My Experience as Team Physiotherapist with the Moncton Magic

Over the past three years, I have had the privilege of serving as the Team Physiotherapist for the Moncton Magic basketball organization, a professional basketball team in the National Basketball League of Canada. My role has allowed me to get to know these amazing athletes on a more personal level, have a front row seat to every exciting game (I sit on the bench), and also have a greater appreciation for all the details and hard work that go into making an organization like this one successful.

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Along with a select few of the team members at Rehab1 Performance Center, we form the rehab team for the Magic. Through a wonderful partnership, we provide everything that pertains to injury rehabilitation (physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic) for the team and staff as needed. Most people will see us at the games on the bench with the team, but a lot of the work goes on behind the scenes in the clinic. My first two years were as the assistant physiotherapist for the team, before taking over the role as Head Physiotherapist for this past season. I am incredibly grateful to have been just 2 years into my career and also part of the staff when the Moncton Magic won their first NBLC championship in 2019.

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My experience working with the Moncton Magic has been invaluable, both personally and professionally. As a physiotherapist, opportunities like this do not come around often, and in the short 3 years with the Magic I have gained a vast amount of experience working with this team and the athletes. In addition to working closely with the players and coaches, I do also have the opportunity to work closely with other members of our medical team; Dr. Warren Giberson  (Team Physician), Luke Vaslet (Strength & Conditioning Coach), and Dr. Dool (Plastic Surgeon and Hand Specialist). From my time with the team, my experience with sports injuries has grown exponentially. I have treated the players for injuries ranging from concussions to whiplash injuries to jumper’s knee to ankle sprains and everything in between. I have seen each and every type of sports injury that you can see in my time with the Magic. Thus, I have become a much more well-rounded physiotherapist with immense knowledge in rehabilitating sports injuries.

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Our team typically practices every day for at least 2 hours, in addition to attending private workouts with the Luke. They definitely get their fair share of exercise. The most common types of injuries we see with the team are acute and overuse injuries to ankles and knees. The main injuries would be jumper’s knee (or patellar tendonitis), ankle sprains, knee sprains, Achilles tendonitis and lower extremity muscle strains/tightness. Although less common with basketball players, I have worked with these athletes to recover from rotator cuff strains, neck strains, concussions as well as rehabilitating them after fractures to the wrist and hand.

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With these athletes, we employ many different methods of treatment. First and foremost is the education we provide these athletes to understand their injury and the healing process. Further to this, we develop very specific return to practice and return to play treatment plans and timelines. The next most important aspect of our treatment is therapeutic exercise to restore proper mobility and strength as well as ensuring full function to return to play. We use manual therapy and soft tissue techniques to aid in tissue healing . And finally as Team Physiotherapist, I use electrotherapeutic modalities to aid in decreasing inflammation and swelling. Often when people think of working with athletes, they immediately think of taping techniques and all the different ways we apply tape. This is indeed a big part of our role and we employ many different taping techniques to aid these players in their return to play and help with performance.

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In addition to the professional experience I have gained, the experience with the Magic has allowed me to grow personally as well. To be able to work in the community with valued members such as the Moncton Magic and to be able to give back to our community has been a rewarding experience. It has allowed me to get to know many members of the Greater Moncton community. It has also been wonderful getting to know all the players we have had over the past few years. The players are always a fun group of guys to be around and will always keep you laughing. It has been very interesting getting to know the players various backgrounds as these players come to Moncton from all over North America.

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