Historically, the rehabilitation process of a football player is a very individual process that is only vaguely, if at all, associated with the team training sessions. Up to the moment when the rehabilitating player has to make a step in the direction of group training. The player then has to suddenly cope with the typical characteristics of football training. This is often a crucial moment within the rehabilitation process. Frequently, the sudden transition from training on his own to football training proves to be too great and the player regresses or even suffers a new injury.

TEAM PERIODISATION AS A REFERENCE
The main cause for a set-back or new injury during a rehabilitation is that when moving from training individually to training in the team, the two stand-alone training programs are somewhat forcefully merged together, with the hope that things will be all right. Therefore, the first group training sessions are often a period of concern for the rehabilitating player. Incidentally, this is also because at the team level there is often no team periodisation of any kind which makes the planning of the rehabilitation process much harder for any medical staff. To solve this problem a football conditioning rehabilitation protocol will be introduced which takes a total approach. From day 1, the development of football fitness occurs within the framework of the team periodisation.

REHABILITATION PERIODISATION
In the event of a serious injury, a football player is often faced with a long road back to his former football level. Initially, it is important that the anatomy and, for instance, the joints, the bones and/or the muscles are again in optimal condition. This is where medical treatment is important.
At a certain moment, the football fitness build-up must also be introduced. In the rehabilitation periodization, the player works in steps to reach the football load described in the team periodization. This team load serves as the target to aim for, from the beginning of the rehabilitation process. This is because the team periodization describes the football level – and therefore the football load – that the player must reach at the end of the rehabilitation process.
Due to this integral approach, the rehabilitating player can make the step to group training without encountering problems or serious obstacles. The chance of the player regressing or picking up a new injury during the first group training sessions is therefore reduced to the minimum. The characteristics of the game of football in general and that of team periodization in particular are present from the start of the rehabilitation process.