understand the diagnosis of the given injury and

its exercise indications and contraindications. An

indication is a form of treatment required by the
rehabilitating athlete. For example, a softball outfielder with shoulder impinge
ment must maintain
lower extremity function, so the athletic trainer may
request that the athlete continue to perform lower
extremity strength, speed, agility, and power exercises during the shoulder reha
bilitation. Therefore,
lower body exercise is indicated. A contraindication is an activity or practice
that is inadvisable or
prohibited due to the given injury. For example,
during the later phases of rehabilitation from an
anterior shoulder dislocation, an American football
player may require upper body strengthening before
being cleared to play. The athletic trainer requests
that the athlete initiate upper body strengthening,
but the bench press exercise may be contraindicated because it can place the inj
ured shoulder in
a vulnerable position. To clarify the strength and
conditioning professional s role during this process,
it may be beneficial to have the sports medicine
team use a form that specifies the indications and
contraindications, providing for safe and efficient
conditioning (figure 20.1).
The strength and conditioning professional
must also communicate efficiently and effectively
with other members of the sports medicine team.
Specifically, other members should be aware of the
strength and conditioning exercises that the injured
athlete is performing, responses to the exercises,
and any additional information deemed important
by the strength and conditioning professional. In
other words, the strength and conditioning professional should answer the follow
ing questions: What
is the athlete doing? How is the athlete progressing?
Do any program changes need to be made? Figure
20.2 is a sample form that the strength and conditioning professional can use to
communicate a given
program s components and the athlete s subjective
and objective responses to those components.