At Girl Fit we take pride in helping return our athletes back to sport as quickly and as safely as possible. From field sports to performance sports and beyond, we take an individualized approach to each return to sport program. This helps to empower the athlete to feel in control and knowledgeable about each stage of their rehab.
Our team of physical therapists have combined backgrounds in a wide variety of sports including soccer, dance, skiing, gymnastics, sailing, rock climbing, lacrosse, swimming and many more. We also work closely with local doctors, including sports medicine doctors in the Greater Boston area and at Boston Children’s Hospital to determine the most appropriate timeline for an athlete’s return to sport plan.
Return to Impact
Returning to sport after an injury is a graded and methodical process. An initial focus on mobility, strength, and endurance provides the foundation to progress safely back to plyometric, impact and sport-specific training when ready. In order to achieve these goals, we have established a Return to Sport checklist for our athletes that we tailor as needed to best suit the athlete and their goals.
Each checklist is composed of goals that are the minimum standard required for safe progression to higher level activity.
We require that our athletes achieve the strength and endurance goals we create with them prior to beginning impact and plyometric training. This allows us to have full confidence that they are ready to start returning to higher level activity without increased risk of re-injury. Based on research done at Yale, having deficits in strength or having impairments in landing techniques have both been shown to increase the risk for injury in female athletes, such as an ACL tear or a stress fracture1. We ensure that our athletes/patients master each stage of their recovery journey in order to minimize the chance of any setbacks or repeat injuries.
Return to Running Checklist:
- 30 single leg heel raises with good form to a metronome at 60 beats per minute
- 60 second Single leg glute bridge hold without compensations
- 60 seconds standing fire hydrant hold without compensations
- 60-90 seconds side and forward plank hold with good form
- 30 seconds of single leg balance eyes open on a foam or eyes closed on the floor with minimum wobbling or instability on both legs
- Single leg squats in 60 seconds (85% of non-affected side) with no more than 3 errors in form or balance
- 30-second SL hop test (85% of non-affected side and both sides pain-free) with no more than 3 errors in form or balance
Return to Sport Checklist
After returning to running and impact, we work with patients on developing a plan that is specific to the sport they are getting back to. See below for examples of return to sport recommendations that we use with our patients
Upon return to sport, we encourage athletes to continue working on aspects of strength, endurance and mobility even after they have been fully cleared by us to return to sports in effort to reduce the risk of re-injury.
If you or someone you know is looking for a physical therapist to provide guidance back to full sport participation, the team at Girl Fit is here to help. We offer appointments in Newton and Framingham. To book an appointment, please email office@girlfit.com or call 617-618-9290. We are excited to help you achieve your goals!