May 2018 archive

What does it mean to be a Sports Rehabilitator? A contemporary issue within the field

One of the most asked questions when it comes to Sports Rehabilitation is; what do they actually do? Sports rehabilitators are there to help people and athletes that are suffering from any pain, injury or illness of the musculoskeletal system. From the first meeting with the practitioner they should carry out a physical assessment to detect the issue and provide a diagnosis. The practitioner should give advice and an education in to which rehabilitation method is the best to aid the patient. The practitioner would also have a safe and secure method of keeping all personal records, which include any sensitive information liking to the condition of the patient, confidential within the practice (BASRaT, 2017). The confidentiality of a client should be the main priority of any practitioner in order for them to be successful within their role. They must also be able to be honest with the client and advise them with the best possible treatment to enable them to get back to their full movement potential. Keeping records neat and tidy is essential for the practitioner as it enables other practitioners to read the notes and be able to understand what has been done with a client and what they were planning to do at the next session if the regular practitioner was unavailable. A successful practitioner must always believe in their own skills and have faith that they can offer them as part of a team (Kenny 2011). Furthermore, a practitioner should also be able to motivate and encourage any client that comes into the clinic to want to get back to optimal fitness (Prospects, 2017). For a practitioner this skill is vital as they do not want their clients to give up or stop with the rehabilitation process if it takes longer than they initially thought it would take.
To be a professional in Sports Rehabilitation, the practitioner must have a wide range of knowledge, ability and wisdom to be able to provide care to the public. The practitioner must learn and understand the facts of basic practice before applying it with ability. The most significant of the attributes is wisdom as it is the most difficult as it acts as a binder in the professional career (Russell, 2010).
In conclusion, I believe that to be an effective sports rehabilitator you need all the skills and attributes stated above but they also need to have important qualities such as being friendly, genuine and positive when talking and meeting with clients. By doing this it will enable to the client to feel safe in the environment and allow them to open up more to the practitioner, so they can get the most information about the issues that they are having. By doing this, it is more likely that a client will return for further treatment if their practitioner has the attributes that were mentioned.

 

References

BASRaT. (2017) About Sports Rehabilitation. [Online] Available from: https://www.basrat.org/home/aboutsportrehabilitation [accessed 02 November 2017].

Kenny, P. (2011) Getting a job in sports as a therapist is not easy. SportEX Dynamics. No. 27: 24-25. [Online] Available from: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=07c183fd-1bae-44ab-ba04-0f97c9366d99%40sessionmgr4006 [accessed 02 November 2017].

Prospects. (2017) Sports Therapist. [Online] Available from: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/sports-therapist [accessed 02 November 2017].

Russell, J. (2010) Introduction to Sport Injury Management. In Comfort, P and Abrahamson, E (Eds.) (2010) Sports Rehabilitation and Injury Prevention. West Sussex: Wiley: 1-12. [Online] Available from: https://www.dawsonera.com/readonline/9780470689745 [accessed 01 November 2017].