Sports physiotherapist Frank Gilroy discusses how professional athletes have injuries dealt with
For any athlete having to deal with injuries is a regular occurrence.
While advancements are being made in technology to help injuries and there is more awareness of prehabilitation to prevent them, it is still a very common protocol for all involved in sport.
Frank Gilroy, an experienced sports physiotherapist who has worked with the Scotland Rugby team and Celtic Football Club, gives Outside Performance an insight into how physios treat injuries and why as well as looking at the dangers they face in giving a wrong diagnosis.
He said: “The medical staff tend to sit in the middle and act almost as a liaison between the player and the coach but there are times when the medical staff will make the final decision.
“But I would argue that the individuals themselves have to take responsibility. Whenever I’m dealing with managers or players I make sure the player does take responsibility.
“I’ll ask you this. You have been training for four years in rugby and the Commonwealth Games comes up and this is your chance. If you do well you have a good chance to play for the Scotland team and a good chance Glasgow or Edinburgh will give you a contract.
“You could possibly make £100,000-a-year but you have a niggling knee pain. Are you going to play? No doubt you will. Will you tell me as your physio you have an injury? No.
“If I think someone is going to do an activity where it is dangerous to him or her or to someone else I will intervene. However if I intervened with every niggling injury then you wouldn’t have a team on the park.
“I think physios are getting more aware of stopping injuries. It has improved dramatically in my 30 years.
“But now you have the underlying of litigation that was never there before.
“You’re a player and your career is over through injury you’re going to sue someone.
“You’re on £1million-a-year, you're 24, you're going to be finished because of something that happened because you were forced back to play. If the club has forced you back or the physio or doctor has given the wrong diagnosis you’re going to win your case.
“That's why if you look at the Manchester City's of this world, they have squads of 25 and 30 and you'll quite often now hear of a player going out for 12 weeks. That's because they don't want to take the chance.
“They’re also putting scanners in everywhere so that when you’re injured it gets scanned straight away.
“The scan will then say, for example, you have a grade one ligament ankle tear and it will tell you that’s a four week injury.
“So then if the player does come back after four weeks and it’s still a problem that’s fine because the scan said what grade it is.
“Then later on if the player tries to sue the physio you can say there’s no reason and that the physio didn’t do anything wrong.
“But why would you risk it? If that 24-year-old who is on £1million and has ten years left they could sue you for £10million. Plus interest, plus fame, plus the chance that the player will get a wage increase as you get older. The lawyers are having a great field day and it could rise to £20million. That's the bottom line of it.
“I think younger players are getting more medical advice and are relying more on it.
“I think there are a lot more injuries now at a higher level but I don’t think there has been a change in the attitude of injuries I think there are just more now than before.”