We meet with the Scottish Institute of Sport's Head Physio to learn more...

Sport at any level has its highs and its lows.  And one of the ultimate lows is injury.  From bumps and bruises to lesions and lacerations, they are the thorn in the side of all athletes.

But what goes on from when an injury is picked up until the time the athlete returns to the field of play? Unknown to the average sports fan, there are a number of people who work passionately and endlessly in the background, committed to bringing these sports men and women back to full fitness. And a crucial figure in this period of rehabilitation is the physiotherapist.

In the framework of sport today, a massive amount of pressure and accountability is placed upon the physiotherapist. They are responsible for guiding an athlete through what could, in some cases, be a career ending injury.  They must bring them back to full fitness, and then aid a return to competition, making a number of tough decisions along the way. Passion, understanding, professionalism and determination are a few words that come to mind when sitting down with Fiona Mather, Head of Physiotherapy at the Scottish Institute of Sport.

Working with a number of professionals, from sports psychologists to skill acquisitionists, Fiona brings a wealth of sports injury rehabilitation experience to the Institute. Having been a specialist for 10 years, and worked with athletes from tennis players to hill runners, curlers to rugby players, Fiona knows exactly what is best for athletes and stresses the importance of understanding the full breadth of an injury when rehabilitating each individual - underlining integration as the key to a successful recovery from injury.

“It is really important that rehabilitation of our athletes is multi-faceted. When you are actually rehabilitating an injured athlete, it is extremely important to address all aspects of the athlete and not just to think about the injury.  For example, the psychology of the injury:  If the injury happened on the sports field – when the athlete returns to the field the injury is in their mind all the time.”

This integration comes from areas such as psychology. The injured athletes are blessed with the opportunity to work with top sports psychologist Britt Tajet-Foxell – who is also interestingly a trained physiotherapist. Tajet-Foxell visits the Institute on a quarterly basis and works with injured athletes who may be having trouble with confidence before a return to competitive sport.

Furthermore, such programmes as Elite Sports Analysis benefit the rehabilitation process. Involving the videoing of injured athletes performing specific exercises – this technique allows the athlete to watch themselves in action and understand how they may be doing something wrong and how they could change their technique to aid rehabilitation.

When it comes to the personal aspect of her occupation, Fiona takes a somewhat positive and professional stance. When questioned on whether or not she likes to watch her athletes performing on their return to competitive sport she replies simply:  “I believe it is key for a physio to understand the demands of the sport. You shouldn’t cringe when watching your athletes competing. You should be 100% confident that you have addressed all the avenues of their rehabilitation. If you’ve got someone going back onto the field or into the pool that you are worried about, then you are either not confident in your own skills or the athlete is not ready to be back there.”

Working specifically with swimmers in the Institute, Fiona regards the sport as her main interest. “Swimming is an area that I find fascinating, because it is one of the harshest environments you can be in – with 360 degree forces on your body changing all the time in the water. It is also an extremely challenging sport to work with as you can’t adopt the same principles for any athlete, as you could with a team sport.”

When questioned on any special cases that have come through her rehabilitation unexpectedly, there is no hesitation in mentioning the phenomenal story of Angela Mudge. With four British and three Scottish hill-running titles behind her, it is clear that Mudge is nowhere near short of gut determination.  But such is the gruelling nature of the sport, Mudge suffered a significant setback with a knee injury in 2005. The cartilage in her knee had worn almost completely away - so she was running with just about bone-on-bone. “The surgeon was quite sceptical upon whether Angela would get back to running at all” says Fiona.

To say that an uphill struggle was to follow would be something of an understatement. But working with Fiona, strength and conditioning coaches, skill acquisitionists, nutritionists and technical coaches, Angela prevailed and came out as an improved athlete.  “That was potentially a career ending injury, but I thought she could get back, and in fact she could benefit from some of the work we were doing with her” mentioned Fiona. Angela went on to win the gruelling Buff Skyrunner World Series in 2006 and still races today. This not only underlines the courage of Angela Mudge as an athlete but it also highlights the positive influence and determination of Fiona as her guide through the rehabilitation process.

“It's not just about patching people up and throwing them back onto the field,” we are reminded. By no means is her work simply based around rehabilitation. In fact the physiotherapy work at The Scottish Institute of Sport somewhat differs from that of an average private physiotherapist.  “The physiotherapy work being carried out at the Institute of Sport may differ from practitioners working in isolation, because we can tap into a wide network of experience and expertise within an integrated team, in order to facilitate an optimal return to high performance sport,” comments Fiona.

Through an interesting profiling scheme in which every singe athlete on the Institute’s books is video-analysed annually, Fiona can look into the area of injury prevention. This analysis gives the physio the chance to examine technique and pinpoint areas that may need improvement in a specific athlete.

Furthermore, Fiona can outline to athletes and coaches areas in which they can improve their individual skills, or the team as a whole.  “We have to make the best of our athletes, to keep them performing at the top of their game for as long as we can – in some ways we are about optimising potential,”

So what about the role of the physiotherapist in the future? “I think that athlete profiling is the way forward, because it does give you an impression of how an athlete performs on the field. You can underline what the injury risks are for the athlete.”

This profile system, in the physiotherapist’s eyes, is going to move onto looking at the closed skills of different sports. For example the tennis serve, the scrum-half rugby pass or the golf swing. In the future these skills will have been analysed in such a detailed manner that injury prevention will take over the injury rehabilitation element of physiotherapy.

The role of the physiotherapist in modern day sport is therefore not one of merely aiding the recovery from injury process, but is also one of investing in the future of sport – something which is vital to guiding Scotland towards the world’s elite.

IC

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