This past weekend I had the pleasure of leading 4 breakout sessions at the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association conference in Quebec City. The topic of my talk was “The Post Partum Athlete”. This group of healthcare practitioners were so enthusiastic and eager to learn about this topic, it blew me away! Going to this conference I knew that this topic wouldn’t be one that all therapists were treating, but the concepts of proper core re-training, exercise progression and return to sport do apply to all populations! And that thought was confirmed by the attendance of numerous male trainers and trainers who were taking the ideas from the talk back to their MALE and FEMALE varsity teams.
I was so excited to share ideas and thoughts on how we, as practitioners need to ask the right questions and pick and choose the right tests to provide the best care possible. I think a lot of people can get back to what they want to do, but they need to have 1) realistic expectations and 2) proper progression of exercise that is based on their history and level as well as what happens during tissue healing time (and that DOESN’T change no matter how good of shape someone is in). It’s our job to give these to our patients, so they can achieve long term wellness and health!