Every coach has seen it.
A kid gets hurt. Goes through rehab. Gets cleared. Then comes the question everybody wants answered.
Are they truly ready to play?
Not just ready to jog. Not just ready to practice.
Ready to cut, jump, get hit, make a play and do it again.
That's a big part of what Savannah Sports Medicine, the new division of Fife Therapy, is bringing to Savannah-area athletes.
Fife Therapy, a proud sponsor of the Prep Sports Report, has expanded its services at its Savannah location to include more sports performance work, injury prevention, return-to-play testing, and advanced movement analysis.
Dr. Stuart Fife has been doing this for more than 25 years. His background is in physical therapy, orthopedic rehabilitation, and sports medicine.
And his approach is pretty simple.
Don't just treat where it hurts.
Find out why.
What the Numbers Can Tell You
Sports have changed.
Kids train almost year-round now. Football goes from the season to workouts to spring practice to summer. Volleyball players are constantly jumping. Baseball and softball players throw all year. Basketball and soccer athletes spend a lot of time cutting and changing direction.
That's a lot of wear and tear on young bodies.
At Savannah Sports Medicine, technology such as force plates and video motion analysis can help take some of the guessing out of it.
Nee Proof of the new methods used at Fife Therapy's Sports Medicine Division. Check it out here - Savannah Sports Medicine,
How is an athlete landing?
Is one leg doing more work than the other?
Is there a weakness that isn't obvious just watching somebody run?
Those are things you want to know — especially before sending an athlete back into a game.
Cleared Doesn't Always Mean Ready
ACL injuries are a good example.
I've been around sports a long time, and you see athletes come back from serious injuries all the time. They feel good. They're excited. Mom and Dad are excited. The coach wants them back.
Everybody wants the same thing.
Get back on the field.
But there is a difference between feeling good and being ready for competition.
That's where return-to-sport testing can help.
Savannah Sports Medicine can evaluate strength, balance, and movement before an athlete returns to running, cutting, jumping, and competing at full speed.
And you don't have to be injured to benefit from it.
Healthy athletes can also be tested to find weaknesses, improve movement and work on performance before something becomes a problem.
Another Tool for Savannah Athletes
That's what caught my attention about this.
We spend plenty of time talking about bigger, faster, and stronger.
How fast is the 40?
What's the vertical?
How much can they bench?
But here's one coaches and parents probably need to ask a little more often:
Is the athlete's body ready for everything we're asking it to do?
Savannah Sports Medicine gives local athletes and families another place to turn to for help answering that question.
The new Fife Therapy division offers one-on-one physical therapy, sports performance training, biomechanical testing, return-to-sport evaluation, and specialized balance and neck-strengthening work.
It's all being done right here in Savannah at 6 Mall Terrace.
Because getting an athlete back in uniform is great.
Keeping them there is even better.
Fife Therapy and Savannah Sports Medicine — proud sponsors of the Prep Sports Report.
Photos courtesy of Fife Therapy
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