Submitted by Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic
Photo by Western News
Sport Concussions
Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic offers a multi-disciplinary approach to managing sport concussions in the active and athletic population. Medical professionals work together to assess, treat and rehabilitate the various facets of this injury. The program emphasizes early intervention, which can lessen symptoms and promote recovery, leading to a better outcome.
Physiotherapy may be recommended as part of the treatment plan and could include assessment and treatment as follows:
- Education – probably the most important part of the health care professional’s involvement in managing concussions; ongoing education and strategies are integral components of rehabilitation
- Cervical Spine – injury to the neck is often associated with head trauma; a treatment program may be implemented based on patient-specific assessment findings and patient tolerance
- Activity – following a concussion, metabolic and physiologic changes can occur, resulting in altered response to exercise; physiotherapists use a graded exercise program to guide athletes in a safe return to activity; the athlete’s response to cardiovascular work is closely monitored during these sessions using heart rate and blood pressure monitors, along with symptom reporting
- Balance and Vision – two potential symptoms of concussions are balance and visual disturbances; physiotherapists use techniques that help retrain the brain to understand complex environments that include space, motion, head and eye movements with exercises that focus on vision, balance, motion, postural stability and gait
- Sport Specific Therapy – physiotherapists and kinesiologists assess the athlete’s response to dynamic activity through cardiovascular exercise, strength training, agility and speed work, plyometrics and sport specific drills prior to full return to normal sport and activity
Acute Sport Injury?
Have you injured yourself in the last 72 hours playing sports? Think you have a sprain? A strain? Concerned about a break? Call Fowler Kennedy at 519-661-3011; select option #2 and say you are calling for an acute sport injury. You will have access to the experts who can help diagnose, start treatment and get you on your way.
Hours:
Monday to Thursday
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Wreck Room
Need a brace? Physio equipment? Tape?
Fowler Kennedy’s “Wreck Room” is THE destination for your retail sport medicine needs! Located inside the Fowler Kennedy Clinic at the 3M Centre, Western University, our expert representatives are trained in kinesiology, anatomy, biomechanics and sport injury. They will help you understand, test and fit the appropriate brace for your injury and activity.
Have questions?
Call 519-661-3011 or email Rob Wilson at rdwilson@uwo.ca.
Hours:
Monday to Thursday
9:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Friday
8:30 to 4:30pm
Tell the parking attendant you are coming to buy sport retail equipment at Fowler Kennedy!
A Special Kind of Thank You
Former Western Physical Education professor Auke van Holst created a mural of Canadian Olympic speed skater Christine Nesbitt and donated it to the staff of the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic in March as a way of saying thanks for the years of support and healing.
“My family has spent a lot of time in this clinic,” van Holst said. “They’ve done a lot of patching and rehabilitating for us.”
www.fowlerkennedy.com
