What Physios Should Know About Strength & Conditioning

As a strength and conditioning coach I have had experience working in a range of different environments, from working with general population doing personal training, to long term athletic development strength and conditioning with high school athletes, and now with professional rugby league athletes at the Parramatta Eels.

In all these environments one thing holds true – almost all athletes will at some point suffer an injury. What has been a massive learning curve for me is seeing the gap in knowledge about strength and conditioning that most physios have (and also that strength and conditioning coaches have with rehab!). Far too often I see physios amazing at the diagnosis and acute phase of an injury, but the waters quickly turn murky when we look to get athletes returning to training and full performance. I think physios would be far better equipped to work with athletes and active people if they had a basic understanding of periodisation, the rehab and return to play process, and exercise progressions. Hopefully in this article I can provide you with some knowledge in these areas!