How Does Physiotherapy Maximise Sport Performance?
For all of us who love playing sports and competing, a great physio is an absolute game changer. Many of us have been able to play on sooner, faster, higher and better after getting high-quality physiotherapy care.
Despite the fact every week we see our favourite stars being treated by their amazing physiotherapists on and off the field it’s not as widely known that physios are not just for when you’re injured.
A truly great physiotherapist like our Pascoe Vale physio Naveena can not only help you with a sports injury, they can help you reduce your risk of a sports injury occurring and maximise your sporting performance.
Let’s learn a bit more together.
What is a sports injury?
Musculoskeletal injuries occurred during sports are the most common cause of poor performance and missed games and events across almost all sports. Most sports injuries are preventable and occur to the head, shoulders, hamstrings, knees and ankles.
Sports injuries can be generalised to chronic and acute but there is a lot of overlap. A chronic injury is where a structure such as a muscle, bone or joint gets consistently asked to do a little more than it would like. These sports injuries tend to be commonly described as a “niggle”, “aggravation” or “hot spot”. Acute injuries are the drastic overload on tissue in one go. Think a ligament giving way in the knee or a large muscle tear.
An example of the overlap between chronic and acute sports injuries occurs when that ongoing niggle in the hamstring feeling like tightness leads to a sudden sharp hamstring tear.
When should I see a physio?
Do you play sports or compete in events? See a physio.
Are you injured or struggling to recover and rebound for the next match? See a physio.
Are you looking to maximise your sports performance? See a physio.
Physio first? What about seeing my GP or Podiatrist?
Physiotherapists are experts on all aspects of sports performance and injury management. As such they would be much more appropriate first contact versus a GP. Podiatrists are experts on all things lower limb and many like the PridePlus Health Podiatry team specialise in sports injury management.
If your injury is to your lower limb then contact with either a great physio or podiatrist would be appropriate and it’s highly likely that you will see the other discipline at some stage to get the best possible outcome of reduced injury risk and maximised sports performance.
What are the most basic principles for preventing sports injuries?
- Listen to your body
- Start slow and escalate
- Recover – sleep, hygiene, hydration
- Cross train – we all need strength and variety
- The right tools for the job (shoes, orthotics, padding, mouthguards etc.)
How does high quality physiotherapy help?
Sports Injury Prevention
If you’re feeling like you’re pushing yourself or things aren’t quite right chances are a sports injury is not far away.
Your Pascoe Vale physiotherapist can help with:
- Teaching warm-up techniques (if you’re still static stretching like the 1980’s you definitely need this!)
- Screen for risks
- Assess whole body biomechanics
- Identify previous injuries and subsequent effects on future injury risk and performance
Sports injury rehabilitation and management
After a really thorough assessment, your physio will identify a personalised and targeted plan for you to manage all your risks. Great physios will utilise the team skills of other professions like EP (Exercise Physiology) and Podiatry to ensure a 360 degree plan to understood and followed.
Key components of a thorough plan include:
- Load optimisation
- Quality education in a language you understand
- Strapping, padding, taping
- Specific and targeted exercises
Maximising sports performance
This area of physiotherapy is so good it should be illegal! A great physio will work with you to identify any weak areas to be improved on to maximise your sports performance.
- Sport specific conditioning and techniques
- Improve movement patterns
- Core stability programs
- Improve breathing control
If you’re in need of maximising your sports performance or treating your sports injury, book online for your session now with our Pascoe Vale physiotherapist.
