22/11/2023
Can we keep an injured athlete on the Performance pathway?
I believe the answer is always YES. But it may require a CHANGE, or an EVOLUTION in thinking.
I use the term CLINICAL-PERFORMANCE CONTINUUM to describe the pathway in which I believe an athlete will always sit somewhere.
What if we could see INJURY AS AN OPPORTUNITY to be better. An opportunity to CLOSE THE PERFORMANCE GAP.
Traditional models have keep PERFORMANCE and CLINICAL PATHWAYS SEPERATE. When some one is injured they have a CLINICAL FOCUS and outside of injury, have a PERFORMANCE FOCUS.
Ironically the injury itself, in my experience is actually an indicator of the athletes PERFORMANCE GAP, and can better guide the PERFORMANCE FOCUS.
Injured or not it is imperative that we can keep an athlete on the PERFORMANCE PATHWAY, on the CLINICAL-PERFORMANCE CONTINUUM.
How do we do this?
As long as an athlete has at least a 1% focus on performance, they maintain on the continuum. If this drops to zero, they are no longer on the continuum. They are no longer on the PERFORMANCE PATHWAY.
INJURY IS INFORMATION, injury is feedback. Injury is a opportunity to review and do things better. A NBA player sprains their ankle. I get at this time there is largely going to be a clinical focus. Maybe 60-70%, and the rest still performance. Conditioning, skills and closing the performance gap. Does the ankle need to be more robust, improve proprioception or further up the chain? Do they need to strengthen the hip, core/
And when would you let this athlete touch a ball?
What would you do to keep this athlete on THE CLINICAL-PERFORMANCE CONTINUUM?
