The use of physical agents in rehabilitation of athletic injuries.

The competitive athlete's motivation to return to activity following injury presents a challenge to the sports medicine specialist to utilize the most effective rehabilitation procedures available. Safe return to competition necessitates maximal restoration of those components of physical fitness affected by injury (such as muscular strength, power, endurance). Various forms of superficial heat and cold application, deep heat modalities, and electrical currents have been used to supplement therapeutic exercise in this process. In recent years, the therapeutic benefits of cold for the control of exercise-induced edema and as a prelude to performance of prescribed exercise have been widely recognized. Although short wave and microwave diathermy appear to have lost much of their appeal as deep tissue heating modalities, the thermal and mechanical effects of ultrasound continue to make it a widely used modality in sports medicine. Adaptation of alternating electrical currents for use in transcutaneous nerve stimulation has given the sports medicine clinician a useful modality for pain management. The more recently developed "Russian" electrical stimulator provides a promising modality for muscle re-education and restoration of muscular strength.