Sports profiling is used to look at the stress and strain placed on the body when playing sport. A thorough assessment of the player’s body is completed to ensure that the player has a good posture and enough range of movement in the joints and muscles and there is enough strength and control in the areas of the body that are stressed during playing the sport. This identifies any weaknesses in the body that may predispose the patient to injury.
Different sports place different stresses and strains on different regions of the body. Tennis places a lot of strain around the shoulder and arm that holds the racket. Whereas, football places more stress around the hip knee and ankle because of the kicking action. Even different playing positions in the same sport can place the body under completely different types of stress. Wingers in rugby make long fast sprints. The prop forward covers much less distance but runs into and gets tackled by other big, heavy prop forwards.
Specifically working on exercises and strengthening the area that comes under the most stress during the sport can protect that area form the repeated stress and strains and help prevent injuries.
When a profiling assessment is completed it may highlight issues such as tight muscles and stiffness in a joint of the body. If the muscles or joint are restricted they cant perform to their optimum potential. This can result for example in the athlete not being able to generate as much force or move as quickly as possible. Speed is a major factor in so many sports. If your muscles and joints aren’t letting you move as quick and freely as they possibly could, you are missing out.
Treatments will address and deficiency to the body to maximise its capabilities.