LONDON 2012

VIV SLATER, SOFT TISSUE THERAPIST, DIP NLSSM

Looking back on my recent experience volunteering at a training camp in Bedford for paralympic athletes, I am still pretty stunned that I had the opportunity to participate in this great international sporting event, hosted in our country. I qualified in 2011, and was disappointed but stoic that I had not qualified early enough to be able to apply to be a LOCOG soft tissue therapist in the Olympic Village. Then, in early 2012, an email arrived from a contact from my soft tissue training school, NLSSM. This email explained that Bedford was hosting a training camp for paralympic athletes from a range of countries in the weeks prior to the games. This camp, the organiser explained, was hoping to offer a polyclinic of soft tissue therapists, physiotherapists and osteopaths, and would anybody like to volunteer as part of this multidisciplinary team. The decision took me all of about 20 seconds. Fast forward to August 2012 and

there I was on the first day of my 3-day volunteering stint, in Bedford University sports science department, towels, bolsters, lotion and SOAP notes at the ready. Any nerves were quickly obliterated by the ensuing hive of activity as the Moroccan and Angolan paralympic contingents started to flood into the polyclinic. “You won’t be very busy in the morning clinic” I’d been told. Not likely! My soft tissue colleague and I plus a volunteer physio were quickly in at the deep end, working with a host of different athletes in quick succession. The tendency is to mention that these athletes had “disabilities” or “impairments” and before arriving, I was petrified of this sort of terminology in case I got it wrong and offended somebody. But what anyone who has worked in this environment knows is that as soon as you start working with a paralympic athlete, they become “Jean Luc the powerlifter from Ivory Coast” or “Khadija the sprinter from Morocco” – they are first and foremost individuals who do a sport,

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PARALYMPICS BEDFORD: A CHANCE TO BE PART OF LONDON 2012

Treating a paralympic track athlete

Paralympic powerlifter demonstrating his muslces!

not people who have an impairment. Worries about political

incorrectness out of the way, we cracked on and dealt with a range of paralympians from a host of different countries. We worked with athletes from a variety of paralympic sports including track and field, powerlifting and volleyball, each with different requirements. We had the opportunity to treat a range of issues specific to these athletes, such as soft tissue tightness or impingements due to sustained wheelchair use, or from overuse of a stronger limb. I was lucky enough one day to refer some complex injuries to an osteopath experienced with paralympic athletes and to be able to see her approach to treatment. We also treated the teams for needs that we are all used to from working in a sporting environment: injuries sustained during training plus maintenance treatment to keep the athletes in top condition and injury-free whilst they finalised their preparations for the 2012 games.

I found out while chatting with the teams that many of the countries whose athletes attended our clinic do not have a developed musculoskeletal healthcare infrastructure. As a fairly newly qualified therapist, I was treated as an expert, with coaches and athletes listening intently to my explanations of stretches, acute injury PRICE protocols and other pieces of information which in the UK would be

common knowledge for professional athletes and coaches. This really pushed me to produce the best treatment and explanations that I could to try and help these teams out and share useful

information with them. It also made me think twice about complaining about the NHS. It was however slightly daunting to be surrounded by about 15 members of the Angolan team in a small cubicle while I demonstrated a hip flexor stretch! Looking back, I am delighted to

have played a small part in the fantastic London 2012 Paralympic Games. By volunteering, I gained invaluable clinical experience, met some great colleagues and international athletes and raised money for a wheelchair sport charity. From a business perspective, I can now put “London 2012 paralympics” on my website, and my experience at the camp has earned me respect from clients plus PR in the local newspaper. So by giving my time and skills for free, I have gained plenty for a charity, myself and my business. Not a bad result all round.

Viv Slater qualified as a soft tissue therapist in 2011 with the North London School of Sports Massage. She volunteered in the polyclinic at the Bedford Paralympic training camp which helped athletes to prepare for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Viv runs a sports and soft tissue therapy clinic, Move Well Massage, in Oxfordshire: www. movewellmassage.co.uk

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