through full physical therapy but the moment we returned to sports or general CrossFit classes we felt like the injury returned.  Our goal is to bridge the gap between traditional physical therapy and people returning to the sport that they love. Just because we’re not professional athletes does not mean we don’t want to perform well pain-free in the gym.  Doing rehabilitative exercises with minibands or half pound weights and then wanting to go lifting 150 pounds over your head or a far cry from one another. Learning the progression to get from one to the other is key. 

 

I just had a conversation with an athlete in the gym. She fractured her ankle and has been super smart about how she’s modifying things. She feels like she’s ready to start moving without the ankle brace but unsure how to start introducing movements.  Introducing new things in the middle of a work out is not a good plan. Do you need to start increasing load and force in a controlled environment not in a workout where you are pushed for time or could perhaps compromise quality.  It seems simple but it’s something a lot of people don’t think about.  

 

Let’s say you want to return to jumping. Start with just lateral hops on both legs. Progressed to single leg side to side ski jumps.  Slowly progressed to a more aggressive lateral jump. Introduced jumping onto a small six or 8 inch box. Once you feel good with that we progress the height up.  You also need to think about the dissent. Think about coming off a rope or off of a pull up bar. You need to introduce loading that ankle from the top down. Practice jumping off of a 6 inch box progressively raising the height. 

 

Simple things like that can help you return to sport without adult injury and help all the work you did through physical therapy stick!!

 

Reach out if you want any help with a return to sport program. We’ve helped lots of clients return to the sports they enjoy without re-injury and we love this work!!!