Measurement and Evaluation in Sports and Exercise Therapy

Over the last few decades, sport has become more scientific in its approach to improving athletic performance. The improvements in both technology and our physiological and technical understanding have seen huge developments in the way we monitor athletes so that we can bridge that gap between potential and achievable performances. Measurement and evaluation of performance, which draws from the fields of sports science and biomechanics, has therefore become a critical component of athletic preparation and profiling, and if implemented correctly, can provide key information to:
- Identify areas of weakness or pain associated with performance or activity which can help inform injury prevention programmes.
- Assess the patient or athlete’s own physical capabilities to be able to take part in a sport or exercise and also help determine benchmarks so that they can be compared with other athletes at the same level, sport, age or position.
- Help to monitor trends (seasonal, position and injury-related) and look at the common risk factors which may precede injury.
- Help athletes recover from injury, especially if pre-injury benchmarks have been defined.
- Establish technical problems that may affect specific techniques or skills.