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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: To assess how different decision-guiding factors, such as health and performance related actuators, as well as evidence based guidelines, support the process-orientated final positive return to play (RTP) decision of head coaches responsible for semi-professional sport teams.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: and Participants: A survey consisting of questions on the importance of different decision-guiding factors used when making the RTP decision following injuries was administered to and completed by 238 head coaches of semi-professional players' teams. INTERVENTIONS: NOT applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: With respect to helpfulness in the RTP decision-making process, the coaches rated both the importance of the opinion of physicians, physiotherapists, strength and condition coaches, the athletes, themselves, and of both general and injury-specific RTP guidelines.
RESULTS: Our survey revealed that the head coaches refer to physicians and physiotherapists to a large extent, to the athletes and to themselves to a medium extent, and to strength and conditioning coaches and RTP guidelines to a small but still relevant extent. The coaches' effort to seek a shared decision-making process in RTP is, hence, partially evident.
CONCLUSION: A multitude of actuators intervenes when making the RTP decision. The call for a professionalization of the RTP process in semi-professional sports includes the athlete him- or herself, the head coach, the (external) physician, the (external) physiotherapists and the strength and conditioning coach based on general RTP decision-making models and specific criteria related to injury type, sports type, level and playing position. The development of awareness and implementation strategies of RTP models should be subject to further research.
Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Language: en |