Why Pre-Rehabilitation Important for Athletes?

What is Pre- Rehabilitation?

Having a systemic protocol for education and evaluation of athletes, reducing the risk of injury but not specifically performance-enhancing is prehabilitation. Education comprises principles of basic training and injury prevention whereas evaluation includes a dynamic and static assessment of flexibility, biomechanics, and strength.

How to plan a Pre-Rehabilitation?

Prehabilitation can be planned in 3 phases:

• Phase 1: Athlete’s training schedules and routines, sports specific medical history and musculoskeletal examination focusing on biomechanical issues, posture, muscle control, flexibility, core stability, joint alignment, and movement patterns.
• Phase 2: Advance analysis of sports specific biomechanics and understanding the risk of sports itself.
• Phase 3: Focusing on sports-specific players’ positions.

What are the Pre-Rehab exercises and Benefits?

As part of a Sport-specific Conditioning program, below are the benefits:

• A decrease in the risk of overtraining injuries.
• Building athletic skills to produce a strong musculoskeletal base.

Pre-Rehabilitation exercises can be performed for high-stress musculoskeletal areas and individual position, for specific sports.

As an individualized program will help in:

• Enhancing individuals’ functional capacity by correcting joint alignment, muscle length imbalance, and flexibility.
• Achieving a good dynamic and static posture.
• Stabilizing and strengthening core muscles as well as enhancing muscle endurance, strength and power.
• Boosting the movement pattern efficiency.
• Developing agility, proprioception, and balance.

How is Pre- Rehab helpful before surgery?

Often sports injuries need surgical intervention, and young athletes are most worried about the disruption of sports practice and detraining. As discussed above, prehab improves functional capacity by increasing physical activity prior to anticipated orthopedic surgical procedure. This pre-surgery enhanced functional level helps an athlete to rebound rapidly during the rehabilitation programs. Pre-rehab also gives ample time for individuals to enable themselves to withstand the stress of surgery and duration of inactivity, as well as educate them about the surgical procedure and the post-operative sports specific rehabilitation plan.

Written by: Dr. Sumiran Passey, M.D. Sports Medicine, AktivHealth.