Presentation description
Bob Stewart walks through a real-world case study from England Rugby’s 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign, centred on an isolated grade 2 PCL injury to inside centre Ollie Lawrence. Using the question “to push or not to push” as the anchor, he unpacks the rehab philosophy used in camp, how the team built a multi layered, criteria based return to play plan under severe time pressure, and how risk, relationships and communication shaped the final decision to accelerate his return. The session blends philosophy and practice, from movement led rehab design and Plan B training to GPS and kinetic profiling, and finishes with a candid reflection on what they would repeat, change, or never do again.
Learning objectives
- Describe the four cornerstones of Bob’s lower limb rehab philosophy and how they guide decision making in complex return to play cases.
- Apply a multi layered risk assessment to decide when to push or protect an athlete during an accelerated return from a PCL injury or similar lower limb injury.
- Identify which monitoring tools and metrics “measure what matters” across rehab and reconditioning, including key kinetic and GPS variables relevant to elite team sport backs.
- Explain how relationships and communication between athlete, national team staff, club staff and externals influence compliance, accountability and shared risk in case management.
- Analyse the rehab and reconditioning timeline used in this case study, including Plan B design and reverse engineering from key competition dates, and critique what they would change with more time or a different risk profile.
About the presenter
Bob Stewart is the Medical Lead for the England Men’s Rugby Team and has worked in elite rugby for more than two decades. After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University in 1995, he began in the NHS before moving to New Zealand to work in sports medicine and play rugby.
He returned to the UK to join Glasgow Warriors and Scotland, then moved into the English Premiership with Worcester Warriors and later Gloucester Rugby, where he spent ten years as Head of Medical Services. Bob rejoined international rugby with England in 2016 and continues to contribute to the RFU’s PHICIS programme.
He has served as the Official Team Physiotherapist for the British and Irish Lions on multiple tours, including New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.
CEU information
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Contact hours
- Reading time = 10 minutes
- Video length = 47 minutes
- Quiz = 10 minutes
- Total contact hours (rounded down to nearest 0.25 hr) = 1.00
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