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Sports Physiotherapy

Sports Physiotherapy is a specialized branch of physiotherapy that involves prevention, evaluation and management of injuries resulting from sports and exercise participation at all ages and levels of ability. Therapy facilities are generally available for persons of all ages engaged in sports or other levels of competition. Sports physiotherapists offer therapeutic treatment and advice on safe participation in sports and promoting an active lifestyle to help all individuals improve and maintain their quality of life. The therapists' play major roles in helping the individual involved in sport and recreational activity to enhance their performance, recover from injuries, and provide education and resources to prevent problems.

Goal of treatment and rehabilitation

The aim of sports physiotherapy is to treat and completely rehabilitate the athlete after an injury or a surgery or to prevent further injury and to maintain the strength, flexibility or endurance of the athlete in order to return to the sport in the shortest possible time. It is a multi-disciplinary approach to the management of sports related injuries. The goal of treatment involves protection of the injured tissues to heal and control the early inflammatory phases and to improve flexibility, strength, and proprioception or muscle-imbalance to ensure the return of the athlete to the particular sport safely. Various areas of sports physiotherapy include

• Evaluation

Sport physiotherapy involves highly skilled methods to evaluate the level of injury, various assessment scales to diagnose neuromuscular injuries and functional assessment methods to evaluate the cardiovascular capability and post-injury improvement.

• Treatment & Rehabilitation

Neuromuscular injuries are a chief concern of sport physiotherapy. The treatment and rehabilitation process includes a well-programmed therapeutic procedure to treat and completely rehabilitate the patient. The program, usually developed by a team of physicians and sports physical therapists, includes various physical training, functional activities or rehabilitation programs along with psychological counseling. The complete program helps to treat the injury, restore optimal function and contribute to the enhancement of sports performance.

• Prevention

Sports physical therapy practice involves specially designed therapeutic measures to help the athletically-active individual to prevent injuries or continue their activity with minimal disruption with an existing injury. This area of treatment includes pre-participation training, screening, equipment recommendations or cardiovascular fitness programs to prevent associated injuries and improve the client's physical endurance.

• Performance Enhancement

Performance enhancement is another important area of sport physiotherapy. The special training for performance based rehabilitation helps the athletically-active individual to improve their quality of performance in a variety of ways. The basic foundation of performance enhancement is evaluation of neuromuscular and cardiovascular-pulmonary systems. The evaluation procedure includes assessing strengths and weaknesses of an individual's physical profile and assessment of deficiency in flexibility and muscular strength or endurance. A follow-up program may also be included to monitor the need for changes in the training program.