Many of us have sustained various types of injuries through our daily lives or through recreational sports.  However, have you ever wondered which type of therapy might be appropriate to your needs? There are many different types and variations of therapy out there.  In the following, we are going to dive into two popular types of therapy, Physiotherapy and Athletic Therapy, and how you can get treated if you’re looking for physiotherapy in Pickering.

What is Athletic Therapy?

Athletic Therapy is a form of treatment performed by a certified healthcare professional that is focused on the prevention, assessment, and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries.  In other words, athletic therapists assess and treat injuries that affect muscles, bones, joints and ligaments.

The key focus of Athletic Therapists is on the  specialization of care involving emergency care for onsite field injury.  This would be something like having a rolled ankle during a game and having someone to attend to the injury right away. Athletic Therapists would provide an injury assessment on the spot with proper diagnosis of the injury such as sprains, strains, fractures or even concussions.

Athletic Therapist would then follow up with rehab programs to help people recover strength, mobility and function with an emphasis to return to specific sports for their client. Athletic Therapist employs various treatments with a focus on returning to sports. As such, majority of treatments would involve exercise programs, taping/bracing for sports and or other types of manual therapy.

In Canada, Athletic Therapy is currently a certificate program provided by various college institutions.  In order to be in the practice of athletic therapy, you must go through a 3 year program accredited by the Canadian Athletic Therapists’ Association. Successful graduates obtain the title known as Certified Athletic Therapist CAT©. Athletic Therapists can often be found working along side with professional sport teams or covering sports games ranging from high school, amateur to varsity athletics.

Who Is It Designed For?

Athletic Therapist works within the vast field of treating musculoskeletal injuries along with various other medical professionals.  However, there is a few areas that athletic therapy is mainly designed for.  Competitive athletes are one of the main group that finds themselves working frequently with Athletic Therapist.  The goals of Athletic Therapy would revolve around return to play planning, performance focus training to return to specific sports.  There is a high focus on quick diagnosis of an injury while the player is injured on site, as well as working with them off the field through rehab.  Finally, they plan out performance and endurance training to get the player back on the field for their next game.

What is Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy, also known as Physical Therapy, is a type of treatment performed by a regulated and licensed healthcare professional known as a Physiotherapist.  Physiotherapy is focused on restoring movement, reducing pain, and improving overall physical function.  Physiotherapist treats a wide range of conditions and not just injuries.  Treatments utilized by Physiotherapists ranges from movement based therapy, hands on and manual techniques, pain reducing modalities and specific education for understanding/preventing injuries.  Physiotherapist are licensed medical professionals that are experts in treatment of day to day injuries, sport injuries, chronic pain and or movement/neurological disorders.  Physiotherapy is able to help clients with daily aches and pain such as back pain, neck pain and or joint pain.  Injury rehabilitation for conditions such as sprains, muscle strains, and fractures.  There is also a main focus in post surgical recovery for conditions such as joint replacements, ACL surgery or rotator cuff surgeries.

Physiotherapists often work in the various medical settings. These settings ranges from hospitals all the way to outpatient services such as sports clinic or rehab clinics.  Physiotherapists are also part of a multidisciplinary healthcare team, working along side with surgeon and family doctors.

Physiotherapy also helps with developing general mobility and strength improvement, ranging from clients dealing with performance at the gym to the elderly geriatric clients trying to stand up from sitting.  Clients with balance and dizziness issues will also benefit from physiotherapy.  Physiotherapy can also address balance and mobility issues with stroke clients, nerve or spinal cord injuries, as well as those suffering from vertigo.

Lastly, Physiotherapist are experts in chronic condition management.  Conditions such as osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, repetitive strain injuries are all major conditions seen commonly by Physiotherapist.

In Canada, the term Physiotherapist is a licensed and protected title. Only those registered with the provincial regulator bodies known as the College of Physiotherapist can present themselves as Physiotherapist.  To obtain the licence of a Physiotherapist, you must graduate from an accredited university undergoing a degree in Master of Physical Therapy.  As well as going through vigorous licensing examination and licensing process imposed by the respective provincial College of Physiotherapist.  Training for a licensed Physiotherapist typically requires a minimal of 6 years in university training.

Who Is It Designed For?

The scope of Physiotherapy covers a wide field and it is widely applicable to those suffering from various musculoskeletal injuries to neurological conditions.  People with muscle strains, ligaments sprains often benefit from receiving Physiotherapy. Sport injuries, slip and fall, work injuries, or from trauma related events such as motor vehicle accidents. People who suffer from chronic pain often benefits from receiving Physiotherapy.  Many times for those individuals who cannot pin point when and where pain started from.  Physiotherapy can help in a detailed assessment of the origin of your condition and provide you a thorough understanding of what happened and what to do about it.

Physiotherapy are also experts in treating sports injuries. Athletic clients suffering from sports injuries often turn to Physiotherapy for treatments to help with pain management, sports rehab and to return to play quickly.  Post-operative care is also a main area where Physiotherapy excels in treating.  Physiotherapist treats many common conditions from sports or day to day injures requiring ACL repair, rotator cuff repair or even joint replacements.

The Main Differences Between Athletic Therapy vs Physiotherapy

Now that we have gone into details about Athletic Therapy and Physiotherapy, we want to summarize the main difference between the two.  The main difference of the two pertains to the scope of practice.  Physiotherapy has a broader scope of practice ranging from highly athletic (Sport Injuries), to limited mobility (Chronic pain/neurological conditions).  Meanwhile Athletic Therapy has a more focused scope on musculoskeletal injuries for return to sports.

Athletic Therapy is best suitable for on field care, with an emphasis on rehab through exercise. Physiotherapy meanwhile has a broader medical background and could provide solutions for more complex cases of injuries.

How to Determine What’s Right For You

In terms of deciding whether Athletic Therapy or Physiotherapy is right for you. There are some key factors to consider, these factors correspond to the injury type, personal activity level and personal rehab goals.\

First off, for simple injuries sustained at sports such as muscle pull or ligament sprain, Athletic Therapy would be a suitable choice.  Athletic Therapy has an emphasis on return to play, and are more recommended for individuals that excels in rigid and structured plan for return to play. However if the injury is complex or have a long outstanding medical history, then Physiotherapy would be the more preferred choice. If you are unsure of the type of injury sustained, Physiotherapy would be overall better choice given their extensive background in medical training.

Moreover with other movement conditions such as chronic/long term pain, joint or muscle injury of unknown origin, post surgical recovery, and neurological or balance issues.  Physiotherapy would be the preferred choice for all the above cases.

Finally for those opting for high functioning goals such as elite sports, Athletic Therapy would be the preferable choice.  On the other hand, Physiotherapy would be able to set a wider arrangement of goals for clients to return to.

As for most cases after an injury, most of us are not even considering where and how far treatment can take us.  Most often we aren’t even sure the type of injuries sustained. Commonly at Amberlea Physiotherapy, we come across many instances where clients are unsure of what happened to them let alone where they want to be.  Receiving a detailed and thorough Physiotherapy assessment is often the key to answering these questions. As well, this process allows both the health care professional and the client to plan ahead such that we can guide the client back to full recovery.

Final Thoughts

Fortunately, we live in the modern world with various choices and options for healthcare solutions.  In this article, we have dissected the key difference between Physiotherapy and Athletic Therapy.  In simple terms, Athletic Therapy operates within a niche of condition related to sports.  However, if you sustained an injury/pain, and not sure where to start.  Seeing a Physiotherapist is often the best option to get started on your road to recovery.  At Amberlea Physiotherapy, we understand the stress that is experienced with any types of pain or injury.  Feel free to give us a call for a free consultation, we hope that through our interaction we will be able to provide you with better insight!