San Diego Padres
Working with the head athletic coach, the trainer, his assistant and the sports masseur of the San Diego Padres at their baseball stadium at Petco Park, was an interesting and varied experience.
Although it is was not the baseball season there were 6 players who were recovering from injuries that came every day for treatment.
Baseball is a non contact sport therefore there is less chance of contact injuries, instead it is often an overuse injury, as children start as young as 3 years old.
Injuries included glenohumeral joint stiffness, Ulna collateral repair, Slap lesion repair, Medial meniscus tear. It is almost impossible to estimate how many throws a pitcher may throw during his career but even during practice they will throw a minimum of 100 throws.
All players that attended the clinic started with an intense stretch and muscle warm up routine. They received sport specific deep stretching including active PNF. After their stretching the players would go and warm up with the strength and conditioning coach.
The strength coach targets different components of fitness and different energy systems each day. Post stretch though they work on CV training. After the body is fully warmed the players returned for treatment from the rehab team.
Looking individually at a couple of the players and their treatment:
Brian Giles - San Diego Padres
Since aquatic therapy is one of my specialist fields of expertise it was interesting to work with Brian who would go into the hydro pool 3 days a week to walk and run to help rehab post medial meniscal injury.
He would then have massage or active muscle techniques. After his time in the treatment room he would go to the gym for a workout with the rest of the team and trainer. After the gym Brian would get his knee iced and would then be free to leave the stadium.
Cesar - San Diego Padres
Cesar a first innings pitcher was recovering from an ulnar collateral replacement operation carried out in May. This surgery takes a year to recover from.
After 8 months Cesar was throwing at 90 feet getting ready to pitch again during the season, he would not be able to start the season but had started to increase his training.
When he arrived at the stadium he was warmed up by the trainer with deep active PNF stretching and range of movement (ROM).
Cesar then warmed up on the pitch with the rest of the team, after this he played catch with the trainers to help with sports specific movement and increase his throwing distance as prescribed.
He then returns to the treatment room for elbow exercises and deep friction treatment from the trainers. Once this was completed he went to the weights room for his strength training.