How Physiotherapy Could Take Your Performance to the Next Level.
As an athlete, you are always looking for ways to maximize your performance, overcome challenges, and reach new milestones in your sport. However, while attending regular training sessions is essential, physiotherapy can help you boost your athleticism and help you to prevent sports injuries.
Physiotherapy is a specialized form of treatment that focuses on improving physical movement, restoring functions, and enhancing overall well-being. Sports injuries can significantly vary, but they will all likely require you to step away from athletics while you recover. Fortunately, our experienced practitioners at Newcastle Physiotherapy can help you recover from an injury and safely transition back into athletics with our customized treatment plans.
Call us today to learn more and start recovery!
What Are Some Common Sports Injuries That Physiotherapy Can Help With?
You may be aware that you have a sports injury but aren’t sure exactly what it is. As you go into treatment, it’s helpful to understand the different types of sports injuries and their associated symptoms.
Common types of sports injuries that we treat include:
- Overuse injuries: As the name implies, overuse injuries are caused by repetitive action or incorrect form. Here are some examples of overuse injuries:
- Runner’s Knee (patellofemoral pain syndrome): Runner’s knee is characterized by dull, aching pain around or behind the patella (kneecap), which is usually exacerbated by running, climbing stairs, squatting, or sitting with bent knees for prolonged periods.
- Rotator cuff injury: A rotator cuff injury is a partial tear in the muscles and tendons that control rotation in your shoulder joint. This can occur from repetitive arm movements in baseball, tennis, and weightlifting.
- Tennis elbow: Tennis elbow is a painful condition typically caused by the overuse of your elbow. Symptoms include weakness and pain on the outside of the elbow.
- Stress fractures: Stress fractures are tiny cracks in bones that occur due to repetitive stress or overuse. They often affect weight-bearing bones, such as the tibia (shinbone) in runners or the metatarsals in the foot.
- Sprains and strains: These injuries commonly occur in sports that involve rapid changes in direction and cutting-type movements, such as basketball and soccer. Sprains are when ligaments stretch or tear, resulting in damage. A strain is the stretching or tearing of a muscle or a tendon (i.e., the tissue that joins muscles with bone).
- Concussions (i.e., minor traumatic brain injury (TBI)): Concussions are common among contact and aerodynamic sports such as football, hockey, and gymnastics. TBIs occur from a fall or a blow to the body that causes the head to rapidly move back and forth.
- Dislocations: Dislocations occur when the bones that come together to form a joint are forced out of their normal positions. This injury can cause severe pain, swelling, and limited mobility. Examples include dislocated shoulders, fingers, and kneecaps.
The Power of Physiotherapy for Sports Injuries
If you’re an athlete, you require a specific training regime and recovery program. Sports injuries can be complex, often resulting in physical symptoms such as pain, swelling, stiffness, weakness, and limited range of motion. Physiotherapy goes beyond treating your symptoms at the surface — it helps to improve your overall health and wellness so you can perform better!
Here’s how physiotherapy at Newcastle Physiotherapy can be effective for athletes:
- We’ll Work to Resolve Tissue Damage and Inflammation: Our physiotherapists can help reduce tissue damage and inflammation caused by an injury. These techniques promote healing while providing you with relief from pain and discomfort.
- We’ll Improve Your Range of Motion: One of our primary roles is to help restore your range of motion following an injury. This is achieved through a combination of hands-on techniques, stretching, mobility drills, and exercises. Improved range of motion allows you to throw, swim, hit, and perform better!
- We’ll Help You Become Stronger: Strength is a vital component of all sports. When you suffer an injury and go through a period of inactivity, muscles can weaken and lose their mass. Our physiotherapists will provide resistance exercises that will help you become a stronger athlete. In addition, strength training helps to prevent future injuries from occurring by preparing your body for physical challenges that may arise.
Physiotherapy techniques can also prevent muscle atrophy (muscle wasting) by keeping your muscles strong and healthy. We’ll teach you which exercises are best for you based on your condition and needs. - We’ll Help You Make a Safe Transition Back to Sports: After a significant injury or surgery, athletes often face challenges in returning to their sport safely and effectively. Our physiotherapists are here to provide guidance, monitor progress, and facilitate a gradual and structured return-to-sport process. We strive to ensure that athletes regain their physical abilities, confidence, and performance level while minimizing the risk of re-injury.
What to Expect Out of Treatment at Newcastle Physiotherapy
Your physiotherapist will begin with a comprehensive assessment of your condition and current symptoms to help design an effective treatment plan. After examining your physical condition and other health factors, your provider will create a care plan tailored to your specific needs and recovery goals.
We will use a combination of treatments in recovery, such as manual techniques like therapeutic massage, joint mobilizations, and passive stretching (stretching performed by your therapist), as well as exercises to improve power, speed, and overall sports performance. In addition, our practitioners will teach you ways to avoid reinjury, including proper warm-ups and cool-down drills, nutrition, and recovery tools like compression and proper rest. This will help promote a healthy recovery as you return to athletics.
Request an Appointment Today!
Don’t let your performance suffer any longer! If you’ve experienced an injury or are looking to overcome physical challenges, our physiotherapy team at Newcastle Physiotherapy can help. We provide long-term recovery solutions while keeping up your treatment from beginning to end.
Call us today to learn more and get started!
