Injuries are a huge part of any sport. Even though athletes try to avoid injury, accidents still happen. Sports injuries have stopped many athletes from practicing and playing in games and have even ended their careers. This is where sports rehabilitation proves to be useful. But why is sports rehab important for athletes? Sports rehabilitation helps athletes lessen pain, improve their fitness and health, and prevent recurring injuries. At Precision Sports Physical Therapy, our work is crucial for athletes looking to return to the game.
What is Sports Rehabilitation?
The ultimate goal for injured athletes is to get them back on their feet and onto their respective sports. With conventional physical therapy, there’s usually a large gap between rehabilitation after surgery or injury and returning to sports. We will bridge this gap from rehabilitation to return to sport to lessen re-injury and complications after surgery and improve sports performance. We take a multidisciplinary approach to treatment and will contact all involved while getting you back to sport.
Why Is Sports Rehab Important for Athletes?
To help you better understand our work, here are some ways sports rehabilitation through physical therapy helps athletes recover.
Rehabilitation
Among the main goals of PT is to segway the gap for patients who have suffered an injury or undergone surgery. When you begin sports rehab, a certified rehabilitation physical therapist will guide you through a movement screening to deal with your physical abilities and limitations for the right mechanics during certain activities.
The screening covers various movements that assess your stability, mobility, balance, and strength. After an extensive physical examination, your physical therapist will develop a treatment plan to handle your injury. Your PT will concentrate on specific weak points throughout your treatments to improve performance.
Increase Mobility
Once the pain has stopped, your mobility will be assessed to concentrate on areas of improvement. This includes problematic neck, shoulder, back, and hip spots. Any unaddressed joint limitations can adversely impact all aspects of your movement and increase the odds of future injury. Working on the right form through dedicated physical therapy will help you move more fluidly overall.
Improves Joint And Muscle Flexibility
Gymnasts are not the only ones who require exceptional flexibility; athletes require them, too. An athlete’s flexibility will determine his capability to perform in sports. Thus, athletes spend much of their training period working on their flexibility.
Flexibility is crucial in the sporting world. Baseball, boxing, cricket, soccer, swimming, and almost all other sports require flexibility, although the quantity can differ. Sports rehab enriches an individual’s flexibility to perform at their optimum effort. Not having the right flexibility during sports games can seriously injure the individual on the spot.
Eliminate Pain
Extensive injuries can have lasting effects on athletes well after the surgery has healed. Learning the proper time to work through the pain in a regulated setting is the ideal classroom for relearning your body’s limit. Your PT may consist of working with a team of therapists specializing in various treatment methods to help best treat your recovery. If you’re suffering from extreme pain, communicate your specific problem with your physical therapists for the greatest support.
Increased Strength
Sports rehab through physical therapy helps you return to your pre-injury state and equips you with what you need to prevent it from happening again. Your muscles work in a chain reaction to offer the most powerful force. If one or several of these areas are weaker than others, your body will try to adjust, eventually resulting in injury. Because of rest or possible casts and braces, the muscles surrounding your injury will weaken and need rehabilitative conditioning.
Working with your PT to regain full functionality of the injured spot includes rebuilding strong muscles. This is performed by honing in on your goals and areas that require improvement via a treatment plan that best supports you.
What Is a Sports Rehabilitation Therapist?
By providing functional training to professional sportspeople and athletes like you, our sports rehab therapists treat chronic pain and musculoskeletal injuries related to athletic activity, including sudden conditions and injuries that develop over time.
Since the sports rehabilitation process encompasses a vast range of services, these sports medicine experts are often referred by other professionals, such as:
- Athletic trainers
- Physical therapists
- Conditioning specialists
- Conditioning coaches
- Personal trainers
What’s the Difference Between a Sports Rehab Therapist and a Physical Therapist?
Physical therapists and sports rehabilitation therapists are specialists in exercise science. They both have done rigorous education and training programs and have advanced degrees. However, while they offer many of the same treatment options to enhance physical function, sports therapists focus on sports health and injury prevention planning.
Our sports rehabilitation therapists here at Precision Sports Physical Therapy use treatments focused on athletic function, pain relief, and re-injury prevention throughout the recovery process.
Sports Injury Rehabilitation Stages
After sustaining a sports injury, you will want to rush through recovery and return to the game. However, taking the time to go through each rehabilitation stage will help ensure you fully recover. At Precision Sports Physical Therapy, our team knows which recovery stage an athlete should attain and when they will be ready to move on to the next. By selecting our team to administer your physical therapy, you can return to your sport without risk of future injury.
Swelling and Pain Reduction
With most injuries, the first two signs a person experiences are swelling and pain. As a result, these will be the initial challenges targeted during physical therapy. Before completing any more included physical therapy aspects, you can expect a rotation of heat, ice, and even massage therapy on the injured area. Once your pain and swelling have diminished, the next stage of rehabilitation can start.
Improved Range of Motion and Joint Mobility
Now that you have reduced swelling, you can begin physical activity. Because of the nature of your injury or an extended period of immobility, your joints and muscles might be stiff. This can make moving very challenging and sometimes even painful. Your therapist will begin with exercises for your stiff joints when your body is ready. This is to avoid long-term damage.
Regain Your Endurance and Strength
After regaining your range of motion, the next step is regaining your strength. Our team at Precision Sports Physical Therapy will teach you various endurance and strength exercises that would push you to your physical limits without adding injury. By regaining your strength, you’ll reduce the risk of reoccurring injuries while moving closer to your peak athletic ability.
Increase Coordination Skills
Correct body coordination is the key to being a successful athlete. In the second-to-last rehabilitation stage, you must “re-teach” the injured area and how to work with the rest of your body. Our PT will assess how far you’ve come and consider what motions are utilized in your sport when devising a coordination regimen. When your coordination has attained a healthy level, you can move on to the final stage of physical therapy.
Recovering Sports-Specific Movements
For the final rehabilitation stage, our physical therapist will have you do exercises that mimic the specific motions you would utilize when competing in your sport. You can return to action once you have performed all the motions you could before the injury. After completing this stage, our patients should feel confident that they can start competing without fear of getting hurt.
What to Expect
We’ll have an in-depth consultation interview and physical assessment on your initial visit. The patient’s physical assessment will conclude an appropriate diagnosis of the injury, factors predisposing to the injury, and other health conditions that could be related. At Precision Sports Physical Therapy, our physical therapists use clinical reasoning to develop a tailored recovery plan to allow you to return to the highest level of function and physical activity. Sports rehabilitation will combine education, advice, and rehab into all the features of your daily life.
How Do Sports Rehabilitation Therapists Treat and Stop Injuries?
Regardless of your injury type—whether you have tendinitis, a knee injury, or chronic back pain—you will benefit from the attention of a physical rehabilitation expert.
Broken or cracked bones, strained muscles, sprained ligaments, and torn tendons or soft tissues are typical injuries that call for help from a sports injury specialist.
Do you need a reliable physical therapist to help you get back to your game? Our PTs are equipped with experience, skills, and relevant training to help you recuperate after your sports injury. Please reach out to us today!
