Importance of rehab after injury

I’ve got my physio hat on again as I wanted to remind everyone again about how important it is to treat and rehab injuries correctly.

I was playing tennis last week when a chap on the next court fell over on the first ball that he hit. I went over to help and he had sprained one of the ligaments in his ankle. It turned out that it was the same injury that he had suffered 5 weeks earlier. Unfortunately he had only rested the ankle and had waited for it to stop hurting before playing again.

This may seem the sensible thing to do but actually he had predisposed himself to further injury. His injury needed appropriate stretching to prevent scar tissue forming which becomes a weak point in the ligament. He also should have worked on his balance and coordination to get the mechano-receptors in his ligaments working again. Without these your brain cannot react in  time to maintain balance…leading to  a ‘weak’ ankle. He also hadn’t warmed up before he started to hit the ball. I explain all of this in my book, Play Tennis Forever, so hopefully these common misunderstandings can be avoided.

My message is, please rehab your injuries properly. You may need to get some professional advice from an appropriate healthcare professional, but well worth it if it helps to prevent re-injury.

Good luck and I hope you are able to get out there and enjoy this extended good weather!