What Is Sports Rehabilitation?
Sports rehabilitation is structured physiotherapy designed to restore athletes to full sporting performance after injury — and to reduce the risk of re-injury. It goes beyond basic pain relief: we restore strength, mobility, neuromuscular control and sport-specific movement patterns so you return to training confident and capable.
At Recovery TLV every programme is built around criteria-based progression: you advance when you pass objective benchmarks, not when a calendar says so. This approach is endorsed by the British Journal of Sports Medicine and consistently shows lower re-injury rates.
Common Sports Injuries We Treat
- Muscle strains — Hamstring, quadriceps, calf, adductor (Grade I–III)
- Ligament sprains — Ankle (ATFL/CFL), knee (MCL, LCL), AC joint
- Tendinopathies — Achilles, patellar, rotator cuff, gluteal, hamstring proximal
- ACL injuries — Conservative management and post-surgical rehab
- Meniscal injuries — Load management, strengthening, return-to-sport testing
- Shoulder injuries — Rotator cuff, SLAP, labral tears, instability
- Stress reactions & fractures — Load modification, graded return
- Concussion — Graduated return-to-sport per SCAT5 / Consensus protocols
The Return-to-Sport Framework
We use a 6-stage framework adapted from Derman et al. (2020) and IOC consensus guidelines:
Symptom-Free Activity
Complete rest only during acute inflammation. Light movement begins within 24-48 h.
Light Aerobic Exercise
Walking, swimming, cycling at low intensity. No resistance, no sport-specific load.
Sport-Specific Exercise
Running drills, skating, etc. No contact, no change-of-direction stress.
Non-Contact Drills
Complex drills, agility, plyometrics. Passing, shooting, court movement.
Full Practice
Normal training with team. Contact permitted. Psychological readiness assessed.
Return to Competition
Passed all strength, hop and functional benchmarks. Ready to compete.
Key principle: Each stage requires 24 hours with no symptoms before advancing. If symptoms return, drop back one stage. Progression is earned — not assumed.
Injury Prevention & Screening
Prevention is as valuable as treatment. We offer:
- Movement quality screening — Identifying biomechanical risk factors before injury occurs
- FIFA 11+ warm-up programme — Proven to reduce football injuries by up to 50% (Soligard et al., BJSM 2008)
- Running gait analysis — Optimising mechanics to reduce overuse injury risk
- Load monitoring guidance — Managing weekly training spikes, the biggest predictor of soft-tissue injury
- Strength asymmetry correction — Limb symmetry index testing for bilateral comparison
What to Expect at Your First Session
Your initial session (60 minutes) covers:
- Full subjective history — Mechanism, timeline, training load, goals
- Physical examination — Strength, range of motion, special tests, movement analysis
- Provisional diagnosis — Clear explanation of what is injured and why
- Treatment plan — Phase-by-phase roadmap with realistic timelines
- Hands-on treatment — Manual therapy, dry needling, or targeted exercise to begin immediately
You leave with a clear diagnosis, a written home exercise programme and a realistic timeline for your sport.
Ready to start your comeback?
Book your sports rehabilitation assessment. Bring your imaging if you have it — we'll handle the rest.
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We have worked with athletes across: football (soccer), basketball, tennis, padel, running, trail running, cycling, triathlon, CrossFit, martial arts (BJJ, MMA, boxing, judo, karate), swimming, volleyball, rugby, gymnastics and dance. Every sport has specific injury patterns and specific return-to-sport demands — we know them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your Sport Deserves Expert Rehab
Private 1:1 sports physiotherapy in Tel Aviv. Evidence-based. Objective criteria. No guesswork.