- Professional athlete or amateur professional?
- Prevention! Prevention! Prevention!
- Our approach
It is common for professional athletes to combine their professional life with their hobbies resulting in the latter becoming their profession. There are cases where a specific profession shares common grounds with sports careers. Meanwhile, employment takes up most hours during the day than any sports activity. However, all of the above have one thing in common: physical strain.
Nevertheless, there is a paradox here. While a professional athlete takes care of his body, in terms of food intake, rest, mental balance etc., aiming to succeed, a hairdresser, a graphic designer, a painter, a chemist and others, do not respect their body the same way.
We must all ask ourselves to what extent are we protecting our body so that we don’t stimulate injuries from overplay.
Based on the above, chances are that chronic injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome or backache will appear on a tennis player and even a hairdresser that works on average 6 hours a day. Preventive consulting physiotherapy could prepare any employee from possible injuries as well as offer them a method to deal with injuries that might appear in the future. Consequently, the comment: “But… I don’t really do anything wrong, I am at the office all day, why does my back hurt, I don’t get it” does not stand serious grounds.
Research has shown that spine strain while sitting on a desk chair, and more specifically strain on the lower vertebrae, is three times greater than that while running. This certifies the need to shape our office environment the same way professional athletes do.
Some elements may apply differently according to individual peculiarities, but the rule of thumb is that ergonomics in the working environment is important, spine stabilising exercises and integrating a systematic workout program according to the demands of each career path is essential.
