Sports Rehabilitators

**karen.hankey** · 22-11-2007 09:56 AM

I was just wondering what peoples opinions were of the Sports Rehabilitators was? Are you aware that they exist? How do you think their skills compare to Physios?

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***RQ*** · 18-05-2009 06:32 PM

Good thread, good to see the different opinions and experiences etc.

I studied a diploma course in Sports Therapy for two years, where I gained ITEC diplomas in Holistic Massage, Anatomy and Physiology, Gym Instruction, Sports Massage, Sports Therapy Equipment, Personal Training, Aromatherapy, Aerobics and Stress Management. I was using this course as a way into Physio as I was always interested in sports injuries. Since I left this course I have been working as a PTA and this has really put me off studying Physio. While I do find neuro, resp etc interesting I would never want to work in it for long periods of time on a rotation basis in a hospital. My interest is Musculoskeltal injuries. Now, I have offers for Sports Rehab, Physio and Sports Science in UK and Irish Unis and I'm stuck for what to go for...Physio would obviously give me more job opportunities, which will be handy given that I'm going to be walking out of a good job to go back to study again and I have a good basis to go back to education with my knowledge from my Sports Therapy course and my hands on experience as a PTA. I don't think I'd enjoy studying physio although I would enjoy the wider range of A&P modules but the fact that GSR can't get HPC accredation just seems a bit silly.

**physio4u** · 19-05-2009 03:04 PM

I think that it is great that there are people with special interests that compliment what we do as physios. I am not sure the exact range of skills/training for sports rehabiliators but I am certainly going to find out more.

Just some thoughts that might make my viewpoint a little clearer.

When I did my degree we had a 4 year athletic therapist course at the same uni with lots of musk assessment, on-field experience etc and they were very good at it. In my 4th year sports specialisation course we had to take exams re diagnosis etc and the physios on the course scored in the 80's and 90's while the athletic therapists were scoring in the 50's and 60's. Similar training but perhaps a different emphasis on particular areas of the courses. We dissected bodies while the athletic therapists worked out of textbooks. We treated a range of both ill and injured patients while the athletic therapists worked with relatively young, healthy athletes. Certainly there was something different in the approaches because of the populations we were working with. Sometimes the specialisations may give excellent skills in a focused area but not necessarily the total broad picture. Sometimes the broader picture may lead you not to see something that a more specialised person might view. Not to say there is anything wrong with either perspective.

I worked as a primary care practitioner having to examine and decide if there was soomething seriously wrong with patients (and there were not always red flags evident but DDx skills can help when red flags aren't that obvious) or not and then treat or refer onwards to doctors as need be.

It might be just a desire to be able to make use of the legal title and billing system but both the instructor of the athletic therapists (with an Msc in Athletic Therapy) and a number of the graduates of that school decided after being in practice to go back and train through the full physio course.
I think that the experience was good for both the physio students (seeing what someone else brought to the course) and the athletic therapy students (who had a chance to see what the physio course really entailed) who were training further.

Lets hope that we in the UK have the ability to appreciate each others talents.

Cheers

**physio4u** · 20-05-2009 08:46 AM

I have actually only found very limited info on GSR'a when I googled the term. There are the university references but little on the history and development of this group. From the BAsRat site and St. Mary's uni I found:

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CSue%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtm l1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

ontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style>  </style> BASRaT graduates are trained solely in Sports and Exercise Medicine, with an emphasis on the design and implementation of exercise and rehabilitation programmes in both health and disease.
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‘allows the student to work specifically in the area of sports injury and in particular late stage rehabilitation… ‘

Can anyone point me towards somewhere that tells us a bit more about the history and development of this professional group??

thanks

**Rose Tinted Spectacles** · 28-05-2009 01:36 PM

Hi Physio4u,
The BASRaT site is probably the best source of information regarding the Sport Rehab profession; the links on the left hand side of the home page (which i guess you have already found) give a rundown of the Role Delineation, history, accredited places to train, etc etc.
Also, for everyone, if you look on the recent news page there is some exciting news for GSR’s regarding Society of Orthopaedic Medicine courses.
Thanks,
Rose

**physio4u** · 28-05-2009 02:23 PM

Yes I read through the BASRat site and there does not seem to be any information on who or why this course was developed eg since there are two other sports therapy organisations here in the UK that are also looking for HPC registration and are trying to become degree based (although not to the same level as GSR's). I suggest that HPC reg is a danger as much as good thing as many professions have discovered. DC's unacceptable in NA are licensed here because of British law and there are many people who have been grandfathered in because the legislation does no allow you to put someone else out of work when you achieve a registered status. Discovered on an acupuncture course that I was on that the 'physio' teaching course who had 'extensive 'training had never been to a physio school but had been grandfathered in because of experience. So much for the benefits of registration. IF PT's have had this done to us after having legislated status for so many years what do you think will happen if all three sports treatment groups get melded toether?

Not a criticism but who exactly started this ie was this course started by a physio frustrated by the present system or someone who was working in this area and wanted to be recognised? If the course is fairly new who did the standardisation and how was that evaluated? By the people who were developing/running the course itself?

I know that in North America there is some overlap between athletic therapists (all degree based, on pitch oriented etc) and sports physios. We do and have worked well together but the emphasis has never been for the AT to replace the role of the orthopaedic and sports physio but rather supplement/work in tandem in a sports team environment or work independently with athletes/schools/sports teams (some might have a different perspective from NA and I am happy to hear about it). The thing is that AT's have never been seen to be used in the NHS except in general with or under a PT because of the differences in the diagnostic training etc.

Happy to hear that the SOM will now accept GSR's on the course.. this was the stuff we were learning at the early part of our degrees when they were still BSc's at least where I studied. Now MSc is the entry level for physio and by 2020 it will be PhD in the US (who knows if Canada will go that way as well). Certainly there are great benefits to be gained with the training that can help anyones treatment skills.

Best wishes.

physio4u

**Rose Tinted Spectacles** · 28-05-2009 03:26 PM

Hi,

Thanks for looking at the website, so many people choose to make statements before doing that so it is a refreshing change.

There is nothing on the BASRaT site, or on any documentation, which would suggest that there is an intention of "replacing" sports therapists, physiotherapists, or any other profession. Much rather a drive to have a different (not lesser or superior) and valuable skill set recognised as such, and to work within a multidisciplinary team (where there will always be, and always has been an overlap of skill sets) for the benefit of patients. I think it may be this misunderstanding which leads to some of the negative assumptions which have been made about Sport Rehab in the past.

Many of your questions I cannot answer fully as I am not part of the organisation.. only a member. However, my understanding is that BASRaT was set up by individuals working in sport (some physios, some other HCPs or eqivalent) who saw a need for another kind of profession, which was solely degree level based and regulated in a similar manner to other HCPs.

As far as standards and accreditation go I am not sure so I cannot comment further, but I would urge you to contact BASRaT admin if you would like to find out more.

In reference to grandfathering, in my opinion this is no bad thing, there will always be individuals who choose to take a non conventional route, and as long as equivalency (to whatever standard is set) can be established and maintained I don't see the harm, in fact I think the diversity in approach can only add to a profession.

I also trained in Cyriax/SOM approaches as part of my undergraduate degree, so I agree that is nice to see this opportunity for more formal training.

Kind regards,

Rose

**Sbarlow_ST** · 24-12-2011 03:32 AM

Originally Posted by karen.hankey

A sports rehabilitator is a degree only qualification. 3 years is spent learning anatomy, physiology, mechanism of injury, musculoskeletal assessment, functional rehabilitation, psychology, clinical reasoning, sports massage, nutrition, manual therapy, eletrotherapy, neurodynamics along with much more. We spend 4 months on placement withing different settings including private clinics, sports clubs, gyms and with an orthopaedic surgeon.

Sports therapy is not as clear cut, or thats the way I percieve it. For example, you can become a sports therapist with a weekend course, but you can also achieve a degree in it. Therefore when you book to see a Sports Therapist you don't tend to know how much training they have had. From what I have heard this is being looked at by the Sports Therapy profession to try and ensure a minimum level of training.

This is my opinion, not fact so please feel free to correct me if you are a sports therapist and disagree.

i know this was ages ago but as a sport therapist ill answer this for you.

yes any tom, d.., or harry can do a weekend course in say massage (the easiest part of my degree) and call theirselves a sport therapist, but like GSR's we also call ourselfs graduate sport therapists (GST's) to distinguish ourselves from the rouge people.

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