Aquatic Physical Therapy in the Rehabilitation of Athletic Injuries: A Systematic Review of the Literatures

Athletes engage in several sporting events and activities. The masters-level athletes, especially, compete for well over 50-60% of their lifetime. Because athletes these days are training harder, competing more often, and taking lesser time for recovery, they are likely to suffer from sports injuries such as sprain, tendinopathy, bursitis, and stress fractures [1,2]. The incidence rate of ankle sprain, one of the most common sports injuries, is 7 per 1,000 exposures or 1.37 per 1,000 athletes and 4.9 per 1,000 hours [3]. Despite these sports injuries, athletes are expected to return to sport-specific training as soon as and as intensively as possible. Especially, in the case of masters-level athletes, it is a fact that the athletes’ leading desire is to return to competition or training as soon as possible [4].