Peter Caine has been involved with the Australian winter Olympic team at the Sochi Olympics and was also at their training camp in Finland in December. Peter has now returned to normal working hours again at Burns Bay Physiotherapy.  Behind every athlete is a complete team of coaches and  medical staff including physiotherapists. Physiotherapists play an important role in prevention and treatment of injuries for athletes, whether they are elite Olympic athletes or weekend warriors.

At the elite level, most athletes are competing with chronic injuries, which means both the athlete and the physiotherapist work together to get the most out of their body for competition. Care for these injuries is ongoing and often involves a team approach with coaches to optimise  training without damaging muscles and joints. In addition, there are the acute injuries which occur during sport. Treating these injuries to get the athlete back to high level competition as soon as possible often involves time pressures and can be challenging.

Physiotherapists also play an important role in assisting with the prevention of sporting injuries. Unfortunately not all injuries are preventable, but with good physiotherapy assessment, many injuries are preventable.

Published in ” The Village Observer” , March 2014. Written by Burns Bay Physiotherapy.