Returning to sport takes more than strength alone. Reaction time, balance, focus, coordination, decision-making, and confidence all affect how you perform under pressure. Return2Play™in Edmonton at In Step Physical Therapy combines sports physiotherapy with neuroperformance training to support sports injury recovery, concussion rehabilitation, and a structured return to training and competition.
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6
areas of focus
Criteria-based
return-to-play protocol
Evidence-Based
treatment for better outcomes
Sessions may combine sports injury rehabilitation, strength training, balance work, cognitive activities, reaction drills, and sport-specific movement.
Training gradually moves from controlled tasks to running, cutting, jumping, contact preparation, and decision-making under pressure.
Your Return2Play™ program may help you work toward:
Results and timelines vary from athlete to athlete.
Return2Play™ supports athletes experiencing
Return2Play™ considers physical recovery and cognitive performance together.
Depending on your needs, sessions may include sports physiotherapy, concussion rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, reaction drills, balance training, visual-motor activities, virtual reality, NeuroCatch®, and sport-specific movement practice. Your program is connected to the demands of your sport, position, training schedule, and competition goals.
Medical clearance may confirm general readiness, but sport still requires reaction time, balance, conditioning, decision-making, and confidence. Return2Play™ helps prepare these skills for training and competition demands.
No. The program can support recreational, school, club, university, and competitive athletes who want to return to activity or improve sport-related movement and confidence.
Return2Play™ may support athletes experiencing headaches, dizziness, reduced focus, slower processing, balance changes, screen sensitivity, or difficulty returning to physical and cognitive sport demands.
Take the next step toward stronger movement, quicker decisions, and greater confidence in your sport.
No referral needed
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Confidential, personalized care
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Complete the form and the InStep team will contact you to discuss your injury, sport, and next steps.
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Athletes may begin once medically appropriate, especially when pain, weakness, stiffness, swelling, reduced movement, or lost confidence affects training. Early guidance can support safer activity and a clearer rehabilitation pathway.
Sports physiotherapy may rebuild confidence through gradual movement practice, strength training, sport-specific drills, and measurable progress. Repeated exposure helps athletes trust their bodies during increasingly demanding training situations.
Sports rehabilitation builds strength, mobility, endurance, balance, coordination, and movement control. Training then progresses toward faster decisions, unpredictable situations, position-specific actions, and the physical demands experienced during competition.
Yes. Gradual exposure to running, jumping, cutting, landing, or contact may reduce hesitation. Exercises progress according to movement quality, symptoms, confidence, and the specific demands of the athlete’s sport.
Return2Play™ may support muscle strains, ligament injuries, joint sprains, post-surgical recovery, overuse concerns, and concussion-related challenges affecting movement, conditioning, coordination, reaction time, or confidence during sport.
Many athletes can continue suitable activities during rehabilitation. Training may be modified to protect the affected area while maintaining strength, mobility, endurance, coordination, and involvement with their team or sport.
A concussion may affect visual processing, attention, balance, decision-making, or response speed. Athletes may feel physically capable while still reacting more slowly during busy, unpredictable, or fast-moving sport situations.
Concussion rehabilitation may include attention tasks, visual-motor drills, movement challenges, and paced physical activity. These activities help prepare athletes for environments requiring concentration, rapid decisions, and changing visual information.
Crowds, noise, movement, lights, pressure, and rapid decisions can increase cognitive demand. A gradual progression helps athletes rebuild tolerance before returning to full practices, contact, or competitive environments.
Training may combine visual cues, movement choices, reaction drills, and sport scenarios. Increasing speed and complexity gradually helps athletes practise making decisions while moving, balancing, communicating, or responding to opponents.
Concussion may affect the systems responsible for vision, inner-ear input, sensation, and body awareness. Balance activities can identify challenges and help athletes regain control during standing, running, turning, and landing.
Many athletes return to learning before full competition, but timing varies. Schoolwork, screens, concentration, sleep, headaches, and mental fatigue should be considered alongside physical activity and sport progression.
Single-leg balance supports running, cutting, landing, kicking, and direction changes. Poor control may affect movement confidence, force absorption, coordination, and the athlete’s ability to respond quickly during competition.
Strength training helps rebuild force, control, endurance, and confidence following injury. Exercises can progress from basic movements to heavier, faster, and more sport-specific tasks as the athlete improves.
Landing requires strength, balance, timing, and control through the hips, knees, ankles, and trunk. Training safer movement patterns may help athletes manage force during jumping, cutting, and unexpected contact.
Coordination training may improve how quickly and smoothly the body responds to visual, physical, or verbal cues. Activities can combine footwork, balance, ball skills, reaction tasks, and changing movement directions.
Fatigue can reduce movement control, reaction speed, concentration, and decision-making. Training under carefully increased fatigue may help athletes maintain technique and awareness during later stages of practice or competition.
Core control supports force transfer between the upper and lower body. It contributes to balance, running, throwing, lifting, landing, contact tolerance, and efficient movement during sport-specific actions.
Dual-task training combines movement with thinking, such as running while tracking cues, remembering plays, or making quick choices. It helps prepare athletes for sport situations where physical and cognitive demands happen together.
Peripheral vision training helps athletes notice teammates, opponents, boundaries, and movement without turning their heads. Drills may combine visual cues with footwork, passing, or balance to support awareness during play.
Change-of-direction drills help assess control during cutting, stopping, turning, and accelerating. They can be progressed by speed, direction, resistance, or reaction demands to better reflect the athlete’s sport and position.
Head and eye movement training may support visual tracking, balance, coordination, and comfort during fast movement. Activities can be matched to sports involving scanning, catching, turning, or responding to changing play.
Return-to-contact preparation gradually reintroduces controlled physical contact, reaction demands, and sport-specific movement. The progression may include positioning, bracing, balance, and decision-making before full practice or competition, based on readiness and tolerance.
Game-speed drills are introduced gradually, beginning with predictable tasks and moving toward faster, less controlled situations. Progress depends on movement quality, symptom response, confidence, and the athlete’s ability to make decisions under pressure.
Wear comfortable athletic clothing and suitable footwear. Bring any braces, supports, or equipment normally used during sport, along with relevant medical information and details about current symptoms or training limitations.
Equipment may be helpful when training involves position-specific skills, footwear, sticks, racquets, balls, helmets, or protective gear. Your physiotherapist can advise what to bring for particular sessions.
Athletes may receive strength, mobility, balance, reaction, or movement activities between visits. The home plan is selected around available equipment, training schedule, symptoms, goals, and current activity level.
Parents or guardians may attend and share relevant information about symptoms, school, sleep, training, and behaviour changes. Their involvement can support communication, scheduling, and consistent activity guidance at home.
Yes. Off-season training may focus on strength, coordination, reaction time, movement quality, conditioning, and previous injury concerns. This period can also support preparation for upcoming practices, tryouts, or competitions.
Athletes may use the program to assess movement, balance, reaction, coordination, and conditioning before problems arise. Findings can guide training goals and identify areas requiring additional preparation for sport demands.
