Sports Therapy Courses
Sports therapists assist people and athletes in preparing physically and mentally for competitions and personal physical activities. They are experts in how to avoid injury, as well as rehabilitation and appropriate treatments, if and when their client is injured.
There are a range of courses on offer – ranging from non-graduate, undergraduate and graduate level entry. These courses can be accessed from a number of institutions and colleges around the country – including The Institute of Massage and Sports Therapy (IMST), Portobello and Motions Fitness, to name a few.
Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation is concerned with musculoskeletal conditions arising from sports activity. Therefore course content will reflect this. Course content will include everything from first aid, anatomy, physiology, massage, sports massage, sports nutrition, kinesiology to physiotherapy theory and physiotherapy practice.
There are a number of career options open to you once you qualify as a Sports Therapist. There is the option of setting up your own practice, work for a sports injuries clinic, work in a gym or with sports teams. If this is an area of therapy that interests you, it is worth having a look at the daily duties and activities of a Sports Therapist before investing in a sports therapy course.
A sports therapist may be involved in any or all of the following activities:
- Conducting an assessment of a players’ or athletes’ readiness and advising on exercises prior to an event or fixture
- Testing joints for ease and range of movement
- Strapping, taping, massaging and preparing players or athletes physically and mentally
- Providing first aid
- Examining and assessing injuries and determining whether the athlete can continue playing or taking part
- Examining and assessing injuries and dealing with traumas, e.g. cuts, bruises and blisters
- Treating injuries, alleviating pain, mobilising injuries, giving various types of sports massage and manipulation
- Rehabilitating injuries using manipulative techniques, apparatus and electrotherapy
- Designing and monitoring rehabilitation programmes appropriate to the injury and the sport
- Deciding whether athletes or players need extra treatments and coordinating referrals to other practitioners
- Advising players or athletes on diet and nutrition (when therapists are appropriately trained in this area)
- Working alone or with coaches, trainers and/or fitness advisers to implement exercise, conditioning, core stability and injury prevention programmes, so that athletes reach and maintain peak performance
- Liaising with other health professionals in the sports sector and in mainstream medicine
If all of these activities interest you and you think you have both the necessary interest and ability to pursue studies in Sports Therapy – a good starting point to your new career would be to talk to somebody working in the area and research the courses on offer.
Click to view sports therapy courses on Findacourse.ie.
