Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance

In Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance, physical therapist Sue Falsone walks the reader through the thought process and physical practice of guiding an injured athlete from injury through rehab and back to the field of play. To both health care professionals and strength and conditioning experts alike, she describes the path as her athletes move through pain and healing toward optimal function and advanced performance.

Along the way, she'll teach you some of the nuances of modern pain science, healing and motor control. Once her athletes move past the rehabilitation stage, she plans an extensive return-to-play timeline, and in this book, she'll show you examples of how to create a successful timeline for yourself. As part of the return-to-play plan, she moves from fundamental performance to fundamental advancement and finally, to advanced performance.

Whether you're a clinician, a strength or skills coach or a personal trainer, you owe it to your patients and clients to understand Sue Falsone's system of Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance.

"Sue always makes me think. Sometimes her thinking is so far ahead of me, it takes me a year to catch up. Want to get smarter? Read her book!" ~ Mike Boyle

From Sue to her Bridging the Gap readers: When an athlete is injured, where does rehabilitation end and performance training begin? Is there a line the athlete surpasses that switches us from the medical model to the performance model?Of course not.

The process is a continuum that takes an injured athlete from the table back to the field. The process encompasses a multitude of healthcare and sport performance professionals working in the best interest of the patient. An organizational system of progressing an athlete from injury back to sport performance is necessary to ensure no steps are missed. No part of the return-to-play process is more important than the others. All parts of the system must be addressed, at varying times, to create an athlete-centered and comprehensive program. Everything from pain reduction to biomechanics, to the sensorimotor system, to psychology, to strength training, and forward to athletic movement needs to be considered.

There is no single way to accomplish the task of returning to sport, but you need an organizational system to ensure nothing is overlooked. That is why I wrote Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance.It is my intent to provide the fields of sports rehabilitation and sports performance with a comprehensive organizational system where "everything has its place" and every professional is welcome.

This book isn't a cookbook of exactly how to return a player to sport. It's an organizational guide that will help you make appropriate decisions based on available evidence, patient values, and personal expertise and experience. And we do it all with the athlete's best interest at its core. Leave your letters at the door. Let's bridge the gap between professions; let's bridge the gap between professionals; and let's Bridge the Gap from Rehab to Performance. ~ Sue Falsone