Pre-habilitation

What is Prehabilitation or Prehab?

The term Pre-habilitation can refer to one of two things:

1. Prehabilitation can refer to improving an individual's functional capacity through increased physical activity before an anticipated orthopedic procedure (surgery). If an individual maintains a higher level of functional ability before a procedure, they will rebound more rapidly in the rehabilitation process post procedure. Prehabilitation is the process of enhancing functional capacity of the individual to enable him or her to withstand the stressor of inactivity associated with an orthopedic procedure.
2. Prehab can refer to a personalized exercise program that provides sports specific focused exercises and activities in order to prevent injuries. The development and execution of an effective program can be complex. The development of the program needs to be progressive and periodically re-evaluated to change with the athlete's needs.

Who Should Prehab?

Athletes of all levels should include prehabiltation in their training program. The more advanced the athlete, the greater need for a sound prehab program. As an athlete’s body matures within a sport, their body adapts to the physical demands of training. However due to the repetitive nature of training, the body is often unable to keep up with the imposed demands. This can cause injury which can lead to lost training time…or worse, the inability to perform during competition due to injury. Thus prehab is needed in order to prevent injury and keep the athlete in the game.

How to Prehab

Customized prehabilitation programs focus on preparing the body for the demands of training and thus help to prevent injuries. A sound and personalized prehabilitation program should address total body balance and consider sports specific needs. It balances the range of motion, strength, coordination and stabilization. Exercises and sports specific drills focus on the athlete’s weaknesses as well as on tissues that require the greatest condition to perform sports specific tasks.

Thornhill Rehabilitation Centre – Mississauga Rehabilitation Centre:

Due to the complex nature of many sports specific skills, proper program design should be developed by conditioning experts such as the ones found at SPC’s high performance training centres. At SPC, programs are designed by Strength and Conditioning specialists and are subsequently reviewed and altered by our Sports Medicine specialists. The result is a highly effective and efficient prehabilitation program.

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