Athletes who have been injured in training or competition should visit a physical therapist for treatment. Physical therapists can help keep the muscles and ligaments around the injured area strong and flexible. This helps athletes recover faster from injuries and helps them find relief while recovering.
This is good news if you’re someone who likes to participate in sports. However, getting injured keeps you from doing what you love the most. Your best option for treating sports injuries is to prevent them from happening in the first place.
These four tips can help prevent sports injuries
Sports injuries can be unpredictable due to the many variables in athletic competition. Taking a wrong step at the wrong time or getting hit by another athlete can lead to an unavoidable injury. However, some injuries develop from lack of preparation and training. These kinds of sports injuries are largely preventable.
Here are some tips you should follow if you’re an athlete who wants to lower your chances of getting injured:
- Always warm up and cool down — Before training or competing, you need to stretch and prepare your muscles. This warms up the muscles, which reduces their chances of getting injured. Likewise, you need to cool down after competition. Cooling down can be as simple as walking for a few minutes. Going straight from activity to rest can result in strained muscles.
- Keep a healthy diet — Your body needs fuel to meet the demands of athletic activity. This means you need to eat foods rich in the nutrients your body needs. This includes lean proteins, unsaturated fats, fruits and vegetables, dairy products and whole grains.
- Wear proper equipment — Make sure any equipment you use fits correctly. This is especially important for footwear. You need to find shoes that fit you correctly and provide the right support for your foot shape and your gait. A physical therapist can help you identify any gait issues and what kind of footwear you need.
- Listen to your body — This is the hardest point for athletes to grasp. Athletes push themselves hard and are used to dealing with pain. However, pain is sometimes the sign of a building injury. Pay attention to the signals your body is sending you, and stop competing if you’re in serious pain. Recovery from pain at this stage is much better than recovering after you’ve developed an actual injury.
Panther Physical Therapy offers effective sports injury treatment
Our physical therapists at Panther Physical Therapy offer many solutions for athletes to treat and prevent sports injuries. We offer free screenings that can pinpoint the issues that led to your injury. Additionally, our physical therapists can build a personalized therapy plan for you that’s intended to reduce your symptoms, address underlying issues and prevent future sports injuries. Our plans can meet these goals because they use beneficial therapy methods like:
- Graston Technique®
- Therapeutic exercises
- Manual therapy
- Mulligan technique
- At-home care
- Virtual therapy
Contact our team today for more information about how we can help with your sports injury or to schedule an initial appointment.