Sports therapy is a type of healthcare that specializes in the prevention and treatment of injury associated with sports activities. It also focuses on the rehabilitation of the athletes for optimum performance. In Sports Therapy, certain principles are employed to perfect this act; one of the tenets includes pathological, sport, and exercise science and physiology. A person who practices sports therapy is called a sports therapist; he is equipped with the skills, knowledge, and the ability to:

•  Prevent their athletes from any form of injury, using some effective injury prevention programs. He should also employ certain principles like sports and exercise principles to ensure that athletes come up with their best performance.

•   Provide immediate care and essential life support in a competitive, recreational, and training environment. Again, treat, rehabilitate, and assess the athletes where and when necessary. 

•   Make available the right soft tissue interventions in an exercise and sports situation.

•   Strategies and implement the recommended rehabilitation that will make them return to training ASAP. 

Advantages of Sports Therapy:

There are many advantages associated with the sports therapy profession; some of them are listed below:

•   It is a significant factor in addressing injuries, or illness that limits an athlete’s abilities to perform effectively, in or out of the field.

•   As a sports therapist, they can use an individual’s physical assessment and history to diagnose and come out with a management plan. When necessary, they incorporate results obtained from imaging studies and laboratory or from an MRI finding to assess and build an athlete.

•   Sports therapy is in a better position to prescribe or assist an athlete through a specific exercise, physical manipulation, therapy, or device, e.g., electrophysical modalities that can make you go through series of healing processes like radiation, heat and cold therapy, e.t.c. in other to achieve a specific healing goal.

•  With a good sports therapist in the field, he can enhance each participating athlete’s relaxation, thus leading to better performance.

•  Sports therapy has a way of reducing body tension by using some advanced methods like craniosacral therapy.

•   Improve range of body movements. This happens when an athlete lacks a specific movement necessary for making them succeed in their task.

•  It helps stimulate rehabilitation by increasing blood circulation in areas where it is needed. 

Lastly, sports therapy is an area of sports science that has suddenly started receiving lots of attention. This is because of the growing investments in the sports industry and also its ability to help sportsmen and women succeed in their chosen careers. From time immemorial, sports therapy has gone a long way in preventing injuries among athletes, restore and repair flexibility to those injured muscles, thus enhance performance.

The services of a sports therapist are needed beyond the sports industry. Its message procedures are very useful for humans; anybody can adapt it for quicker and better recovery. Generally speaking, sports therapies help maintain healthier body conditions, thus extending the performance of both sportsmen and women and individuals at large.