Return to Play

If you’ve had an injury, where do you go after physical therapy? How do you safely reengage in your sport? How do you get your confidence back?

These questions are why we designed our Return to Play program. Led by the experts at UPMC Sports Performance, Return to Play is a stepping-stone between rehab and getting back to your level of play.

Because we work with athletes every day, we know what you need as you return from injury. It’s not one-size-fits-all — it depends on the sport, the injury, and your specific goals.

Return to Play can help you regain your competitive edge and get back in the game. Our goal is to make you faster, stronger, and more confident than you were before injury.

What Does Return to Play Mean?

“Return to play” or “return to sport” means you’re healthy enough to start participating in your sport again. To do the Return to Play program, you need medical clearance from the provider who treated your injury.

Return to Play involves you doing activities that mimic your sport, so you can get back to where you were. Our program helps you build strength and confidence and makes it less likely that you’ll reinjure yourself.

We can create Return to Play programs for any athletic injury. But we most commonly work with athletes who've injured their:

• Backs.
• Shoulders.
• Knees.
• Hips.

Looking for other Return to Play programs?

• Our Concussion Program is where we manage protocols for athletes who have suffered concussions and want to return to playing their sport.
• Our ACL Return to Play Program has testing specifically required for returning to play sports after ACL injuries.

How the Return to Play Program Works

Our sports performance experts run our Return to Play sessions as group sessions, with five to six people participating in each session.

You can either do:

• Three days a week for 12 total sessions.
• Two days a week for eight total sessions.

Sessions last about 90 minutes, and you must use all sessions within one month. These sessions are self-pay (not covered by insurance).

Some of the things you may do in the sessions include:

• Functional movement assessment (FMA) — An FMA looks at your posture and gait as part of the process to identify muscle imbalances. Learn more about the FMA.
• Instrumented muscle strength testing — This test uses special technology to measure joint torque and muscle strength.
• Force plate testing — Measuring vertical jump and strength can help find imbalances, like if one of your legs is stronger than the other.
• Myofascial sling training — The myofascial sling is the chain of ligaments and muscles that connects throughout your body to create strength and stability. Training teaches you specific types of movement that can help with everyday function.
• Postural restoration® — This program helps get your body back in alignment, which can make a big difference in your return to sport.
• Soft tissue hygiene — We teach you a set of techniques to help you take better care of your soft tissue after an injury. Learn more about soft tissue hygiene training.

Contact Us

To register for the Return to Play program, please call 412-432-3871.