Football. Soccer. Rugby. Basketball. Golf. There are many sports that Americans enjoy playing. However, all sports carry a risk of injury because of the trauma our bodies experience during practice and active play.
Unfortunately, it’s reported that about 8.6 million sports and recreation injuries occur in the U.S. annually. Physical therapists can help players who are dealing with a sports injury. These specialists can help you find out what type of injury you’re dealing with. They can also help you get effective treatment for your sports injury.
The most common sports-related injuries
There are many parts of the body you can injure while playing sports. Some of the most commonly injured areas that physical therapists see include:
- Head, neck and back — Stress fractures, nerve damage, whiplash, facial injuries and concussion
- Arms — Shoulder dislocation, sprained wrist, rotator cuff tear, bursitis and fractures
- Legs — Shin splints, sprained or strained ankle, pulled groin and fracture
These kinds of injuries are not limited to adults or even professional athletes. It’s estimated that every year 8 million children and teenagers are treated for a sports injury.
What’s involved in physical therapy-based sports injury treatment?
The sooner you receive professional treatment for your sports injury, the better chance you have of being able to find relief. You can also learn vital skills and information that can help prevent further damage.
Your first appointment at a physical therapy clinic will include a physical examination. This assessment will help your physical therapist understand your injury and how it happened. After your initial consultation, they will create your customized treatment plan.
One of the main features of your customized therapy plan is the therapy techniques it uses. A few of the physical therapy methods that could be included in your plan are:
- Therapeutic exercises — Specific therapeutic exercises are given to treat your specific injury. The exercises you’re given can help strengthen and stretch the area that’s been injured; they can also help build up the surrounding and supporting structures.
- Soft tissue mobilization — This type of manual therapy is designed to target the soft tissue around your injury. Its goals are to help decrease pain and muscle tension and improve your circulation.
- Joint mobilization — Stiffness and pain in injured joints can be addressed with joint mobilization. This is a type of manual therapy, which means therapists move the affected joint without your assistance. It’s commonly used on people with knee, ankle, wrist and hip injuries.
Panther Physical Therapy offers effective sports injury treatment
Our Panther Physical Therapy team takes pride in treating many types of sports injuries. We offer free screenings that can help pinpoint the type of injury you’re dealing with. Our physical therapists also excel at constructing personalized therapy plans designed to reduce pain and return you to the field faster.
Does your injury have you stuck at home? No worries! Our team can still help you get the therapy you need thanks to our at-home care and virtual therapy services. We can even help you get physical therapy if you don’t have a doctor’s referral for it.
Contact our team today for more information about all our helpful physical therapy services or to schedule a free screening.