Whilst the aim of the project is to mainly focus on an athlete's journey, I realised that I needed to seek some professional insight into sporting injuries themselves.
It soon became clear that Physiotherapists would be the best people to speak to, but in the end, why did I choose Gary Lewin?
Lewin has outstanding experience when it comes to dealing with injured athletes. He was the Head Physiotherapist at Arsenal for 22 years, and has also worked with fellow Premier League football club West Ham United.
He also had a role in the England national team from 1996, where he led the medical team at five FIFA World Cups, four UEFA European Championships and two FIFA Under 20 World Cups.
After leaving West Ham in the summer of 2018, Lewin has since opened up a clinic where he deals with athletes that play at all kinds of levels in a variety of sports. The clinic is also visited by many retired athletes that still seek treatment on injuries from their playing days.
This allowed me to ask Lewin about common injuries in different sports, particularly boxing, to get an idea of what my main interviewee would have struggled with in the past. I was also able to ask how he felt about having to inform athletes of their lengthy spell on the sidelines.
This certainly will offer something new to my piece, and I am also considering taking some of the information gained from the interview and making a two-minute feature piece for my radio element based around this.
You can visit The Lewin Sports Injury Clinic's website by clicking here.
Follow @sidelined_mmp on Twitter to keep up to date with the project's progression.
Comments