Staged rehabilitation
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Functional exercise at each stage of rehabilitation
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Stage objective
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No activity for 24 hours
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Complete rest: physical and cognitive
Needs to be symptom free for a minimum 24-hour window
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Recovery/rest
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Light aerobic exercise
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Walking, swimming or stationary cycling, keeping intensity mild to moderate (i.e. not out of breath) Less than 70% maximum permitted heart rate. Duration should not exceed approx. 20-30 minutes. Avoid resistance exercises
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Increase exertion/heart rate
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Sport-specific exercise
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Simple fielding (catching/throwing), low-key batting. Bowlers bowl to empty net at around 50% avoiding exposure to head injury risk. Controlled, familiar and predictable batting drills. Increase heart rate activities to closer to maximum
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Add movement/
coordination
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Non-contact training drills
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Progression to more complex training drills, e.g. moderately challenging fielding drills. Batting against throws/machine (predictable). Bowling to empty net at 75-100%. May start progressive resistance training. Maximum cardiovascular stress
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Exercise, coordination and cognitive load
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Full-contact practice
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Following medical clearance, participate in normal/match preparation at high intensity, i.e. bowlers bowl to batsmen. Full batting, bowling and fielding
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Restore confidence and assess functional skills by coaching staff
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Return to play
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Normal game play
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