Whether you're back on the field next week or working toward a season's end goal — your return to sport starts here.
Getting back to the sport you love isn't just about waiting for an injury to settle. It's about understanding what your body needs, what your sport demands, and building a clear pathway between the two.
At You First Physio, sport physiotherapy is available across all five of our Christchurch clinics — with online booking, experienced physios, and an approach that's milestone-driven rather than time-based.
Sport physiotherapy at You First Physio is for anyone who is active and wants to stay that way — not just elite athletes. We work with competitive club players, recreational participants, and people who simply value an active lifestyle and want to manage or prevent injury so they can keep doing what they enjoy.
Whether you've rolled an ankle at Tuesday night netball, developed a persistent knee issue during pre-season training, or you're managing a longstanding overuse problem that's starting to affect your performance — sport physiotherapy may be able to help.
Sport places specific demands on the body — demands that vary significantly between sports, between individuals, and between positions or roles within the same sport. Our assessment takes that context into account. Below are some of the common injury presentations we see.
Hamstring pulls, calf strains, quadriceps tears, and other muscular injuries are common across most sports.
Physiotherapy may be helpful for assessing the extent of injury, managing the early stages of recovery, and building the strength and load tolerance needed for a safe return to full participation.
Ankle sprains are among the most frequently seen sports injuries, but ligament injuries can affect the knee, shoulder, wrist, and other joints.
Assessment helps establish the severity of the injury and the most appropriate rehabilitation pathway — including when imaging or specialist referral is warranted.
Achilles tendinopathy, patella tendon issues, rotator cuff tendinopathy, and other tendon problems often develop gradually and can be frustrating to manage without the right guidance.
Physiotherapy may be helpful for load management, progressive rehabilitation, and getting load-bearing tendons back to full capacity.
Knee injuries range from minor irritation to significant structural injury, and the pathway back to sport varies considerably.
For anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries specifically, we offer a dedicated rehabilitation programme — see our ACL Rehabilitation page for full details.
Rotator cuff injuries, shoulder instability, AC joint sprains, and labral problems are particularly common in throwing sports, contact sports, and swimming.
Physiotherapy may be helpful in assessing the nature of the injury and building shoulder strength and stability progressively.
Many sports injuries aren't caused by a single event — they build over time as load exceeds the body's capacity to absorb it. Shin splints, stress reactions, and overuse conditions across multiple joints and soft tissues can often be addressed through load management, technique assessment, and targeted rehabilitation.
Back pain is common across a wide range of sports and can affect both performance and participation.
Physiotherapy may be helpful for identifying contributing factors — including movement patterns, load, and training habits — and working through a tailored programme to address them.
Our team has experience working with athletes and active people across a broad range of sports — including:
Football / Soccer
Rugby
Netball
Hockey
Cricket
Athletics and running
Skiing and snowboarding
Swimming
Cycling
Racquet sports (tennis, squash, badminton)
And many others — if your sport isn't listed, get in touch.
Understanding the specific demands of your sport — the movements, the positions, the load patterns — is part of how we build a rehabilitation plan that actually prepares you to go back and perform, not just to be pain-free at rest.
Recovery timelines in sport are often quoted as fixed numbers: six weeks, three months, twelve weeks. The reality is more nuanced. What matters is what your body can do — not how many days have passed since your injury. Our rehabilitation is structured around functional milestones: the specific movement thresholds, strength benchmarks, and sport-specific performance markers that indicate your body is genuinely ready to return.
This approach takes more thought than simply waiting out a timeframe, but it's more reliable — and it reduces the risk of re-injury that comes from returning to sport too soon.
A safe return to cricket is not the same as a safe return to rugby. A skiing-ready knee needs different things than a cycling-ready knee.
We take time to understand the physical demands of your specific sport, your role within it, and the training load you'll be returning to — so the rehabilitation programme we build is designed for your actual return to activity, not a generic version of it.
Sport physiotherapy isn't only for people who are already injured. If you have a history of recurring injuries, you're ramping up your training, or you simply want to understand where your movement or strength may be leaving you vulnerable — a physiotherapy assessment may be useful as a proactive step, not just a reactive one.
For athletes wanting accurate, measurable data on their strength and movement — particularly during the later stages of rehabilitation or for pre-season baseline testing — our VALD technology is available at our Riccarton and Longhurst clinics.
Force plate and dynamometry testing can provide objective benchmarks and help identify any asymmetries between sides that may not be apparent through clinical assessment alone.
Your initial appointment is 45 minutes. It gives us the time to understand your injury properly — not just the site of pain, but the context around it: how it happened, what's been tried, what your sport demands, and what you're working toward.
From there, we'll discuss what we think is going on, and work with you on a plan for what comes next. Follow-up appointments are typically 20-30 minutes.
Sport physiotherapy may include:
Excellent experience
Excellent experience! Andrew is a legend. I had knee pain from football from a long time so I was doing therapy here for few months. Now I'm back on the field! Would definitely recommend them.
Kenzi Gonsalves
Very helpful getting me through my recovery. Highly Recommended
I suffered an ACL injury and had to go through surgery and rehab. I worked with Jack at Riccarton and he was very helpful with getting me through my recovery. I’m about 7 months post operation and I feel like I’m getting closer to where I want to be, and all credit can go to Jack. I would highly recommend going with YouFirst if you have suffered any injury as everyone there are such lovely people, which helped motivate me through the process.
Zahran Hidayat
Took time to assess the issue carefully, avoiding pitfalls I'd experienced previously
I suffered from severe shoulder pain for many years and previous physios failed to address the issue. A work colleague recommended You First Physio and I'm very glad they did! Kelly Fox took time to assess the issue carefully, avoiding pitfalls I'd experienced previously. Kelly devised a strategy that worked brilliantly. I have more stability, coordination and flexibility in my shoulder joint than I can remember. I couldn't be happier.
Christopher Home
If your injury was caused by an accident, ACC may cover part of your treatment cost. You'll pay a patient co-payment per appointment.
45 minutes
$57
(concession $52)
30 minutes
$49
(concession $44)
For injuries not caused by an accident, standard physiotherapy fees apply.
45 minutes
$112
(concession $107)
30 minutes
$87
(concession $82)
Questions about costs before you book? Call your nearest clinic, we're happy to help.
No referral is needed. You can book directly online at any of our five Christchurch locations. If you're using ACC to cover part of your treatment costs, we can register your ACC injury and generate a claim number. There is no need to see your GP for this process. Should you require medication or time off work due to your injury, we will refer you to your GP to arrange these.
If your injury is the result of an accident, it may qualify for ACC cover. ACC typically subsidises a portion of physiotherapy costs, with a patient co-payment (surcharge) payable at each appointment. If you're unsure whether your injury qualifies, contact us and we can help you work through it.
The underlying skills are the same — sport physiotherapy applies them with specific attention to the demands of sport and physical performance. That means assessing not just where it hurts, but what movements your sport requires, what load your body needs to tolerate, and what milestones you need to reach before returning to full participation safely.
This depends on the nature and severity of your injury, your starting point, and the demands of your sport. We don't give fixed timelines without assessment — because recovery that's genuinely ready is more valuable than recovery that's simply on schedule. At your initial appointment, we'll give you a realistic picture of what to expect.
Yes. If you're returning from a previous injury, ramping up your training load, or simply want to understand where your movement or strength might be leaving you vulnerable, a physiotherapy assessment can be useful as a preventive step. Our VALD strength and movement testing at Riccarton and Longhurst is particularly useful for athletes wanting objective baseline data.
Yes. Sport physiotherapy is bookable online at all five of our Christchurch locations. Use the booking links above, or visit our [Locations page →](#) to find the clinic nearest to you.
Book an initial appointment at your nearest clinic — online in minutes, or give us a call. Our 45-minute initial appointments are available across all five of our Christchurch clinics, and online booking is available at all locations.
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