Most sports injuries are incurred as a result of accident, overuse of specific muscles, tendons, or ligaments or sudden, unexpected loading during sporting activity. During the healing process, scar tissue forms and unless this is helped to happen properly, adhesions can form and fibres can be laid down in such a way that elasticity is lost from the tissues. In the long term, this significantly increases the chance of re-injury at a later date and over time, repeated injuries can result in chronic tissue changes which are difficult to reverse.

Often, when a sports injury happens, an Osteopath is the last person the unfortunate athlete considers visiting, however Osteopaths deal with these kinds of injuries on a daily basis. Most sports injuries involve tissue damage or repetitive strain of some kind - Osteopaths are trained to view the body as whole functioning unit, to look at the way the various components inter-relate, to test and accurately diagnose the nature of the injury and to provide both treatment and rehabilitation exercises. Competent Sports Therapists work in a very similar way.

Osteopaths and Sports Therapists can assess the way in which injuries have occurred, and treat affected tissues directly - this may involve soft tissue work to promote nutrition to the area and help strip out scar tissue as healing takes place together with direct mobilisation to help restore function to injured joints and muscles. They also advise on the best kinds of exercise to help patients rehabilitate, get back into favourites sports and prevent re-injury in the future.