Often athletes – whether professional or weekend warriors – feel pressured to perform with pain. You don’t need to. Regardless of the causes, sports-related injuries are quite treatable. Helping you to reduce pain and stay on track is the primary goal of a physical therapist. We are here to help.
Sports injuries can arise from any one or several factors, including:
- overuse, overtraining, or improper progression of training
- underlying joint hypermobility
- insufficient warm up or preparation for sport
- muscle weakness
- decreased muscle length
- recurrence of old injury
- improper technique
- trauma
FAQs
In many cases pre-operative physical therapy can be very beneficial. The goals are to reduce swelling, optimize range of motion and maintain strength so that the injured area is as healthy as possible prior to surgery. We see all the time how pre-operative physical therapy enhances the post-operative rehabilitation experience.
During an initial evaluation, the physical therapist will gather the history of your injury, help identify contributing factors, and set a treatment plan. During your course of care, we continually assess how your whole body moves and address any issues in mobility and strength to optimize your movement patterns.
It is our hope that during rehabilitation, you learn more about your body and your injury. This way, you can have more tools to address pain if it arises in the future and take the right steps early on to ensure full recovery and return to sport.
Absolutely. Your physical therapist can perform movement and strength screening to assess any areas that you can work on as you begin a new athletic endeavor.
When possible, Sun Physical Therapy utilizes criterion-based programs for return to sport. These programs incorporate strength testing, neuromuscular assessment, and performance mastery to determine readiness for sport.
Not necessarily. Let’s look at the case of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repairs, for example. This knee injury is common among high school and college athletes.
In 2014, Clare L Ardern et al, published a review titled “Fifty-five per cent return to competitive sport following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis including aspects of physical functioning and contextual factors.”
The review, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that while a large percentage, 81 percent, of those undergoing ACL reconstruction return to some sport post-operatively, the percentage of those returning at prior levels was much lower, 65 percent. Those returning to competitive sport was even lower at 55 percent.
Rehabilitation from ACL repairs is a complex and challenging endeavor that should be taken seriously in order to optimize outcomes.
Sun Physical Therapy is ready to treat any injury – whether new or decades old. We strongly believe that every athlete has the opportunity to perform at their highest level pain-free.
Are you training for a marathon or for a hiking vacation in the mountains? Whatever your goals, physical therapy is a wonderful partner in the training process. We’d be happy to help you meet your daily training goals and optimize your preparation for the big event.
