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Editor’s letter: Tackling injuries in house
With sports injuries given little attention by health services, exercisers who find themselves injured are often forced to create their own road to recovery. Fortunately, gyms and health clubs are perfectly situated to help
Exercise-related injuries are a frustrating but common reality for many gym goers, especially those who favour high-impact workouts. While operators can and should put strategies in place to minimise the risk of injury to customers, some risk always remains and even the most diligent fitness enthusiast is likely to pick up an injury or two along the way.
Despite well-defined treatment pathways for common illnesses, a lack of clarity has long existed when it comes to effective and timely treatment for sports injuries.
GPs and A&E doctors are usually the first port of call, but they often lack the specialist knowledge needed to identify and deliver the long-term care needed. This usually leaves many exercisers forced to rely on trial and error to identify if a physiotherapist, chiropractor, orthopaedic doctor or other musculoskeletal specialist has the solution they need to get back into action.
A recent survey of 1,500 UK adults by Hayward Baker Solicitors and Ginger Polls showed that going to the gym is the most popular way to exercise, but 41 per cent of adults have suffered a so-called ‘gym-jury’ while trying to get into shape. If, as this data suggests, the majority of those at risk of injury already use gyms, perhaps it’s time for fitness facility operators to take the lead in creating and offering a streamlined injury recovery process?
This could involve arranging the services of in-house musculoskeletal recovery specialists, directories of approved treatment providers who can be accessed through the club and at home, a PT- and physio-led injury recovery pathway or a combination of these services.
Regardless of the approach taken, offering such add-ons to existing gym and health club services could be vital in preventing exercisers from worsening their injuries or turning away from physical activity altogether. It would also create an additional revenue stream for clubs.
It’s been highly encouraging to see the medical and physical activity sectors moving closer together in recent years. Tackling injuries within the gym environment could be another useful, effective and powerful way to continue to bridge the gap between these two inextricably linked industries.
