Q: What is Encore Rehabilitation’s relationship with Birmingham Legion FC, the city’s new professional soccer club?
A: Birmingham Legion FC competes in the United Soccer League (USL) Championship Division, which is one level below Major League Soccer (MLS), with players from across the world (Japan, Ghana, Canada, Jamaica, Brazil and Nigeria), some of whom have played in MLS and overseas.
Encore Rehabilitation is an Official Sports Medicine Provider for the team, providing full-time athletic training coverage at all training sessions and matches. Dr. Marc Bernier is the team physical therapist, providing all rehabilitation sessions for players at the facility located on Valleydale Road in Inverness.
Q: What are some of the unique challenges in working with professional athletes?
A: The urgency in getting injured players back on the field as quickly (and safely) as possible increases at the professional level, as it is their livelihood. As a result, it is imperative that while rehabbing, we are also addressing the athlete’s fitness levels, so that once they have healed they are ready to go at 100%, and not having to spend another week working on cardiovascular fitness.
Q: How do you accomplish this?
A: Dr. Bernier works closely with the team’s director of Sport Science and Performance to incorporate a fitness component into their rehabilitation. Additionally, the athletic treatment philosophy of Dr. Bernier is strongly based on strength and conditioning principles that integrate the entire body into their programs; this is the same approach taken with all of our other injured athletes as well.
