RETURN TO PLAY: Where are we going? It is not a guessing game

Return to play is one of the most important key points within the recovery process of the injured player. It is essential to understand the RTP as a constant decision making process.

RTP has to be understood as a dynamic and personalised process. The main objective has to be the absence of further re-injuries but not to exactly predict the RTP time.

There are a series of basic key points to fulfil within the process.

A correct diagnosis:

Strict control of workloads:

Intelligent management of modifiers:

Where are we going?:

The BIG DATA concept is going to help us in future, because we will be

able to share the medical experience between the doctors from different countries and use it to improve our knowledge specially in RTP criteria.

© 2016 Consell Catal`a de l’Esport. Generalitat de Catalunya. Published by Elsevier Espa˜na,

S.L.U. All rights reserved.

The rules of sports have a high influence and affect the return to play. Doctors have to be involved in the sport they are working in and have a deep knowledge of the environment to be able to manage intelligently the decisions made with a player, technical staff and coach.

Sport medicine doctors, are still using different concepts to define the RTP, without any consensus, although the most appropriate concept is the full availability for matches, because the training phase has to be understood as a part of the recovery process.

Apart from clinical exploration or MRI, a test on field assessed by GPS starts to be considered important by the medical and technical staff in personalising the progress of the injury and obtaining a trusted framework to validate the RTP and in the assessment, monitoring and management of workloads.

The objective is to acquire the INDIVIDUAL FIT PROFILE.

A good diagnosis is the most relevant step in getting a correct RTP, it is really the first cornerstone.; Today in sports medicine practice many variables are still not taken into account when we talk about these injuries.