What does it mean to be a professional in Sport Rehabilitation.

There are many facets to being a professional in sports rehabilitation. The intention of this post is to clarify what skills and attributes are required for an existing fitness professional or personal trainer (PT) to transition into becoming effective as a Sport Rehabilitator (SR). Also, the expectations of the governing body, The British Association of Rehabilitators and Trainers (BASRaT) in regard to qualifications and conduct.

Within sports rehabilitation there are many key attributes and skills required to be effective. For an experienced PT with existing level 4 qualifications in low back pain and strength & conditioning, moving into the sport rehabilitation, many of these key attributes and skills may exist and are transferable. These might include: a basic to intermediate understanding of human anatomy and physiology (A&P), basic to intermediate ability to conduct a movement screen and postural analysis, the ability to prescribe relevant, effective and safe exercises for fitness and skills in communication, interpersonal effectiveness and organisation. These existing attributes and skills will contribute to becoming effective but alone will not qualify a professional to be a SR. BASRaT requires their members to hold a bachelor’s degree level qualification (BSc). Once this qualification has been achieved by an individual they would then be considered “a graduate level autonomous healthcare practitioner specialising in musculoskeletal management, exercise based rehabilitation and fitness” (2017 – BASRaT).

An SR’s level of A&P knowledge should be well beyond that which is basic and should be evidence-based in order to underpin their practice as alluded to by Archer and Nelson (2013:vii). With this knowledge an SR is able to offer a correct diagnosis and evaluation of an individual’s injury. Also, evidence-based knowledge of available techniques within their scope of practice should be very clear. All this should be applied knowledge supported with at least 400 hours clinical experience. Once achieved, safe, relevant and effective corrective interventions can be delivered or prescribed and clinical reasoning (CR) can be given if challenged. The importance a SR’s ability to offer CR is supported by Abrahamson et al. (2012), as is the importance of CR in the curriculum of any rehabilitation degree.

So what does being effective really refer to. Simply taking a definition of the word from Oxford University Press (2017) “Rehabilitation: the action of restoring something that had been damaged to its former condition” offers some insight. In a sporting context this would be the process of taking an injury through therapy and treatment in order to restore full function or as near to it as possible. Full function can be defined through range of movement of the affected joint, contractual force of the affective muscles, motor control of the nervous system and overall performance of the patient’s ability to complete their day to day tasks. These tasks could be as simple as walking for some individuals or a high velocity change of direction for others.

Based on the evidence, being a professional in sport rehabilitation means, in order to be effective one must have suitable education. This can be none less than a BSc in sports rehabilitation and accredited by BASRaT. Suitable experience in the form practical experience gained from placement throughout their education. Proven knowledge of human anatomy and physiology that is acceptable by the accrediting body, BASRaT and the university delivering the course. Knowledge in assessment and diagnostic tools and rehab techniques and interventions. Finally, the ability to confidently communicate, which would include receiving and delivering critical information and note taking.

References

  1. Abrahamson, E., Egan, K. and West, L. (2012) Towards a conceptual model of clinical reasoning development in an undergraduate sports rehabilitation curriculum. SportEX Medicine. Vol. 51: 16-21.
  2. Archer, P. and Nelson, L. (Eds.) (2013) Applied Anatomy & Physiology for Manual Therapists. (1st ed.) Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  3. Oxford University Press. (2017) Oxford Living Dictionary. [Online] Available from: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/rehabilitation [accessed 24 October 2017].
  4. Designed and built by timb. 2017. Basratorg. [Online]. [12 October 2017]. Available from: https://www.basrat.org/home/roleofsportrehab.

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