What is Sports Therapy?
Sports Therapy is an aspect of healthcare that is specifically concerned with the prevention of injury and the rehabilitation of the patient back to optimum levels of functional, occupational and sports specific fitness, regardless of age and ability.
It utilises the principles of sport and exercise science incorporating physiological and pathological processes to prepare the participant for training, competition and where applicable, work.
What is a Sports Therapist?
Sports Therapist is a distinct occupational title that applies to a clearly defined scope of practice. A Sports Therapist is an allied health professional who has the knowledge, skills and ability to:
- Utilise sports and exercise principles to optimise performance, preparation and injury prevention programmes
- Provide the immediate care of injuries and basic life support in a recreational, training, occupational & competitive environment
- Assess, treat, rehabilitate and, where if appropriate, refer on for specialist advice and intervention
- Provide appropriate soft tissue interventions in sport & exercise context
- Plan and implement appropriate rehabilitation and return to training/ work programmes
Sports Therapists are not just for athletes
Despite the name, Sports Therapists are not just for elite athletes and competitors in sports.
A Sports Therapist can treat and rehabilitate anyone from an elite athlete to 9-5 office worker and everything in between. So whether you are a regular gym goer, desk worker or mum to be a Sports Therapist can be of help to you.
How do Sports Therapists differ from Physiotherapists?
What are the similarities:
Physiotherapists and Sports Therapists have similar skill sets, as they both require to be educated to a degree level. Both professions can create treatment and exercise plans specifically for the individuals to reduce pain levels, complete comprehensive injury assessments and perform soft tissue treatments.
What are the differences:
Sports Therapists are trained primarily in musculoskeletal conditions and specialise in the prevention of injury and rehabilitation of patients back to the level of activity they were prior injury. A Physiotherapists practice includes neurology, respiratory, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal problems.
The main difference is that Physiotherapy attempts to rehabilitate patients to allow them to feel comfortable and cope with their day to day life, where as Sports Therapy focuses on whether the patient has returned to or can maintain the required physical level for whatever their lives consist of.