A successful return from injury is dependent on an accurate diagnosis, appropriate treatment and a well-planned return to play. This chapter will focus on the latter process and discuss the importance of a collaborative team approach to ensure a shared decision-making process. This allows all stakeholders to see themselves as part of the process. The first step is to set an appropriate initial timeline to return to play using a consultative approach, after which other parts of the process, such as setting milestones and criteria, can be undertaken. It will be emphasised that a safe return to play is criteria-driven rather than time based, although both are relevant. Criteria will include measures from various dimensions, including radiology, clinical, functional, strength and endurance. The reintroduction of skills needs to be well planned, and the control chaos continuum can provide a useful framework for this purpose. Bowlers are at a high risk of sustaining a lumbar bone stress injury, and we will use this as an example of planning a return to play, including an illustration of a return-to-match bowling plan. We will discuss this and give a representative example of how this may be done. In addition, we will use the example of returning to play following a shoulder injury including a return to throwing plan. Finally, we will briefly discuss the potential dichotomy between return to play and return to performance, as these timeframes frequently differ.