Free DOH Sport Therapist mock test

Sport Therapist sample questions with answers

10 more original exam-style Sport Therapist questions, worked in full. They are not real or recalled exam questions, and none of them is in the mock above or on the bank page, so sit the mock first if you have not.

1. Question 1 · Acute Management and Emergency Care in Sport

   A rugby player is unresponsive after a tackle with a suspected cervical injury. What is the correct immediate action?

   1. ASit the player upright to assess alertness
   2. BRoll the player onto the side and leave to find help
   3. CWalk the player to the sideline for review
   4. DMaintain manual in-line stabilisation, manage the airway and call emergency services
   Show answer and explanation

   Correct answer: D. Maintain manual in-line stabilisation, manage the airway and call emergency services

   A suspected cervical injury needs in-line stabilisation with airway management while emergency help is summoned. Sitting up or walking risks cord injury, and moving the player alone and leaving is unsafe.

   Reference: Swartz EE et al., NATA Position Statement: Acute Management of the Cervical Spine-Injured Athlete, J Athl Train (2009)

2. Question 2 · Professional Practice, Ethics and UAE Law

   A 16-year-old athlete needs non-urgent treatment. Whose consent is required?

   1. AThe guardian's informed consent, with the athlete's assent
   2. BThe athlete's own written consent
   3. CThe coach's consent
   4. DThe team doctor's own consent
   Show answer and explanation

   Correct answer: A. The guardian's informed consent, with the athlete's assent

   Under the UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 4 of 2016 on Medical Liability, treatment of minors needs guardian consent except in emergencies, with the child's assent. A coach has no authority, and an athlete under 18 cannot consent alone.

   Reference: UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 4 of 2016 on Medical Liability

3. Question 3 · Rehabilitation and Return to Play

   When should plyometric training be introduced in lower-limb rehabilitation?

   1. AAfter adequate strength and pain-free single-leg loading with good landing control
   2. BAs soon as swelling begins to settle
   3. CIn the first week after injury or surgery
   4. DAfter the athlete returns to match play
   Show answer and explanation

   Correct answer: A. After adequate strength and pain-free single-leg loading with good landing control

   Plyometrics apply high rates of loading, so they are progressed once strength and control are adequate. Introducing them early risks overloading tissue, and delaying until after match play wastes rehabilitation time.

   Reference: Kisner C, Colby LA, Therapeutic Exercise, 7th ed. (2017)

4. Question 4 · Anatomy, Biomechanics and Kinesiology

   During push-off in walking and running, extending the great toe tightens the plantar fascia. Which mechanism does this describe?

   1. AThe screw-home mechanism
   2. BThe reverse scapulohumeral rhythm
   3. CThe windlass mechanism
   4. DThe tenodesis action
   Show answer and explanation

   Correct answer: C. The windlass mechanism

   Toe dorsiflexion winds the plantar fascia around the metatarsal heads, raising the arch and stiffening the foot for push-off. The screw-home mechanism concerns the knee, scapulohumeral rhythm concerns the shoulder, and tenodesis concerns the wrist and fingers.

   Reference: Neumann DA, Kinesiology of the Musculoskeletal System, 3rd ed. (2017)

5. Question 5 · Anatomy, Biomechanics and Kinesiology

   A footballer is kicked on the outer side of the knee just below the fibular head and cannot lift the foot, with numbness over the top of the foot. Which nerve is injured?

   1. ASural nerve
   2. BCommon peroneal nerve
   3. CFemoral nerve
   4. DTibial nerve
   Show answer and explanation

   Correct answer: B. Common peroneal nerve

   The common peroneal nerve winds around the fibular neck, so a blow there causes foot drop and loss of sensation over the dorsum of the foot. The tibial nerve supplies the calf and sole, the sural nerve is purely sensory to the lateral ankle, and the femoral nerve supplies the quadriceps.

   Reference: Standring S (ed.), Gray's Anatomy, 42nd edition (2020)

6. Question 6 · Exercise Physiology and Conditioning

   An athlete has a maximum heart rate of 190 beats per minute and a resting rate of 60. Using the Karvonen method, what is the target rate at 70 percent of heart rate reserve?

   1. A91 beats per minute
   2. B151 beats per minute
   3. C164 beats per minute
   4. D133 beats per minute
   Show answer and explanation

   Correct answer: B. 151 beats per minute

   Heart rate reserve is 190 minus 60, which is 130. Seventy percent of 130 is 91, and adding the resting rate gives 151. The value 133 is 70 percent of maximum heart rate alone, 91 omits the resting rate, and 164 uses 80 percent of reserve.

   Reference: American College of Sports Medicine, ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 11th edition (2021)

7. Question 7 · Sports Injury Assessment and Clinical Reasoning

   With the knee at 30 degrees of flexion, a valgus stress opens the medial joint line more than on the other side, with a soft end-feel. Which structure is most likely injured?

   1. APosterior cruciate ligament
   2. BAnterior cruciate ligament in the centre of the knee
   3. CSuperficial medial collateral ligament
   4. DLateral collateral ligament
   Show answer and explanation

   Correct answer: C. Superficial medial collateral ligament

   Valgus laxity at 30 degrees of flexion isolates the medial collateral ligament, since the cruciates and posterior capsule tighten near full extension. The lateral collateral ligament resists varus stress, and the cruciates are tested by drawer and Lachman manoeuvres.

   Reference: Magee DJ, Orthopedic Physical Assessment, 7th edition (2020)

8. Question 8 · Rehabilitation and Return to Play

   How should running be reintroduced after a tibial bone stress injury has healed?

   1. AReturn to long runs before any short runs
   2. BImmediate return to full training volume at normal race pace, to rebuild fitness
   3. CGraded walk-run progression with pain absent during and the next day
   4. DRunning on a treadmill at maximum incline
   Show answer and explanation

   Correct answer: C. Graded walk-run progression with pain absent during and the next day

   Reintroduction should be graded, with alternating walking and running and progression only if there is no pain during or the following day, so that bone load rises gradually. Immediate full volume or steep inclines overload healing bone, and long runs come last.

   Reference: Warden SJ et al., Management and prevention of bone stress injuries in long-distance runners, Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy (2014)

9. Question 9 · Therapeutic Modalities and Manual Therapy

   Which condition is a contraindication to transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation?

   1. AChronic low back pain of muscular origin
   2. BA demand-type cardiac pacemaker
   3. CDelayed onset muscle soreness
   4. DA healed ankle sprain
   Show answer and explanation

   Correct answer: B. A demand-type cardiac pacemaker

   TENS can interfere with the sensing of a demand pacemaker and is contraindicated in people who have one, and electrodes must also avoid the front of the neck. Back pain and muscle soreness are common indications, and a healed sprain is not a concern.

   Reference: Cameron MH, Physical Agents in Rehabilitation, 5th edition (2018)

10. Question 10 · Professional Practice, Ethics and UAE Law

    A therapist makes an error in a handwritten treatment record. What is the correct way to correct it?

    1. AOverwrite the wrong entry with the new details
    2. BCover the error with correction fluid and rewrite it
    3. CRemove the page and replace it with a new copy
    4. DDraw a single line through the error, then add the correction with date and signature
    Show answer and explanation

    Correct answer: D. Draw a single line through the error, then add the correction with date and signature

    A single line keeps the original legible so the record shows what was changed, and the correction is dated and signed. Correction fluid, replacing pages or overwriting hide the original entry, which undermines the integrity of the record.

    Reference: UAE Federal Law No. 2 of 2019 on the Use of Information and Communications Technology in Health Fields