EXPERIENCED IN THE TREATMENT OF COMBAT ATHLETES
Combat Athlete Rehabilitation
Combat sports ask the body to produce force, absorb force, change position, and move through ranges and situations that ordinary clinic exercises may not reproduce.
This may be a good fit if you are working toward:
- Returning to drilling, classes, conditioning, or structured training
- Rebuilding strength, mobility, endurance, or confidence after injury or surgery
- Tolerating position-specific loading
- Regaining comfort with posting, framing, bridging, rotating, changing levels, or getting up from the mat
- Progressing from ordinary rehabilitation toward sport-specific movement
- Understanding which positions, loads, or training elements remain limited
- Returning to grappling, wrestling, or other controlled combat-sport demands
- Developing a graded plan for return to training
This service is available to youth, high school, college, amateur, and professional athletes participating in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, grappling, wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and other combat sports. It is not limited to one gym or academy.
Mat-based work may be useful for some combat athletes, but it is not automatically part of every plan of care.
What the first visit may include
The evaluation is guided by the injury or limitation, health history, current training status, prior rehabilitation, and the movements required by the athlete’s sport.
- Discussion of the sport, training schedule, injury history, current limitations, and return-to-training goals
- Review of available medical, surgical, or rehabilitation instructions when relevant
- Assessment of mobility, strength, balance, coordination, endurance, and movement tolerance
- Observation of relevant standing, grappling, transitional, or mat-based movement
- Assessment of position-specific loading when clinically appropriate
- Review of the mat surface or training environment when useful
- Comparison of current ability with the demands of the intended return
The service does not provide striking instruction, fight coaching, or medical management of acute combat-sport trauma.
Rehabilitation connected to combat-sport demands
Treatment may include mobility and flexibility work, progressive strengthening, balance and coordination, endurance and conditioning, manual therapy, posting, framing, bridging, rotation, level changes, transitional movement, position-specific loading, and scripted low-intensity therapeutic movement transitions.
Selected grappling-derived movements or positions may be used as clinician-directed physical therapy tasks when clinically appropriate.
Clinically directed mat-based rehabilitation
When mat-based work is appropriate, the task is planned in advance with a defined starting position, patient task, therapist role, resistance, range, speed, repetition or duration, and fixed clinical endpoint.
Pete does not participate as the patient’s opponent or training partner, and the activity does not continue into an open-ended exchange.
What this may look like
Hip-bump sweep movement pattern
A grappling athlete recovering from a hip or trunk condition may perform a hip-bump sweep movement pattern from a defined starting position while Pete provides predetermined manual resistance.
The task may be used to assess and progressively load hip and trunk force production, weight shift, rotation, upper-extremity support, and movement coordination.
The therapist does not counter, compete for position, or continue the movement into live grappling. The task ends at its planned therapeutic endpoint.
Clear boundaries, informed consent, and medical coordination
Patients receiving mat-based care sign an additional consent supplement. The patient may stop or decline any activity at any time through verbal or nonverbal communication.
When a healthcare provider is involved, Pete’s standard practice is to send the plan of care and communicate clinically important changes as appropriate.
Physical therapy does not override an existing medical restriction. If a physician, surgeon, or other treating provider has instructed an athlete not to train or has placed limits on participation, Pete works within those limits. Physical therapy will not be used as a substitute for the provider who imposed the restriction.
Formal medical clearance may still be required by a physician, surgeon, school, team, league, promotion, athletic commission, or other organization.
Care in the environment where the athlete trains
A mobile visit may use the actual mat surface or training space and assess the positions, transitions, range, surface, warm-up, setup, or drilling pattern involved.
A gym, mat-space, or training-facility visit occurs only when access is permitted, clinically appropriate, and safe. A home visit, general gym visit, or another suitable setting may be more appropriate.
The fee is the same for every eligible direct-pay visit. There are no required packages, treatment tiers, or memberships. A written Good Faith Estimate is provided before the first visit. The direct-pay fee applies after initial screening confirms that this practice and payment arrangement are appropriate for the episode of care.
Not sure whether this is the right service?
Call or email to briefly describe the injury or limitation and the combat-sport goal, where you are located, and what you hope to return to.
Please do not include detailed medical or sensitive personal information in the initial email or voicemail.
