Sports Injury Assessment & Return-to-Play Protocol
Systematically assess sports injuries and create evidence-based return-to-play protocols
What You Can Do
You can perform structured sports injury evaluations that incorporate mechanism-of-injury analysis, orthopedic special testing, functional movement screening, and clear referral criteria. The skill helps you differentiate soft tissue restrictions from joint dysfunctions, establish baseline function, and create evidence-based return-to-play milestones tailored to the athlete's sport and position. You'll generate documentation suitable for insurance records, team physician communication, and liability protection.
Features
systematically reconstruct the injury event to narrow differential diagnoses
apply evidence-based tests (Lachman, pivot shift, McMurray's, etc.) with proper positioning and interpretation
rule in/out common conditions by anatomical region and special test clustering
assess sport-specific patterns (cutting, jumping, throwing) to identify deficits
establish phase-based milestones (pain-free ROM → strength → sport-specific movement → full participation)
identify conditions requiring immediate physician referral (fractures, severe ligament tears, neurological compromise)
generate comprehensive assessment records for insurance, legal, and athlete communication
Example Output
Example 1: Acute Ankle Inversion Injury
- Chief complaint: Right ankle inversion injury during soccer (mechanism documented)
- Special tests: Anterior drawer (positive), inversion stress test (mild positive), squeeze test (negative)
- Differential: Grade I-II anterior talofibular ligament sprain vs. syndesmotic involvement
- Referral decision: Imaging recommended if severe swelling/inability to bear weight
- RTP Protocol: Phase 1 (pain-free ROM, ankle alphabet exercises) → Phase 2 (proprioceptive training, resistance band work) → Phase 3 (agility drills, sport-specific cutting) → Phase 4 (full soccer participation with prophylactic bracing)
Example 2: Chronic Shoulder Impingement (Volleyball)
- Chief complaint: 8-week overhead pain pattern, worsening with serving
- Special tests: Neer impingement sign (positive), Hawkins-Kennedy (positive), resisted external rotation (weak at 90/90 position)
- Movement screening: Scapular dyskinesis noted during overhead reach
- Differential: Subacromial impingement with rotator cuff fatigue
- RTP Protocol: Phase 1 (scapular stabilization, posterior chain mobility) → Phase 2 (rotator cuff strengthening at progressive speeds) → Phase 3 (plyometric training, interval throwing program) → Phase 4 (return to competitive serving with technique correction)
What's Included
- SKILL.md instruction file with assessment framework and red flag criteria:
- Orthopedic Special Tests Reference: indexed by body region with proper positioning, performance cues, and sensitivity/specificity data
- Return-to-Play Progression Template: phase-based milestones for common sports injuries (ankle, knee, shoulder, elbow, hip)
- Mechanism-of-Injury Worksheet: systematic questions to reconstruct injury mechanism and guide differential diagnosis
- Assessment Documentation Checklist: comprehensive record template for insurance and legal protection
Who It's For
- Sports chiropractors managing athlete populations with acute and chronic injuries
- Athletic trainers and assistant athletic trainers documenting injury assessments for team physicians
- Orthopedic technicians preparing comprehensive evaluation summaries for provider review
- Sports medicine clinics establishing standardized assessment and return-to-play protocols
- Team healthcare providers communicating injury status and progression to coaches and athletic directors
Best For
- Initial injury evaluations requiring reproducible, evidence-based documentation
- Determining appropriate referral timing and criteria for physician evaluation
- Establishing sport-specific return-to-play progression milestones and testing protocols
- Differentiating between similar presentations (e.g., ankle sprain vs. syndesmotic injury, rotator cuff vs. impingement)
- Creating communication summaries for team physicians, coaches, and insurance carriers
- Reassessing athletes at treatment milestones when progression criteria need objective validation
You might also like
You conduct comprehensive pre-operative risk stratification using ASA classification, Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI), and procedure-specific risk tools to quantify operative risk across physiologic systems. You systematically identify modifiable risk factors—anemia, hypertension, glucose dyscontrol, cardiac dysfunction—and implement targeted optimization protocols to reduce preventable complications. You generate objective, evidence-backed assessments that strengthen informed consent discussions, support case selection decisions, and create defensible documentation for shared decision-making with patients and surgical teams.
by gptomics
You'll systematically evaluate patient risk factors, stratify perioperative risk using evidence-based frameworks, and generate detailed anesthesia plans that address specific comorbidities and procedural requirements. This skill helps you synthesize complex patient data—medical history, physical exam findings, lab work, imaging, and medication profiles—into actionable risk mitigation strategies that optimize patient safety and guide technique selection, drug choices, and monitoring protocols.
by gptomics
You synthesize current clinical evidence into structured protocols tailored to your specialty and institutional context. This skill helps you build physician-nurse collaborative decision frameworks, identify implementation barriers before rollout, and create adoption guides that account for resource constraints and stakeholder buy-in. You'll develop protocols ready for medical staff committees and bedside teams—not generic templates, but specialty-specific standards that bridge research and practice.
by gptomics
You can rapidly develop theoretically-grounded case formulations that integrate diagnostic findings, historical context, and clinical observations into a coherent narrative. The skill systematizes your conceptualization across multiple therapeutic modalities (CBT, psychodynamic, trauma-informed, systemic) and generates structured treatment plans with specific goals, interventions, and prognostic considerations—ideal for supervision presentations, case conferences, documentation, and complex diagnostic scenarios.
by gptomics
You can systematically document refraction findings for low vision patients and generate prescriptions optimized for specific functional tasks like reading, mobility, and facial recognition. The skill calculates appropriate magnification ratios, predicts realistic visual outcomes, and creates comprehensive documentation that prioritizes quality of life over distance acuity—transforming conventional refraction into patient-centered, task-driven prescriptions.
by gptomics
You can rapidly analyze multifaceted surgical presentations—including revision cases, comorbidities, and combined pathology—to develop defensible pre-operative plans and detailed operative notes. The skill synthesizes clinical findings with imaging data, stratifies surgical risk, selects technique-specific approaches, and produces documentation that withstands peer review and quality audits.
by gptomics
You can conduct comprehensive subluxation assessments on pediatric patients by integrating structural examination findings, functional limitations, parental observations, and neurological indicators within a developmental context. Claude helps you correlate specific subluxations to presenting complaints (colic, ear infections, torticollis, scoliosis patterns) and create objective documentation suitable for insurance, medical records, and referral purposes. You'll develop age-appropriate treatment plans that address both the subluxation and the child's unique physiological stage.
by gptomics
You can systematically generate ranked differential diagnoses for presenting complaints (chest pain, dyspnea, abdominal pain, headache, joint pain, fatigue) by applying evidence-based clinical decision rules and risk stratification. The skill helps you identify red flags that change management priority, justify test selection to supervising physicians, and document diagnostic reasoning in the medical record while reducing anchoring bias and ensuring comprehensive consideration of serious diagnoses.
by gptomics