Jonathan Collier Injury Rehabilitation

When people visit me in the clinic for the first time I tend to ask them how they found me. For a lot of people generally, it's word of mouth. Others via social media such as Instagram or Facebook and the rest via search engines such as Google.

Now, I'm not going to sit here typing this preaching that I'm the best therapist in the area or that I know everything there is to know about the job I do. However, from my perspective, these are the key elements that I feel make a good sports rehabilitator/sports therapist a great one.

Knowledge

The foundation of it all. To effectively rehab a client there needs to be an expected level of knowledge and expertise.

Educator

Having the ability to teach and educate clients with certain methods allows them to safely self manage throughout the remaining 167 hours of that week.

Communication

The biggest cog to make everything run smoothly! This is key if a client is to understand and trust in the therapists' process and abilities

Adaptability

It isn't one size fits all. Clients have different jobs, abilities, and scenarios. The ability to adapt care to suit them is vital.

Willing To Learn

A therapist who claims to know it all is lying. We are constantly learning on the job and in our spare time.

Empathy

Undeniably important. Being able to develop a trusting and caring relationship to establish a healthy rapport between client and therapist.

These skills aren't something you are taught throughout the university. You are taught to understand the importance of these, yes. But these are skills that are developed on the job and are crucial to achieving results with a wide client base making you versatile enough to work with a variety of different people.

What are your thoughts? Do you feel there are more important qualities a physio should have to successfully rehabilitate an injury?

JPC