Physical Therapy for Athletes Is More Than Healing Injuries

Here are 5 oth­er ways in which you can ben­e­fit from phys­i­cal ther­a­py after an injury.

骨折的啪的一声, 你膝盖上的响声, the instant swelling in your ankle … all the mak­ings of an athlete’s nightmare. 

如果你是受过伤的运动员, 你可能已经知道了:休息, 多休息休息, 和, if the injury is seri­ous or debil­i­tat­ing enough, phys-i-cal疗法. 

Phys­i­cal ther­a­pists are known for treat­ing sports injuries to help ath­letes recov­er 和 get back into the game — but they actu­al­ly do so much more.

Here are 5 addi­tion­al ways in which phys­i­cal ther­a­py can ben­e­fit athletes.

1. 预防未来的伤害

Phys­i­cal ther­a­py goes beyond recov­ery 和 pain relief. It can also pre­vent more injuries from hap­pen­ing in the future. 

这涉及到一种非常个人化的方法. Your ther­a­pist will iden­ti­fy poten­tial prob­lem areas, like dif­fi­cul­ty with bal­ance or weak­ness in cer­tain mus­cles, 这会让你更容易受伤. 然后, they will work on cor­rect­ing prob­lems 和 build­ing your 强度 to reduce your risk of new or recur­ring injuries. 

2. 提高运动-运动表现

这是有区别的 结合”, per-for-mance.” Func­tion is the gen­er­al abil­i­ty to per­form an activ­i­ty, like run­ning or throw­ing. Per­for­mance, on the oth­er h和, is how well you per­form a function.

Many peo­ple view phys­i­cal ther­a­py as a way to restore func­tion after an injury so that they can get back to where they were before the injury. How­ev­er, phys­i­cal ther­a­pists also focus on per-for-mance. They can help you not just get back to your base­line but sur­pass it. 

Your phys­i­cal ther­a­pist may have you do sports-spe­cif­ic exer­cis­es, like agili­ty drills if you’re a foot­ball play­er or ankle-强度­en­ing exer­cis­es if you are a bal­let dancer.

准备开始打物理电话了? 安排一个约会 正规博彩平台的理疗师.

3. 在你的身体中工作多个系统

Ath­let­ic injuries often occur in bones, joints, 和 mus­cles. These are all part of your mus­cu­loskele­tal sys­tem — the sys­tem that gives your body its struc­ture 和 pos­ture 和 allows it to move. 

How­ev­er, phys­i­cal ther­a­py isn’t lim­it­ed to the mus­cu­loskele­tal sys­tem. It can work any sys­tem in your body that’s respon­si­ble for move­ment. In addi­tion to the mus­cu­loskele­tal sys­tem, phys­i­cal ther­a­py may tar­get your:

  • 神经系统(脑、脊髓和神经)

  • Car­diopul­monary sys­tem (heart 和 blood vessels)

  • Integu­men­tary sys­tem (the out­er lay­er of your body, 包括你的皮肤, 指甲, 头发, 你皮肤的腺体和神经)

This is one rea­son why phys­i­cal ther­a­pists may be part of your care team after an injury, 即使你的大脑骨骼系统完好无损. 的狂轰滥炸, an injury to your ner­vous sys­tem (like a con­cus­sion) can cause prob­lems like dif­fi­cul­ty with bal­ance — 和 phys­i­cal ther­a­pists are experts at help­ing peo­ple improve their bal­ance 和 abil­i­ty to move. 

4. 包括不同类型的治疗

物理上可以分解为 活动”, pas-sive”治疗.

Active” treat­ments require you to active­ly par­tic­i­pate. They include exer­cis­es 和 move­ments that work to improve your coor­di­na­tion, 强度, 还有移动的能力. These treat­ments gen­er­al­ly make up the bulk of phys­i­cal ther­a­py sessions. 

In addi­tion, your phys­i­cal ther­a­pist may have you try pas-sive”处理. These are per­formed on you, with­out you hav­ing to do any­thing. Some of the more com­mon pas­sive treat­ments include:

  • Mas-sage

  • Guid­ed move­ments, where your ther­a­py moves parts of your body for you 

  • 冷热疗法

  • Elec-tri-cal刺激

  • 超声装置

While pas­sive treat­ments are great for reliev­ing pain 和 kick­start­ing your heal­ing process, 它们通常是短期治疗. So even if mas­sages or ice feel like they’re doing the trick, 积极治疗是很重要的. Those are the ones that are going to help you recov­er ful­ly in the long run. 

5. 为你重返游戏做好准备

在你重回正轨之前, your phys­i­cal ther­a­pist will help you ensure that you’re ready to do so safe­ly. They can work with you on a return-to-play plan that includes pre­cau­tions 和 point­ers, such as:

  • Slow­ly eas­ing back into the sport — know­ing that you might not be per­form­ing up to your usu­al lev­el when you get started

  • Lim­i­ta­tions you should fol­low, like wear­ing pro­tec­tive padding or bracing

  • 如果你感到痛苦,你该怎么办.g.,慢点)

  • 持续进行耐力训练和调理

  • How to men­tal­ly pre­pare your­self to jump back into play

Return­ing to your sport doesn’t mean that you have to stop phys­i­cal ther­a­py. 这是一个持续的过程, 和 the spe­cif­ic exer­cis­es you do may change as your injury con­tin­ues to heal 和 you con­tin­ue to regain function. 

As you work with a phys­i­cal ther­a­pist 和 recov­er from an injury, the most impor­tant thing you can do is lis­ten to your body. Take breaks, don’t push through pain, 和 give your body the time it needs to heal. It might mean sit­ting out of the game for a lit­tle while, 但从长远来看,你的身体会感谢你的.

健康的话题:

  • I enjoy helping patients restore their optimum functional levels after an injury or disability.