WHAT TO EXPECT
WHAT DOES A SPORTS THERAPY SESSION LOOK LIKE?Discussion
Your Sports Therapist will first discuss with you, in depth, the nature of your problem to determine the mechanism of injury, what aggravates and eases it, what type of pain you are experiencing and your previous injury history before performing a physical assessment.
Physical Assessment
The physical assessment can vary from region to region, person to person, but it will generally start with looking at your posture and alignment and movement range and quality. Muscle length, strength and stress tests will then follow to determine which structures are damaged as well as how strong the surrounding soft tissue is and how well the area is controlled. The area will be palpated to look for swelling, spasm and pain. These tests will be performed on you by your Sports Therapist and will require a lot of feedback from you regarding your symptoms.
Treatment Plan
Once the assessment has finished, it is very important to discuss the findings and explain to you what your Therapist thinks is causing you your symptoms. A treatment plan will then be devised based on these findings and will be explained to you ensuring that you fully understand what has happened and what needs to be done about it.
There are a very wide variety of treatment techniques that can be used ranging from Soft tissue massage, mobilisations, exercise therapy, muscle lengthening techniques, trigger point therapy, myofascial release, acupuncture and posture and movement re-education.
Beyond the Session
Your Sports Therapist will choose the right treatment for you and will supplement this with home exercises in the form of a rehabilitation programme. You will be required to complete this plan at home before your next session where you will be able to discuss your progress with your Therapist.
Please note, subsequent treatment sessions may vary in appointment duration.
