4 Signs You Should Consider Sports Physiotherapy

13 June 2022
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For people involved in sports, physiotherapy may offer a way to achieve better recovery or even improve their overall athleticism. If you're facing one of these four problems, you might want to consider sports physiotherapy.

Range of Motion Issues

Especially after an injury, your body can suffer. Scar tissue can collect around muscles or joints, creating tension or friction that wasn't previously there. Similarly, damaged tissue may not fully recover. Even healthy tissue may atrophy due to a reduction in athletic activities.

Many of these problems manifest as limitations on your range of motion. You might find it difficult to fully extend your leg after a knee injury, for example. A physiotherapist can help you to identify the problem and develop a regimen for working around it. If the issue appears to be serious, they can also tell you whether you might need to visit a medical specialist.

Pain

Yes, sporting activities tend to come with some degree of pain. However, with a good treatment regimen, pain should not be an overwhelming problem. This is especially true once you get into the offseason. Pain is always your body telling you something is wrong, and you should listen to it.

Physiotherapy may help you determine what's causing the pain. Likewise, a therapist might be able to tell you how to limit the pain or do a better job of recovering from it. For example, a runner may need to adjust their gait to reduce injury to their ankle.

Mechanical Issues

Not all sports physiotherapy problems are about injuries. In some cases, athletes struggle to maximize their potential because they have mechanical issues. Many athletic endeavors are fundamentally about repeating your mechanics.

A baseball pitcher, for example, needs to repeat their motion so they can disguise their throws. Similarly, they need to find a comfortable arm angle for throwing so they can minimize pain and maximize pitching velocity. Through physiotherapy, they may identify the best and worst spots for locating their arm during a pitch.

Balance Problems

Especially when operating at full speed, balance becomes a tricky issue. Learning how to balance your body is important in athletics because you don't want to be fighting your body for control while doing something else. Working with a therapist, you can get a sense of where your body is at its best balance. Likewise, they can help you decide if there might be a bigger medical issue affecting your balance that requires an outside professional consultation.

Contact a sports physiotherapy clinic for more information.