According to the CDC, more than 2 million injuries occur in high school athletics annually, and more than 3.5 million kids under age 14 receive medical treatment for sports-related injuries. These statistics don’t account for the number of adults who become injured in sports, too — whether in training or competition.
Physical therapy has an essential role in the rehabilitation process for the injured athlete of any age or ability level. If you’re currently sidelined by an injury and looking for an effective and efficient recovery, we encourage you to give us a call to meet with a member of our physical therapy team at The Fitness Lab . A physical therapist would be happy to guide you along your rehab process!
3 Reasons to Seek Sports Injury Rehabilitation With a Physical Therapist
- Rehab Services Through Physical Therapy Are Drug-Free and Non-Invasive.
The services your physical therapist uses are non-invasive, completely drug-free and have a low-to-minimal risk of adverse effects. These include:
- Modalities, including electrical stimulation and ultrasound
- Manual therapy, including joint mobilizations and massage
- Therapeutic exercises
These physical therapy techniques can successfully treat acute and chronic injuries, including muscle strains, ligament sprains, tendonitis, plantar fasciitis and more.
As a physical therapy patient, you’ll be more than just someone following a prescription à la “take two pills and call me in the morning.” Together with your physical therapist, you’ll learn about your body and the recovery process, helping you be more engaged in your rehab.
- Physical Therapy is Highly Individualized.
No two injuries (or athletes) are the exact same. A physical therapist fully customizes your rehab plan depending on several factors unique to you, including your stage of recovery, type of injury, goals and other factors.
For instance, in the earliest stages of recovery from an acute injury, physical therapy treatment priority is on controlling inflammation, swelling and pain, as well as promoting tissue healing. The approach to rehab changes as you enter later stages of recovery, when restoring range of motion, balance, strength, endurance and central nervous system activation become the priority. A physical therapist also plays an important role in helping you decide when return-to-sport is safe and appropriate.
You may even have specific guidelines to follow from a surgeon overseeing your sports injury rehab. In these cases, a physical therapist can work closely with anyone else involved in your rehabilitation to ensure thorough carryover.
- A Physical Therapist Can Treat AND Prevent Injury
When you meet with a physical therapist at our clinic, you’ll get to experience the true depth of insight these rehabilitation clinicians have. A physical therapist can thoroughly assess a person’s movement and personal history, identify seemingly “hidden” factors that may be contributing to injury, such as range of motion limitations, core weakness, impaired motor control and more, and address these factors so that your risk of injury decreases dramatically.
In this sense, physical therapy offers so much more than symptom relief — it also offers sports injury prevention and natural performance enhancement!
Do you have an athlete in your family? Wondering if physical therapy is right for you? Take injury recovery to another level with the help of our physical therapy team! Call one of our two CO offices today to schedule your appointment with an experienced physical therapist.
