When I sat down with Jack Haines whilst he was still the 1st team Physiotherapist at Wasps (before their tragic entry to administration) I wanted to get his take on where our idea fit into elite sport. We already knew that there was overwhelming evidence that KTW should be monitored and maintained regularly as a screening for injury prevention.
But the response from Jack was Phenomenal…. I left the meeting absolutely buzzing. I had sent him a couple of A-FLEX prototypes a month earlier, just to see how they fit into an elite sport setting.
His feedback was incredible and the excitement for the potential for A-FLEX reached new heights. When I asked him to summarise the key features that he felt were most helpful he listed the following things:
It really works at increasing ankle dorsiflexion!
The number one most important thing for him was that it worked! He was reporting consistent 1-2cm increases in his players knee-to-wall (KTW) scores within the first week, beyond what they had managed themselves as a therapist team through various techniques. Some of these players had even been suffering from stubborn post-injury stiffness. He assured me that this alone was enough to see A-FLEX as a good fit for sport- improved outcome for athletes/patients is the most important thing!
It saves up to 30 minutes per day for therapy/medical staff
The next thing Jack mentioned was the time that was saved for players and staff. Latest evidence states that ankle range of motion is measured in elite sport at the beginning of every day. Loss of ankle range is show to be a risk factor for injury throughout the lower limb, so a reduced KTW would mean a player would require ankle mobilisation by hand by one of the therapists. This takes up valuable time for busy therapists who could be using this time on more complex rehab tasks. If you begin talking about several players needing mobilisation of their ankles, that really starts to add up. A-FLEX frees up this time and the therapists were able to crack on with the more technical and complex aspects of their work.
It can be used unsupervised
This follows on from the previous point, but previous ‘self-help’ techniques like banded mobilisations required supervision. Common issues were incorrect band placement, tension or many players would experience arch collapse as a compensatory mechanism. Jack lamented that banded mobilisation never had the same effect on ankle dorsiflexion. A-FLEX’s ergonomic design ensures reliable, repeatable results. The arch support prevents collapse, the heel cups ensure correct placement every time, the strap angle ensures correct tension and direction of force, every time. This meant the Physiotherapy team could trust players to use A-FLEX unsupervised, and the players could even take A-FLEX home with them if they needed more regular assistance.
The robust, portable design can be used anywhere
Jack was a big fan of the robust design. The A-FLEX Pro is designed to last through rigorous use. When you have a team of rugby players using them, some up to 140kg, you need a design that can withstand that level of use. Once you have an A-FLEX, it’s designed to last, so the team can use it now and into the future. The A-FLEX can be taken anywhere too. Jack reports that they have one in the treatment area, one in the gym and they’ll take one away with them in the ‘toy bag’ for players to warm-up with on game day. That portability of being able to use anywhere was invaluable for a team always on the move.
He'd noticed better compliance from his players and more frequent use
The convenience, easy set up and rapid results meant that therapists were seeing players taking more care over maintaining their KTW baselines and this was resulting in more frequency of players and further snowballing the move towards increasing ankle dorsiflexion, again, an important part of being an elite athlete.
I knew A-FLEX could be a great piece of kit for elite sport, but visiting the state of the art Wasps High Performance and Innovation Centre and seeing A-FLEX yielding such incredible results exceeded our expectations and was such a huge boost for us.
Other Physiotherapists working with elite athletes echoed these remarks in the weeks that followed.
Gaby Halloran, 1st Team Physiotherapist at a Top flight Professional Rugby Club, and Senior Lecturer at a London University described A-FLEX as a “game changer for managing both acute and chronic ankle injuries.” Adding that “It's given some amazing results, for example, a player who is recovering after a lateral ankle reconstruction who went from a knee to wall (KTW) of -4cm to 6cm over the course of a week.”
It's crazy to think how A-FLEX has reached this point, receiving glowing feedback from the very best in the business.
And it's just the beginning!
To learn more about why A-FLEX is such a hit in elite sport, check out our About A-FLEX page
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