This is a valuable podcast which demonstrates the importance of psycho-social readiness, upper and lower limb quadrants and the kinetic chain in the rehabilitation of a shoulder injury. It explains that the rehabilitation process is about the body as a whole, not solely focusing on rehabilitation of the injured limb.

This 25-minute podcast by Jo Gibson, a top physiotherapist and specialist in shoulder rehabilitation and injury, focuses on recurrent shoulder injuries, pre and post-surgical rehabilitation, understanding psychological and psychosocial aspects alongside the emotive processes and apprehension.

In the podcast, Jo focuses on the importance of a pre-op assessment in terms of taking time to check the player’s understanding of their injury, the importance of listening to the patient and in turn understanding the patient’s psychosocial issues to help them engage in the rehab process.

In terms of rehab post-operation, Jo focuses on the need to consider the shoulder part of the whole kinetic chain. It has been demonstrated in contact sports, performance correlates of the upper limb are very highly correlated with lower quadrant performance, so adding kinetic chain exercises can reduce abnormal load on the shoulder. It was also demonstrated that working the unaffected arm at a high level can have a strength increase effect on the operated arm.

Jo then focuses on discharge criteria again in terms of psychosocial readiness and the upper limb and kinetic chain. Some examples of tests used for return to play include the upper extremity Y balance test and closed kinetic chain upper extremity stability test.

BJSM podcast: SoundCloud