A fully comprehensive and specific rehabilitation program, based on the most up-to-date researched protocols and guidelines, will be prescribed following a detailed assessment for all spinal, rotator cuff, shoulder, knee, hip, groin, ankle and foot surgeries.

Individual Evaluation for Sports Injuries

Not all sports are the same, therefore each sport will place different demands on different parts of the body, in both speed and stability. Each athlete needs to be individually evaluated and their rehabilitation programme needs to match with the physical demands of their chosen sport. Whether you are an athlete competing at an elite level, a leisure/amateur athlete or the typical weekend warrior, there is always potential for injury. At  Maple Motion as part of the detailed and specific evaluation process, we will design an individualised rehabilitation programme addressing your sporting needs and personal goals. Your sport-specific rehabilitation programme will reflect the physical demands and stresses that you require to achieve your personal goals, so it will not be a “one size fits all” recipe.

Initial Assessment post-surgery or injury

All initial assessments for post surgery/injury will include a fully comprehensive and specific rehabilitation program based on the most up-to-date researched protocols and guidelines. This will be prescribed following a detailed assessment for all spinal, rotator cuff/shoulder, knee, hip, groin, ankle and foot issues.

Type of Treatments

The type of treatments that are conducted depend very much on the type of surgery, the area of the body, the time since procedure and the goals which you would like to achieve.

Common surgeries which the Chartered Physiotherapists at Maple Motion see are:

Knee surgery: Arthroscopy (clean-up operations), partial meniscectomy (removal of a part of the meniscal cartilage in the knee), ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction and total knee replacements.
Ankle surgery:(ORIF) open reduction internal fixation following ankle fractures, with pin and plate placement, reconstructions following stabilisations, and debridement of chondral lesions are common following traumatic sporting injuries, overuse, or accidents.
Foot surgery:First metatarsal, fifth metatarsal bunion repairs, non-union fractures and toe corrections would be other specialty surgeries seen and rehabilitated in Maple Motion
Hip Surgery: These can be hip resurfacing operations (called the Birmingham hip) or a total hip replacement (where both the head of the hip joint and the worn out socket are replaced). Arthroscopic hip surgeries are more popular in the sporting hip, with CAM and Pincher lesions, and labral repairs.
Spinal surgery: The two main procedures are discectomy (in which a proportion of the damaged disc is removed ), foraminoplasty (a procedure for correction of degenerative changes in the spine, such as the removal of osteophytes (boney growths) that commonly narrow the space where the nerve roots exit, this procedure commonly accompanies a disectomy,  or spinal fusions (where metalwork is inserted into the spine).
Shoulder surgery: The most frequent procedure is an sub acromial decompression (SAD) – in which the undersurface of the distal collar bone is shaved to increase the space for thickened rotator cuff tendons,  full and partial rotator cuff repairs  – where the torn muscles of the rotator cuff are re-attached and shoulder reconstructions (which are required when the shoulder has been repeatedly dislocated).

Although some of these relatively common procedures do not directly involve the musculoskeletal system there are sometimes secondary effects of stiffness, pain and weakness as a consequence of the procedures, or as a result of the
pain/disability suffered in the run up to the procedure.

Rehabilitation Protocol

Our chartered physiotherapists at Maple Motion liaise with the consultant surgeons to ensure that the specific rehabilitation protocol is followed. This is in the patient’s best interest because the surgeon has the advantage of seeing detail in the surgery which cannot be observed clinically. This information can influence the rehabilitation protocol and very importantly, the timing of when different activities are introduced. The rehabilitation of these conditions is specific to each individual problem and may involve stretching joint mobilisations, muscle strengthening, balance and coordination work and progressing to sport specific tasks or occupational activities as required.

Rehab through Hydrotherapy

Our hydrotherapy classes are very important for rehabilitation following many spinal and lower limb surgeries as they allow the patient to exercise and carry out movements which would be too strenuous on land, without the full body weight acting on the injured/operated area. The water also adds resistance which helps to strengthen the muscles of the lower limbs at the same time and help remove inflammation and hence reducing pain.

Sporting injuries:

Maple motion specializes in the treatment of all common and not so common sporting injuries, from the neck to the toe.  Our years of expertise in multiple countries with a variety of different sports in each enhances our experience in treating a full range of injuries both acute, sub- acute and chronic. With our extensive connections in the orthopaedic community in Galway, we can enhance a proper pathway of intervention and rehabilitation.