Physios: what do they actually do?

One of the big stories from the England camp in this World Cup was one which pretty much summed up our campaign in my eyes; embarrassing. Physio Gary Lewin managed to dislocate his ankle after reportedly tripping over a water bottle during the celebrations of Daniel Sturridge's equalising goal against Italy, causing him to have to return home to England. This has pushed the role of a physio further into the public eye, bringing us to the big question, what does a physio actually do?

Gary Lewin suffered his bizarre injury against Italy

In the modern game the role of a physio is massively important in aiding a player's performance. There are numerous jobs and responsibilities that a physio will do such as identifying injuries and treating the issue. After identifying the injury the treatment phase will start and a rehabilitation programme will be devised to enable the player to return from injury as quickly as possible with minimal risk of the injury reoccurring. In top level sport in particular, it is common that the rehab programme will be in collaboration with a fitness coach.
A physio also has an extra responsibility of providing mental support to a player, almost like that of a sport psychologist, to give them the belief and confidence that they will overcome their injury and that they can still perform at a high standard, something which is of huge importance when it comes to longer term injuries like knee ligament damage. Unfortunately for England, this is something that Uruguay's Luis Suarez received very successfully from his physio, Wayne Ferreira, during his treatment and he was able to go on to score twice, without even being match-fit.

How could a UOB student step in? Well, there are multiple aspects that are taught to students that  would help. Obviously anyone at UOB who has studied on the Sports Therapy course, or even the sports injuries unit, could be capable of identifying injuries and going on to treat them. Maybe working with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in his rehab? Those who have studied a science course/unit would also have an understanding through their knowledge of the human body. Also, a lot of the mental support aspect that is provided to players is learnt in sports psychology modules at UOB. So as you can see a lot of the students at UOB would have an area that they could specialise in.

Gary Lewin's recent incident has further highlighted that it isn't just the players on the pitch that count, in fact there are different ways of going to a World Cup, yet still being part of the team. It is important to remember that to push yourself to the elite level, and the possibility of going to a World Cup, you need to work hard and gain experience.