Rehabilitation Systems, Managing Density, Injury Risk & Return to Play

Ben Dixon is the current Head of Strength, Conditioning & Rehabilitation at Millwall Football Club.  His prior experience includes roles with Watford FC, Head Performance Coach for the Chinese Olympic Committee, Head of Physical Performance for the Taiwan national football team and the English National Ballet. Topics: Ben fills us in on his post-doctorate to date and what we can expect moving forward. What is ‘match load’? What do we often overlook when it comes to match load? Ben talks about a framework to clarify the construct of match load. What is ‘density ' in practice? How accurate is the data we are getting? How do we include all this information in our rehab systems? Advice around rehabilitation for those without GPS units What do we mean by injury-specific metrics, and how might this be something that can be applied in practice moving forward? What are we missing in our current rehab RTP models in sport of recent times? Individual factors to account for the return to play process. Position demands and rolling windows. What is the post-rehabilitation phase and how can we minimise subsequent injury here? When does rehab actually stop (by definition)? One specific change Ben has made to his rehab system based on his research that other practitioners could implement tomorrow? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8WqG4C79Ws References: Ben is undertaking a Professional Doctorate at the University of Central Lancashire, evaluating rehabilitation procedures in professional football.   Ben Post Doc Papers: Match load as a construct in professional football: complexities and considerations  Evaluating rehabilitation and return to play procedures in male professional football: A narrative review. Post Rehabilitation Phase’ in professional football: are we optimising player support after return to play?    References mentioned: Mechanism of Injury of soft tissue injuries research paper summary  Mitchell & Gimpel, 2024- A return to performance pathway in professional Soccer Zhang et al 2025. The time course of injury risk and return to Sport in Professional football.  Chris Bramah - SMAS Dylan Harper: Assessment of Deceleration