Return-to-Sport Rehabilitation
Structured rehabilitation for the stage after the pain has settled, when the question is no longer whether it hurts but whether the leg, shoulder or back can take what your sport asks of it.
The short answer
What this treatment is
Return-to-sport rehabilitation is the phase between symptoms settling and full training resuming, and it is the phase most often cut short. Pain usually improves well before capacity does. Going back at that point is one of the more reliable ways to get the same injury again.
The programme works backwards from the demands of your sport. A runner needs repeated single-leg loading and the ability to absorb impact at speed. A footballer needs to change direction under fatigue. Someone returning after shoulder surgery needs overhead strength through range. Each of those is a different end point, so each gets a different progression.
Throughout, we test rather than estimate. Strength is compared against your uninjured side, hop and jump tests are used where relevant, and sport-specific movements are assessed under fatigue rather than fresh. The 2016 Bern consensus on return to sport frames the decision as risk management shared between clinician and athlete, which is how we treat it.
Return-to-sport rehabilitation can help you to:
Close the gap pain leaves behind
Symptoms settle long before strength returns. We measure what is actually missing against your other side, and rebuild it, so you are not relying on the absence of pain as evidence you are ready.
Rebuild under the conditions you compete in
Most reinjuries happen late in a session, under fatigue. Testing and progressing while fresh flatters the result, so we build fatigue into the later stages deliberately.
Work to your surgeon's protocol
Where you are post-operative, the programme respects the tissue-healing constraints your surgeon has set, and progresses within them rather than around them.
Make the return decision together
Going back is a judgement about acceptable risk, not a purely clinical call. We set out what the testing shows and what it means, so the decision is genuinely shared.
Patient journey
What to expect
Consultation & preparation
Wear clothing you can train in and bring the footwear you use for your sport. If you are post-operative, bring your operation note or your surgeon's rehabilitation protocol if you have been given one, along with any dates or restrictions you have been told about.
During treatment
Aftercare
Sessions are usually every one to two weeks through the strength phase, spacing out as you become more independent with the programme. Testing is repeated at each stage transition, and a final assessment takes place before return to full training is agreed.
FAQ
Common
questions
When can I go back to my sport?
When you meet the criteria rather than when a set number of weeks has passed. Typically that means strength close to your uninjured side, competent sport-specific movement including under fatigue, and confidence in the limb. Criteria-based return is associated with lower reinjury rates than time-based return.
Why do I still need rehab if nothing hurts?
Because pain settles well before capacity recovers. Strength deficits of twenty per cent or more commonly persist after symptoms have gone, and that gap is what tends to cause the same injury again. Rehabilitation closes it, which is why this phase matters even though you feel fine.
Does Canary Wharf Physio work with my surgeon after an operation?
Yes. Where you are post-operative, Canary Wharf Physio works within the protocol and timescales your surgeon has set, because those reflect how the repaired tissue heals. You are progressed inside those constraints, and your physiotherapist can liaise with their team directly where that is useful.
How long does return-to-sport rehab take?
It varies widely with the injury. A muscle strain may be a few weeks, whereas rehabilitation after ligament reconstruction is commonly measured in many months. Your physiotherapist gives you a realistic range at the first appointment, based on the tissue involved and your starting point.
How is a return to sport actually tested?
With measurements rather than with a conversation. Strength compared against the uninjured side, hop and jump testing where the injury allows, sport-specific movement repeated under fatigue, and how symptoms change over the next day. Canary Wharf Physio runs those tests in the club gym, because most of them need space and load.
What happens if I fail a return-to-sport test?
The gap it found gets trained, and you retest. That is the point of testing rather than counting weeks: a failed test is information you can act on, and a passed date is not. It usually adds weeks rather than months, and it is a considerably better outcome than discovering the same deficit in the first match back.
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Canary Wharf Physio • Unit 7, 30 South Colonnade, London E14 5HX
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