I was at a study day where Katherine Grainger, a Gold Medallist Rower at the London 2012 Olympics and 4 time Olympic medallist, gave a talk. The study day was organised for all the physios who worked at the London Olympics by the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine. Katherine highlighted the fact that Physiotherapy is also about improving performance, and explained the role that physios had in her long rowing career.
Improving performance means in part, learning to use your muscles to perform movement more efficiently so that the energy your muscles produce is not lost through poor biomechanics (energy leaks). With age this capability can be reduced, and even greater care and attention has to be provided to avoid injury.
Physios in sports know how to optimise your movement and function, and think of exercises that challenge your body to improve, and stimulating parts of your nervous system involved in balance, agility and coordination, devising clever exercises that train your muscles to work better when your tired and distracted. Those are the kinds of exercises that go beyond the injury and pain stage.
London inspired many people in many ways. This woman inspired me.
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