If you’ve recently sustained an injury or had surgery, you should always see a reputable physiotherapist to diagnose your injury.

However, did you know that you can concurrently work with a personal training coach to fast track your progress?

What is the difference between working with a coach vs a physiotherapist?

Be it an ACL tear, lower back spasms or elbow tendinitis, both physiotherapists and personal training coaches will assess and track your range of motion, mobility, strength levels.

However the treatments prescribed by the two different professions are very different.

A physiotherapist facilitates a person’s function post injury, allowing them to return to doing things they enjoy.

Coaches will design a training programme to improve your movement patterns and guide you in perfecting them. Progressions would be made while establishing a foundation that allows you to gain both strength and confidence. A coach can also work on other contributing factors for your injury that you may need to address such as lifestyle, nutrition, hydration and sleep.

How do I find the right personal training coach?

A great personal training coach to help you bounce back from your injuries should have ample knowledge on anatomy and physiology. Equipped with this expertise, they can craft out a long term plan and programme to guide you to full recovery or even take it to the next level.

The coach supporting you in this journey has to understand your training history / experience and what led you to your injury. Gathering feedback and notes from your physical therapist prior to seeing you would be a good place to start.

What are the benefits of working with a personal training coach?

A coach will guide you back to where you want to be with a personalised programme and plan with well thought out exercises to address movement patterns. Building motor control, awareness and proprioception is key before getting back on to the playing field or lifting heavy again.

For example, understanding breath work and bracing again before picking up that bar for a deadlift should be a priority.

Coaches can be your cheerleaders. Resuming any physical training after overcoming an injury may be daunting, but an empathetic coach would meet you where you’re at with both your physical and mental health.

Working with a coach post injury would require patience on the client’s end, as coaches would take a rather conservative outlook to prevent any sort of regression.

Summary

While a personal training coach may and should not diagnose your injuries, they can guide you post surgery and rehabilitation. A good coach can help you get back on track with an individualised program catered to your goals and needs.

The long and arduous journey to get back to your pre-injury state would include a ton of patience, frustration and gratification, but it will all be worth it.

This post was written by Bryan Tan, a personal trainer at Level.