What Is The Difference Between A Sports Therapist And A Physiotherapist ?
Clients often ask me what the difference is between a Sports Therapist (often know as Sports Physio) and a Physiotherapist, and which practitioner would be best to consult about their injury. The simple answer is that both professionals are trained and insured to treat musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders, the only difference really being their end goals. Both professionals are highly trained and experienced to treat your injury. The types of injuries people come to see us for here The Rehab Room are called musculoskeletal (MSK) problems. So those issues affecting bones, joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments etc. such as back pain, sports injuries, whiplash, overuse injuries, treating those injuries and managing pain through hands on treatments often referred to as “physical/manual therapy”.
Physiotherapists and Sports Therapists have both had to complete a degree or masters qualification at University or relevant qualification, so are highly educated in assessing MSK problems and applying a wide range of treatments to effectively resolve your pain and injury. Both focus on restoring, maintaining and maximising movement alongside relieving the pain of your injury and optimising your quality of life.
Sports Therapy is not yet a protected title in the UK unlike Physiotherapy and therefore anyone can call themselves a Sports Therapist. However, Sports Therapy should be a protected title. In order to guarantee a Sports Therapist is properly qualified and insured please ensure you use a therapist who is a member a regulating professional body for Sports Therapy and ask your therapist what qualifications he or she hold.
What Do Therapists Do The Same ?
Both Sports Therapist and Physiotherapists …..
- Assess and diagnose injuries
- Deliver a rehabilitation plan to maximise recovery and promote physical independence
- Teach patients how to reduce their injuries and manage chronic pain
- Implement rehabilitation programmes
- Educate patients on staying fit and reducing injury in the future
Some Treatment Approaches Are Also Shared (check with your therapists), such as:
- Sports Massage, manual therapy and joint mobilisations
- Electrotherapy modalities
- Taping
- Stretching methods
- Biomechanical analysis
- Acupunture
- Exercise prescription
What Is The Role Of The Sports Therapist ?
Sports Therapists are experts in musculoskeletal disorders/injuries. They treat issues using hands-on treatments and rehabilitation. Sports therapists undergo an intensive three year degree course or relevant qualification, which focuses primarily on the MSK system and on restoring mobility to movement to relieve pain and increase quality of life. As quoted by a governing body, “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, occupation and sport specific fitness, regardless of age and ability. It utilises the principles of sport and exercise sciences incorporating physiological and pathological process to prepare the participant for training, competition and work. Sports Therapists work pitch side within clubs and different sports dealing with acute injuries and trauma and provide sports
massage and specific taping.
Typical responsibilities of sports therapists include:
- helping to prepare athletes both mentally and physically
- advising about stretching and warming up exercises
- giving sports massage and applying strapping and taping techniques to provide support
- giving first aid in trauma pitch side
- checking injuries and strapping
- making decisions about whether athletes and players can continue
- examining and assessing injuries
- administering treatment for minor injuries such as bruises, strains and blisters
- referring individuals to appropriate sports and medical practitioners for further treatment
- examining and assessing injuries
- providing appropriate treatment
- designing and implementing rehabilitation and detox programmes
- advising about nutrition, diet and lifestyle issues
- collaborating with trainers and coaches on injury prevention programmes
- specialise in concussion and concussion management
What Is The Role Of The Physiotherapist ?
The role of a Physiotherapist is to help people affected by illness, injury or disability through exercise, manual therapy, education and advice. They maintain health for people of all ages, helping patients to manage pain and prevent disease.During their training, which often takes place in a hospital setting, Physiotherapists gain the knowledge and skills to manage a range of conditions such as:
- Neurological conditions (stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s)
- Neuromusculoskeletal
- Cardiovascular (chronic heart disease, heart attack)
- Respiratory (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis)
After graduation, Physiotherapists continue their work in health care and develop specialisms in both health and social care.
The Key Differences ?
As discussed, the two professions share many similarities and overlap in the range of treatment methods available. This often confuses patience when decided which practitioner to see. However the key differences to keep in mind are:
- Physiotherapists have a broad knowledge on illnesses and diseases from their work in hospital settings. They help getting patients back to being able to safely complete daily activities.
- Sports Therapists spend a lot of their education looking at how sport and exercise effects a person’s life. They help patients get back to normal daily living, and aim to get the patient back to their pre-injury level of activity and improve function and speed up recovery.
- Physiotherapists are accessible through the NHS as well as privately, which does mean you may be able to be referred through your GP, however current waiting lists are around 10 weeks for treatment.
- Sports Therapists are generally working privately so can be accessed much quicker, at a cost.
But Why The “Sports In Sports Therapy” ?
This causes all kinds of problems in terms of who we can help. The word “Sport” in the therapy comes from the underlying principle that we are looking to improve people’s sporting performance. Specifically, from an injured state to a non-injured state .Of course, non-sporty types can have the same injuries as sporting people. The treatments and techniques we use on non-athletes work just as much as they do on athletes. It may be that your “improvement in performance” is just being able to walk to work every day! Also, we’re often asked: “I don’t do sport, can I still come and see you?”. And that’s the people who aren’t already put off by the word Sport and have contacted us in the first place! Of course, you can!
What Difference Does It Make To Me?
Well if truth be told absolutely none!
The main thing is that you find a Therapist that you like and trust. Whether that’s a Sports Therapist or a Physiotherapist really doesn’t matter. So long as they care about your condition and doing everything they can to fix your problem. In Summary, Both Sports Therapists and Physiotherapists are trained to a high level to expertly assess, diagnosis and help with your injury recovery.