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A Bridge Back to the Game

A Bridge Back to the Game

by | Nov 18, 2021 | Sports Medicine

Specially designed for young athletes, Scottish Rite’s training classes help build strength, conditioning and confidence for both patients following rehabilitation after an injury and participants interested in overall athletic performance improvement.
Program coordinator Ian Wright, P.T., D.P.T., CSCS, USAW, TSAC-F, O.C.S., and additional Physical Therapy team members certified in strength training provide focused, intense instruction so sports medicine patients like Lillian, who has recently recovered from an ACL reconstruction surgery, can return to playing soccer.
“Physical therapy sessions may end long before the body is back to sportready,” Wright says. And that’s where this program comes in. Ninety percent of training class attendees are Scottish Rite patients, and the others are athletes looking for performance coaching and movement training that may help reduce injury risk.
Three individuals performing resistance band exercises in a gym, all wearing masks.
“Even though I’m training as hard as I can, the class is still so enjoyable because you do it with so many different kids who have come through so many different injuries. It’s very inspiring,” Lillian says.

Poor movement patterns are associated with growth and increased injury risk, so an ongoing or periodic conditioning program can be important to young athletes. Training participants attend from one to three classes a week and are categorized based on any activity restrictions and individual skill level coupled with the specific demands of the individual’s sporting position.

“If I could give parents advice, I would say there’s something really remarkable when your child is doing therapy in an environment around other children,” Lillian’s mother, Debbie, says. “To do it around other kids is super, super important. Lillian realized she was not the only one.”

Wright and the team care for the unique challenges of busy student athletes and take external stressors participants face on a daily basis into consideration. “Maybe it’s a stressful midterm week or it’s out-of-season or maybe it’s a hectic game schedule coming up, our therapy staff can adapt and change the classes to fit whatever our participants are going through on and off the court,” Wright says.

The benefits to Lillian are clear to her parents and teammates. “These training classes have actually made Lillian stronger, faster and given her more confidence,” Lillian’s dad, Sergio, says. “It’s created such a good habit, and she’s able to break away with the ball so easily now.”

For information about attending the training classes, contact Therapy Services at bridgeprogram@tsrh.org

Wellness in Youth Sports: Tips for Parents and Coaches of Young Athletes

Wellness in Youth Sports: Tips for Parents and Coaches of Young Athletes

by | Feb 18, 2021 | General News, Sports Medicine

In a medical education series, Jane S. Chung, M.D., and Taylor Morrison, M.S., R.D., CSSD, L.D., informed pediatric health care providers about the role of wellness in recovery and injury prevention. Health care providers are not the only ones to influence young athletes and their choices to prepare for and recover from sports. Tips for Parents and Coaches
  • Teach your athlete to listen to his or her body. Hunger, pain and fatigue are signs that the body is not prepared to tolerate training.
  • Encourage proper fueling for the activity. Consider the duration and intensity of the activity and give specific suggestions to meet appropriate pre-event nutrition needs.
  • Support proper hydration throughout the day, not just around activity.
  • Use positive language when talking about food and sport-specific bodyweight goals.
  • Speak up when performance declines. Talk to the athlete about sleep, eating habits and stress management so you can act quickly when you are concerned.
  • Listen without judgment.
More Tips for Coaches
  • Choose appropriate training load, intensity and duration. The physical and psychosocial demands of training need to be enough for growth and improvement, but not so much that it causes injuries or illness.
  • Integrate recovery into your schedule of training. Cross training and in-season rest days can support better performance and reduce time on the bench.
  • Learn, model and actively teach athletes positive coping skills to manage stress.
Learn more about training load, recovery and young athlete wellness in the summary of Chung and Morrison’s latest lecture.
It’s a Whole New Game: Bridge Program Helps Young Baseball Players

It’s a Whole New Game: Bridge Program Helps Young Baseball Players

by | Feb 5, 2021 | Sports Medicine

When a child or adolescent baseball player completes physical therapy for an elbow or other injury, his needs still look different from those of their peers. Bridge Program Coordinator Ian Wright, P.T., D.P.T., CSCS, USAW, answered the five “W’s” about what a bridge program can do for these athletes.

Who should participate in a bridge program?
Growing muscles, joints, and bones in boys and girls are at an increased risk of injuries from improper training and repetitive activities that occur in baseball and other sports. After recovery from an injury and discharge from physical therapy, all athletes would benefit from a strength and conditioning program to balance sport-specific training sessions. An athlete with a current injury should not start a bridge program without activity clearance from the medical provider.

What is a bridge program?
A bridge program is a series of group training classes led by a certified strength and conditioning coach. The coach evaluates the athlete’s movement patterns and provides instruction while supervising specific exercises with proper repetitions, resistance, and rest. Activities range from general strength and conditioning to sport simulation activities that are age- and task appropriate for each athletes. Education to complement the physical activities includes nutrition and hydration information for young athletes.

When is a bridge program appropriate?
A bridge program is most effective when it closely follows rehabilitation closely. Because poor movement patterns are associated with growth and increased injury risk, an ongoing or periodic conditioning program provides value to the young athlete at any point. The instructor must have a solid understanding and commitment to off-season periodization. Periodization is selecting the appropriate type of intensity of training based on the sports season.

For example, for baseball players, three seasons are considered:

  1. Off-Season: August – November
  2. Pre-Season: December – February
  3. In-Season: March – July

Periodization becomes more difficult when athletes participate in a single sport year-round which is also associated with an increased risk of injury.

Where can an athlete participate in a bridge program? 
The program should be implemented in a setting where there is access to equipment for the young athlete to train in a safe environment. For example, an at-home exercise program may have limitations for the athlete because they do not have enough space to perform their activities with the needed equipment. Additionally, proper supervision is important, both the ratio of participants to instructors and the qualifications of the instructors must be considered.

Why should young baseball players participate in a strength and conditioning program?
Physical therapy typically focuses on the specific impairment or limitations caused by the injury or condition. Though sports-focused therapists integrate total body treatment throughout, the sessions may end long before the body is back to normal. Most home exercise programs revolve around continued, supervised resistance training. Young athletes have limited access to well-trained instructors that consider total body conditioning, growth and development, skill acquisition, seasonal periodization, and individualized effective strengthening prescription. When left on their own, athletes are at an increased risk of a new injury or re-injury when they return to sport specific regimens of practice, games, tournaments, coaching clinics, and self-guided training.

Scottish Rite for Children in Frisco is offering training classes to former patients, Contact our Therapy Services team at 469-515-7150 or bridgeprogram@tsrh.org.

Learn more about Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD) in the Elbow.

Pre-Exercise Fuel for Morning Training Sessions

Pre-Exercise Fuel for Morning Training Sessions

by | Sep 3, 2020 | Sports Medicine

Many athletes avoid eating anything before early morning practices. This may leave them feeling slow and tired during practice and not eating anything until lunch, causing them to miss out on two key meals for the day: the pre-training meal and the recovery meal. The good news is that the stomach can be trained and there are ways to make sure the young athlete is not running on empty for that early morning practice.  
 
For the athlete just getting started with early morning fuel or who jumps out of bed and is at practice in 30 minutes, try small amounts of very simple carbohydrate foods to prevent upset stomach & cramping during practice.

Examples include:

  • 4 to 8 ounces of juice
  • 4 to 8 ounces of sports drink
  • 1 small or 1/2 a large banana
  • Dried fruit (raisins, mango, apples, pineapple)
  • Slice of white toast or mini white bagel topped with thin spread of jam or honey
  • Snack-size baggie of low-fiber, low-fat dry cereal
    • Try to keep amount of fiber & fat per serving as low as possible (example: choose Cheerios vs. granola)
  • Fruit leather
  • Low fiber, low fat granola bars
  • Handful of pretzels

4 Key Points to Remember:

  1. As the athlete becomes used to these foods or drinks before practice, portions can be increased and a little more variety can be added, which will provide more energy for a longer period of time during his / her training session.
  2. If more time is allowed between the pre-training meal and the training session, then a little more food may be eaten.
  3. Different athletes may also be able to tolerate different foods because their training sessions are different. A football or baseball player may be able to tolerate a little more protein during the pre-training meal, whereas an endurance runner or sprinter will most likely want to limit protein and focus completely on easily digested carbohydrates.
  4. For the athlete that still has trouble with this pre-training meal, remember that the meal the night before can be helpful. Include a balanced dinner and, if dinner was early, include a bedtime snack with quality carbohydrate and some protein so that the athlete will not have to rely entirely on the morning fuel to carry him or her through training.

Stress Management For Young Athletes

Stress Management For Young Athletes

by | Apr 24, 2019 | Sports Medicine

Exercise, team play and goal-setting are all benefits of participating in youth sports. However, young athletes face a variety of stressors that other students do not face.

Some of these are:

  • Anxiety about athletic performance can become a distraction in daily life
  • Fatigue from early, late and long training hours can affect school performance
  • External pressure to perform well makes it difficult to focus

Pediatric psychologist Emily B. Gale, Ph.D., ABPP says, “In general, adolescents perform well if they have coping and stress management skills in place before an injury or undesired performance occurs. Parents, coaches and teachers should support the use of healthy coping and stress management skills in low stress situations so when a high stress situation occurs, the teen is prepared.”

Here are some tips to help an athlete stay on top of his or her mental game:

  • Adopt some pre-game centering techniques to clear your mind of distracting or negative thoughts (i.e. deep breathing, performance visualization).
  • Use positive self-talk and realistic evaluation when things don’t go the way you hoped (i.e. highlighting what went well and what could be improved).
  • Reflect on losses or negative performance with a focus on opportunities for improvement
  • Encourage teammates with positive talk

A woman wearing glasses and a blue shirt smiles for the camera

Learn more about pediatric sports medicine and injury prevention.