THE ELITE ATHLETE GAMBIT, by Jason Silvernail, DPT, DSc [duplicated to this page with permission, because it’s just fantastic] Another story Im tired of - the elite athlete gambit. The idea that coaches and sports medicine pros deal with fundamentally different problems than the rest of us with other clients and patients - its just untrue. Even worse, when they imply or outright state that that a non-athlete must be overweight, sedentary, or old and therefore somehow less important or easier to care for or more likely to not have a real disorder like an athlete does. Ive seen in clinic the full spectrum of patients from the elderly to the young, from office workers to Special Forces operators, and the basic process for caring for them is the same - since they are all human. They all deserve an individualized, evidence based, comprehensive care program tailored to their needs. Recently I had a coach say that my clinical approach to pain must mean Im out of touch with the needs of elite athletes. My response… He hasnt the first clue what my perspective is. He should ask all the Soldiers and SF Operators Ive treated and reconditioned before he decides I dont live in the world of elite sports performance. The difference between sports medicine and orthopedics is slight, and it mostly has to do with some characteristic injuries associated with certain activities and the more lengthy rehab and reconditioning process for athletes. So the initial acute and subacute phases of injury and treatment should be pretty much the same - things should only change when we move into the (somewhat less controversial and established) reconditioning process. The world of elite athletic conditioning is every bit as opinion based and empirical as musculoskeletal medicine is based on the state of the evidence - so we should take claims of coaches achieving performance results with the same caution that we take clinicians claims in achieving clinical results. I dont buy for one minute that the world of high level sports medicine and performance is somehow superior to or significantly different than the processes used for other people - we are all humans. I put the same effort into personalizing the rehab and reconditioning process for a administrative clerk as I do for an SF Operator. Its just that the processes and stages for reconditioning take longer for the Operator. The process is EXACTLY THE SAME. -- Original Facebook post (limited distribution): https://facebook/jasonsilvernail/posts/10202589274435285
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 18:35:04 +0000
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