What Do People Know About "Sports Therapy?"

Hi Matthew and welcome to the forum. That's a good question - I'll post it to our Facebook group and hopefully feature it in our newsletter too.
M.

From Danielle (via Twitter) 'No, We need the name protected'.

And again from Twitter, here's Laura's view - 'No- they think all we do is massage, and we're not as qualified as physios!'

This from Richard, "Do people understand what you do?" 'Having been in the industry for the best part of 2 decades, the answer is yes'

Just joined this forum and there was no option on the drop down arrow to put Sports Therapist, only Sports Massage Therapist!! A qualified Sports Therapist is able to treat all musculo-skeletal conditions through treatment and rehabilitation......not just massage!

Cheers Russell and welcome to the site. I'll pass your comment on to the developers - we're upgrading the site soon so hopefully we can get the category added.

I always assumed it was to do with rehab after injury... physio being one specialism but not the only one. Or, I suppose therapy can also be about staying well, not just getting well. But other than that I'm not very well informed. But I'd like to know more.

From DrBradCole on Twitter, 'Most don't understand the intent of corrective exercise and the cause of pain. Lots of education for success.' And this from Jillosteopath, 'On the whole No, they don't. However constantly talking to groups/individuals. osteo more than just backs!'

I'm qualified as a level 5 Sports Therapist and have to explain to 9 out of 10 people what the difference is between a massage therapist, sports therapist and physiotherapist. And I'm also asked if I "only treat sports people/injuries".

Marketing is an interesting subject when there's no basic understanding of the profession among the wider population.

Sports Therapist, Judoka & Web Designer
'Dragon Sports Therapy Ltd' & 'Wallcreeper UK'

I wrote my MSc dissertation on this very subject! As a study, I can't say it was a major success due to a lack of participants, so would call it more of a pilot study.

Anyway, the main findings from this and my own experiences are that people always come up with massage as their main expectation (although some mentioned more of a psychological slant). I generally find myself having to explain the difference between a Physiotherapist and a Sports Therapist, but previous research shows that even other such professions are likewise poorly understood.

For me, the exercise component is the key in any rehab programme, and I guess the challenge for any therapist is to convince their clients that even though manual therapy helps in the short-term with symptoms, they would benefit more in the long-term with a full rehab programme.

The main problem with Sports Therapy is that people always want to call us Physios, and I often give up explaining that I'm not a Physio because it's just easier for them to understand. If Sports Therapy does finally become regulated by the HPC in the UK, then maybe knowledge will change, but current knowledge of other professions seems to indicate that this is unlikely.

In the end, I guess it's up to the indivdual how they want to market themselves, because there are so many aspects to Sports Therapy one person could place more focus on the manual therapy side, whilst another could easily look to advertise their skills in exercise rehab and conditioning.

I just wanted to expand on my point above "We need the name protected". Although I completely agree with the points made above, particularly those stating that even with HPC registration many professions are still poorly understood, currently if a prospective patient searches 'Sports Therapist' the information is confusing & misleading due to the name being used by a multitude of professions.

I also feel that currently many CPD courses restrict Sports Therapists from attending due to providers either not understanding the profession or that it is difficult to monitor the level of sports therapist applying. I am curious what everyone thinks HPC registration will bring to the profession? Recognition by the public? Insurance companies? Course providers? More use of the Sports Therapist in higher level sport?

Danielle

I am currently a sports therapy student and all I get when I say this to people the first response I get is "can I have a massage or is that like a physio"