Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance

Product Description

Sue Falsone Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance— New book by Sue Falsone

“I hope Bridging the Gap … changes your expectations and perspective of what the future of health care holds. You should have the mindset that you—personally and professionally—are a powerful player in getting upstream to the majority of lifestyle-induced pre-disease and disease states. …By Bridging the Gap you, Sue, and everyone you consider your peers will have truly made a difference for others to build on. ”
~ Mark Verstegen, President_Founder, EXOS^®—Foreword, Bridging the Gap

In Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance, physical therapist Sue Falsone walks the reader through the thought process and physical practice of guiding an injured athlete from injury through rehab and back to the field of play. To both health care professionals and strength and conditioning experts alike, she describes the path as her athletes move through pain and healing toward optimal function and advanced performance.

Along the way, she’ll teach you some of the nuances of modern pain science, healing and motor control. Once her athletes move past the rehabilitation stage, she plans an extensive return-to-play timeline, and in this book, she’ll show you examples of how to create a successful timeline for yourself. As part of the return-to-play plan, she moves from fundamental performance to fundamental advancement and finally, to advanced performance.

Whether you’re a clinician, a strength or skills coach or a personal trainer, you owe it to your patients and clients to understand Sue Falsone’s system of Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance.

“Sue always makes me think. Sometimes her thinking is so far ahead of me, it takes me a year to catch up. Want to get smarter? Read her book!”
~ Mike Boyle, StrengthCoach.com

From Sue to her Bridging the Gap readers:

When an athlete is injured, where does rehabilitation end and performance training begin? Is there a line the athlete surpasses that switches us from the medical model to the performance model?

Of course not.

The process is a continuum that takes an injured athlete from the table back to the field. The process encompasses a multitude of healthcare and sport performance professionals working in the best interest of the patient.

An organizational system of progressing an athlete from injury back to sport performance is necessary to ensure no steps are missed. No part of the return-to-play process is more important than the others. All parts of the system must be addressed, at varying times, to create an athlete-centered and comprehensive program.

Everything from pain reduction to biomechanics, to the sensorimotor system, to psychology, to strength training, and forward to athletic movement needs to be considered. There is no single way to accomplish the task of returning to sport, but you need an organizational system to ensure nothing is overlooked.

That is why I wrote Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance.

It is my intent to provide the fields of sports rehabilitation and sports performance with a comprehensive organizational system where “everything has its place” and every professional is welcome.

This book isn’t a cookbook of exactly how to return a player to sport. It’s an organizational guide that will help you make appropriate decisions based on available evidence, patient values, and personal expertise and experience.

And we do it all with the athlete’s best interest at its core. Leave your letters at the door. Let’s bridge the gap between professions; let’s bridge the gap between professionals; and let’s Bridge the Gap from Rehab to Performance.

Sue Falsone

“The phrase “bridging the gap” is frequently used when describing the problems of communication and accountability that exist between rehabilitation and performance professionals. Sue Falsone has been one of the professionals working to strengthen those relationships with her clear and practical message. Let’s all remember that the “gap” is not in the way the human body heals and performs . . . it’s in the way we handle ourselves professionally as part of a team.”
~ Gray Cook, Functional Movement Systems

Contents

Foreword—Mark Verstegen
One—From the Table to the Field: Why is Bridging the Gap So Important?
Two—Pain Generator
Three—Tissue Healing and Altering Pain Perception
Four—Motion Segment
Five—Psychomotor Control 
Six—The Biopsychosocial Model
Seven—Somatosensory Control
Eight—Other Considerations for Optimal Function
Nine—Fundamental Performance
Ten—Fundamental Advancement
Eleven—The Final Phase: Advanced Performance
Twelve—Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance, Final Thoughts
Appendix One—Bridging the Gap Overview
Appendix Two—The Bridging the Gap Assessment
Appendix Three—Pain, A Guide to Contributing Mechanisms
Appendix Four—Janda Functional Assessment
Appendix Five—FMS Score Sheet
Appendix Six—SFMA Score Sheet
Appendix Seven—Table of Abbreviations
Appendix Eight—List of Photos, Illustrations, and Graphics
Appendix Nine—Suggestions for Further Study
References
Index

“To date, there have been numerous books written about rehabilitation for the medical professional, and likewise training books written for the strength and conditioning coach. But these professionals don’t work in independent silos; they work together as a team, and understanding the roles of each is imperative to best meet the needs of the athlete. Bridging the Gap fills this crucial role, and who better to impart knowledge and experience than Sue Falsone, who has worked in this role her entire career at the highest level of sport. I have known Sue for many years and can attest to her integrated collaborative approach. Bridging the Gap is a must-read for anyone working with athletes in the continuum of rehabilitation to performance.”
~ Mike Voight PT, DHSc, OCS, SCS, ATC, CSCS, FAPTA

“Bridging the Gap is truly a bible for anyone who wants to help athletes get back to what they love doing—written by someone who loves helping them.”
~ Phil Page, PhD, PT, ATC, CSCS, FACSM

Bridging the Gap is 296 pages in 8.5×11 paperback format. It includes 18 original illustrations and graphics, 127 photographs, 277 references, 9 valuable appendices and is carefully indexed.

Purchasing the print book via OTPbooks.com includes instant access to the ebook edition.

The ebook edition includes the PDF, Kindle and epub files in both fixed and flowable formats.

What’s Covered in
Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance?

• The Performance Training Continuum
• Rehab, Rehab Integration, Performance
• Evaluate, Isolate, Integrate
• Duties of the Specialists, Who Guides the Process
• Structure versus Function
• Pain Management: Medical and Clinical Examination
• Performance Enhancement: Functional Examination
• Diagnosis-Specific, Diagnosis-Inclusive, Client-Specific
• The Segments of the Organizational System
• Shifting Between a Medical and a Performance Model
• Creating a Return-to-Play Timeline
• Pain Theories
• The Meaning of Pain
• An Injury Event: The Two Stages of Acute Pain
• Finding the Pain Generator
• Treating the Pain Generator
• Making Biomechanical Compromises
• Therapeutic Objective and Therapeutic Modifiers
• Physiological Response to Injury
• Neurological Response to Injury
• Inhibition of Pain Transmission
• Prescription Pain Relief
• Rethinking Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation
• Dry Needling
• Ultrasound, Electrical Stimulation, Kinesiology Tape, and Other Options
• Using Counterirritants or Essential Oils
• Localized Symptoms, Localized Problem?
• Movement Assessment
• Functional Movement Screen and the Selective Functional Movement Assessment
• The Janda Approach
• Rolling Assessment
• Posture Assessment
• Strength Testing
• Manual Therapy
• Fascial and Visceral Manipulation
• Fascia
• The Thoracic Spine, Gut, and Autonomic Nervous System Balance
• Instrument-Assisted Soft-Tissue Mobilization
• Cupping Techniques and Benefits
• Muscles Are Never “Off” or “On”
• Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation
• Muscle Activation Techniques
• Functional Range Conditioning
• The Postural Restoration Institute
• Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization
• Shirley Sahrmann and the Movement System Impairment Syndromes
• Stiffness and Slack
• Pilates
• The Psychology and Mindset of Injury
• Brain Meets Body: The Emotional and Psychological Load of Pain
• Meditation
• Recovery and Regeneration Strategies
• Sleep
• Nutrition Regeneration Days
• The Dynamic Systems Theory
• Providing a Framework for Functional Training
• The Visual System
•  The Vestibular System
• Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization and Somatosensory Control
• Yoga—Origins and Modern Application for Somatosensory Training
• Types of Yoga Practices
• Practical Applications of Yoga in a Bridging-the-Gap Continuum
• Breathing
• Movement and Breathing, Breathing, and Movement
• Re-educating the Diaphragm
• The Four Diaphragms
• Paradoxical Breathing and Hip Tension
• The Diaphragm and Posture
• Posture
• Upper and Lower-Crossed Syndromes
• Thoracic Mobility
• Lumbar Spine Rotation
• The Spine and Shoulder Mobility
• The Thoracic Spine and the Autonomic Nervous System
• Moving Through the Hips
• Foot Health
• Coming to Grips with Supercompensation
• Prioritizing Planned Recovery
• Muscle Fibers 101
• Muscle Fibers and Bridging the Gap
• The Time-under-Tension Continuum
• Exercise Selection, Modalities and Application
• Using the Upper Body Category
• Using the Lower-Body Category
• Propulsive versus Stabilizing
• Rotational Activities
• Additional Training Variables
• Periodization
• Direction, Planes of Motion
• Linear Movement
• Acceleration, Absolute Speed, Deceleration
• Backpedaling
• Multi-Directional Movement
• Jumping and Landing
• Power Development
• The Plyometric Continuum
• The Stretch-Shorten Cycle
•  Counter, Non-Counter, Double-Contact, and Continuous Movements
• Tools for Plyometric Training
• Transitioning from Fundamental to Advanced Performance
• The Importance of Skills Coaches
• Preprogrammed versus Random Movements
• It Is Not What You Say, It Is How You Say It
• Using Visual, Audible, and Tactile Cues
• Assisted versus Resisted versus Combination Movements
• Getting a Tool Back in an Athlete’s Hands
• Implements and Movement
• Creating and using a Movement Analysis
• Bring in the Experts
• Creating and Implementing the Return-to-Competition Timeline
• …and much more

“Not only are there few people who can make this complex and nuanced topic easy to understand, there are even fewer who have successfully ‘bridged the gap’ in the sport setting. Sue has taken her years of experience, knowledge, and success, and distilled it into a comprehensive schematic for rehabilitation and reconditioning. Whether you are an S&C coach, ATC, PT, LMT, DC, DO, MD, RD, or skills coach, this book should be on your shelf.”
~ Brandon Marcello, Ph.D., High-Performance Strategist

“I have had the pleasure of working with Sue in both the professional and private sector and was able to live “Bridging the Gap” before it was put on paper.  Her principles continue to guide my strength and conditioning practice as well as the communication with ATCs, PTs and skill coaches.  This book is a great source for building or growing your own practice, as well as strengthening your performance team’s bond.”
~ Brandon McDaniel, Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, Los Angeles Dodgers

Sue Falsone

Sue Falsone is the President and Founder of Structure & Function Education and Falsone Consulting, along with being an Associate professor at A.T. Still University in the Athletic Training program.

After graduate school, Sue spent 13 years at Athletes’ Performance where she began her focus on Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance, working closely with the performance and nutritional teams to create an integrative experience for all athletes.

For over two decades, Sue has immersed herself in the culture, education, and advancement of the athletic training, physical therapy, and strength and conditioning professions.

“Over the course of her career, Sue has been one of the very few individuals who has had a chance to work in all different domains of sports medicine, including injury prevention, rehabilitation, and performance training. This unique experience has given her an amazing perspective on how all three of those areas can, and should, work together. Her new book, “Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance,” overviews her approach to this spectrum and shares an amazing perspective laced with clinical pearls that only someone with her experience could offer.”
~ Mike Reinold, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC, CSCS, Champion PT and Performance, Boston, MA

“My rehab process with Sue was like getting a personal MBA! Outlining the process of bridging the gap from rehab to performance educated and motivated me on a daily basis and allowed me to return to the field healthier and stronger than before my injury. I didn’t just rehab my shoulder injury…I felt like I was rehabbing my whole body and mind. I came out moving better and more efficiently, knowing the concept and process before beginning the rehab process created immediate buy-in and allowed me to be relentless in focusing on the daily process toward returning to the field better than before. Sue is simply phenomenal!”
~ Matt Kata, Manager of Youth Baseball Development, Cleveland Indians, Former MLB player

To learn Sue’s personal process and philosophy of rehabbing after injury, order your copy of Bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance today.