Sports Injury Rehabilitation

Sports Physical Therapy

Sports injuries can be devastating. Not only are you injured and have to heal, but it forces you out of the game. Injury rehabilitation can follow corrective surgery or non-invasive procedures.

Different bodies respond to injuries in a variety of ways. In the same sense, you need a personalized approach to exercise regimens and rehabilitation because your body heals in its own way. A sports injury clinic has to have the knowledge, equipment and methods available to tailor a rehabilitation plan to your specific needs and challenges. Your physical therapy practice has everything you need to get back on the road to recovery and strong health.

Sports injury rehab is best begun as soon after the initial inflammatory stage as possible. Due to the pain and discomfort that results from an injury, it’s easy to fall into poor habits that could compromise your healing and recovery. For example, if you hurt one leg, favoring the other can lead to other injuries or even a permanent limp.

Your sports injury doctor usually advises beginning your rehab within 72 hours of the injury or surgery. Physical therapy can address many symptoms and medical conditions, including:

Swollen muscles
Stretched or strained tendons or ligaments
Knee injuries, physical therapy exercises for knee pain are recommended
Ruptured tendons
Dislocations
Fractures
Concussions

The Three Stages of Sports Injury Rehab

Understanding where you are within the three main stages of sports injury rehab helps keep you focused. Knowing what’s going to come next in your process lowers your frustration and impatience as you work your way back to full strength.

The three stages of your sports physical therapy include:

Early stage. This is the most vulnerable stage in many ways said Anna Fyodorova, MS, PT, DPT, MBA, sports physical therapist in Brooklyn because your muscles, tissues, and bones are usually still weak from the damage. Rushing this stage can lead to poor movement habits, ineffective healing, and a potential re-injury. Gentle exercises, physical manipulation, hydrotherapy, and yoga-style stretches keep your muscles limber, loose, and ready for more advanced rehabilitation.
Mid-stage. This stage involves slowly building and strengthening the compromised tissues as you heal. The goal here is to increase the mobility and overall function. Good tensile strength equals healthier and stronger tissue for the continued progression toward full health.
Late stage. This stage looks almost like normal weightlifting or an exercise regimen, but it’s actually exercises tailored appropriately to stress and build the healing tissues in such a way as to ready them for every day and athletic activity.

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Types of Therapy Used by Sports Injury Clinics

Your physical therapists recommend specific sports injuries treatments and programs during the different phases of your rehabilitation. Which ones you do depend on many factors, including your age, overall medical health, the type of injury and your goals.

Some of the methods of sports rehabilitative therapy include:

Post-operative rehabilitation
Manual manipulation
Fracture rehab
Balance and strength through body weight, small weights, and resistance band exercises
Runner’s knee programs
Spinal and joint manipulation
Electrical stimulation or shockwave therapy
Functional exercise training
Laser therapy
Isokinetic therapy

The Goals of Sports Injury Rehabilitation

Your specific goals depend on your activity level or chosen sport before the injury or illness happened. Your recovery also depends on the damage done to your joint or tissue. Most injury rehab and sports physical therapy programs seek to progressively increase the physical load as you work to restore your muscle strength. This gives you the proper base for all your activities.

Next, through various exercises that involve the compromised and surrounding tissues, your sports physical therapist seeks to restore muscle endurance. Endurance and power, especially of your core muscles, speed you through the healing process toward a full recovery.

Meanwhile, you also work to improve your flexibility. Top-rated sports physical therapist Anna Fyodorova, MS, PT, DPT, MBA is advising to do it in tandem with muscle strengthening to maximize your recovery and prevent future injury.

Balance, Flexibility and Strength Come Together

Improving your balance works the smaller muscle groups. It also keeps your recovery path moving forward and prevents setbacks due to re-injury or inappropriately stressed tissue. Older individuals benefit greatly from balance and flexibility work to help prevent and mitigate falls. Receive valuable training at TRI Physical Therapy.

During your sports physical therapy, your physical therapist teaches you about injury prevention, including proper technique, correct use of equipment and appropriate workout methods.

These lessons come as you wrap up your rehab in the last stage. You learn to listen to your body’s signals, stay within your limits and implement the proper stretching and cooling down techniques.