If you’re keen to get back on the track, court, or field after suffering an injury, the odds are in your favor. Research shows that most athletes successfully return to sport, including 83 percent of patients following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, and 89.7 percent of patients following hip arthroplasty. However, monitoring your readiness to return to your sport is crucial to prevent further injury.
You can follow a set of guidelines known as “return-to-sport criteria” to determine whether you can participate in regular activities again, or if you should continue with your rehabilitation. While standards vary by the type of injury and its severity, here is the general breakdown to know if you’re ready to return to sport.
The 2016 Consensus Statement on Return to Sport from the First World Congress in Sports Physical Therapy developed the Strategic Assessment of Risk and Risk Tolerance (StARRT) Framework to help guide decision-making for practitioners and athletes. It is a three-step multidisciplinary model that estimates the risks of various outcomes.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to return to sport, but following the StARRT framework provides a holistic health and sport performance model that is contextualized with realistic challenges.
Keep in mind your recovery isn’t just physical. Return to sport or high-intensity exercise is highly individualized, and your mindset and environment can play an important role in how ready you are to perform at your highest. A recent study found that self-efficacy (how much you believe in your ability to complete the actions necessary for return to sport), social support(how the people around you help you cope with stressful situations), and resetting expectations (being realistic with performance and the time it takes to return to pre-injury performance) were essential in preparing to return to sport.
Research shows that fear of reinjury is one of the most common reasons why athletes don’t return to their sport. You can counteract the emotional setbacks associated with returning to the competition with strategies to manage biopsychosocial factors. You might consider working with a sport psychologist, seeking social support, and stress management.
Be patient with yourself through the challenges of rehabilitation. Returning to high-level activity takes time and encompasses the entire process, starting from injury to the weeks or months of diligent rehabilitation. Setting realistic goals and maintaining an optimistic outlook on your outcomes will be essential to reach or surpass your previous performance.
In your rehabilitation and training, progressive overload is essential to prevent re-injury. You can also track your acute to chronic workload ratio in your training. To help avoid injury, the acute to chronic workload ratio of any given week should be 0.8-1.3 times the average of the training load of the previous four weeks. To adequately prepare for the return to sport, you should avoid falling below the optimal amount of loading over time.
Think of your rehabilitation as baby steps you can take each day to reach the overarching goal of returning to the activities you love. The resilience and conditioning you develop in this time will stay with you for the rest of your athletic career.
The bottom line: Return to sport criteria provides a guideline for when you can safely and effectively participate in sports again while mitigating the risk of further injury. The return-to-sport criteria are not absolute, and some athletes may need additional time to fully recover. Partner with your healthcare provider to make this decision and stay positive. You’ll be back to competing sooner than you think.
