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SPORTS PHYSIOTHERAPIST

Written By Asad Chaudhary on Thursday | 22:19

Although term ‘Sports Physiotherapists’ is not new to us but understanding what ‘Sports Physiotherapists’ are and what they do may be new to some. Sports Physiotherapist is not only about tapping the athletes, or covering ground sites on practice sessions or during the match, but it is more of being proactive and thinking ahead. It is rather ‘profiling’ athletes before the season starts, knowing their strength and weaknesses and working on those to enhance their abilities generic and specific to sports. It involves not only professional work as clinician but building relations with other professionals and members of whole team.

A sports physiotherapist is a recognized professional who demonstrates advanced competencies in the promotion of safe physical activity participation, provision of advice, and adaptation of rehabilitation and training interventions, for the purposes of preventing injury, restoring optimal function, and contributing to the enhancement of sports performance, in athletes of all ages and abilities, while ensuring a high standard of professional and ethical practice. (IFSP, 2005)

Sports therapists' roles depend on their knowledge, their work setup and their sports specialty. The sports therapist can be involved in any or all of the following activities:
Prior to a event he can Conduct an assessment of the players' fitness, Test joints for range of movement; Strap, tape, and prepare players or athletes physically and mentally; Advise on stretching, warming up and cooling down exercises.

During a fixture he can provide first aid; Examine and assess injuries and determining whether the athlete can continue. After a game he can Examine and asses injuries and dealing with traumas, e.g. cuts, bruises and blisters; Decide whether players need treatment beyond the scope of physiotherapist and if so then referrals to other practitioners; Advise players on diet and nutrition (after appropriately trained);Work alone or with other disciplines such as coaches, trainers and/or fitness advisers to implement exercise, conditioning, core stability and injury prevention programmes, so that athletes reach and maintain peak performance; liaise with other health experts in the sports sector and in mainstream medicine.

Sports Physiotherapist can play an important role in facilitating fair play. Although it is players’ duty to play fair but sports physiotherapist can encourage justness. A good way of assisting players toward even handedness is identification of weaknesses and wrong techniques that players adopt to sort the easy way out of their issues and than developing correct patterns to overcome the deficiencies.

It is very important for Sports physiotherapist to recognize the importance of other professionals who work towards the benefit of athletes and to realize, at what stage he must interact with them. Sports physiotherapist should be aware of his professional boundaries and should not overlap within professional confines of other sports experts. For instance, he should develop rehabilitation plan and involve strength and coaching staff to proceed at terminal stages of treatment.

>>> By Sameer Gohir, Physiotherapist, UK

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