There is always room for improvement, especially when it comes to athletic performance. Every athlete has a facet of their performance that they could enhance. While cardio, weightlifting and drills can help your gameplay, there are many ways that sports therapy can push you to your peak performance.
No matter what sport you play, there are advantages you can gain by incorporating sports therapy into your training regimen. Many may think that the word “therapy” implies that you must be injured to use the treatment, but that’s not the case at all. Athletes on every level and in every condition can take advantage of what the therapy has to offer.
Read on to learn about the basics of sports therapy and how it can push you to your fullest athletic potential.
What is sports therapy?
Sports therapy, or sports medicine, is a type of health care that specializes in rehabilitating injured athletes. The goal is to get them ready to return to gameplay. A sports therapist can also help strengthen your athletic performance to reduce the risk of injury.
Sports therapy is often confused for physical therapy. But they work with different types of people. Sports therapy is a type of physical therapy, but it focuses on helping athletes boost their athletic performance. It can also restore their skills after an injury. On the other hand, physical therapy is used as a treatment option for anyone needing to increase their mobility. The goal is to help regain function that has been affected by an injury, medical condition or surgery recovery.
7 ways that sports therapy can help you reach your fullest athletic potential
With a mix of techniques, modalities and exercises, sports medicine can help you improve every facet of your athletic performance, from strength and speed to positioning and conditioning. Whether you’re recovering from an injury and trying to restore your body’s full abilities, or you want to reduce the risk of future injury, sports medicine is here to help.
Here are seven ways that sports therapy can boost your athletic performance:
- Increase range of motion — Every sport requires quite a bit of movement, which means you need to have as much range of motion as possible to complete the necessary actions. If you’ve been injured, or you feel resistance during certain movements, a sports therapist can use hands-on techniques to loosen up the restrictive tissue and increase mobility.
- Learn proper technique — Sometimes it feels like our bodies have a mind of their own, and they don’t always move in the safest or most effective manner. A sports therapist can use technique training to help make sure that your body is properly positioned during your specified sport movements to reduce the risk of injury.
- Improve muscle balance — Sports require repetitive movements. So it’s easy to form dominant muscle groups while leaving others with room for improvement. A sports therapist can help ensure that tendons and joints are able to properly balance the weight placed on them during movement. Then you can avoid overworking specific muscle groups that could lead to pain and injury.
- Increase strength — We all know how important strength is to every type of sport, which is why strength training is one of the major aspects of sports medicine, with or without an injury. By boosting the strength of your joints, muscles and ligaments, you can also improve your speed and power.
- Boost flexibility — Your joint and muscle flexibility is just as essential to your athletic performance as your strength is. A sports therapist can walk you through targeted exercises that will increase your flexibility. These exercises can reduce the risk of future injury and increase your range of motion.
- Proper workout recovery — The importance of proper recovery from a tedious workout shouldn’t be underestimated. Sports medicine can help your body safely cool down after strenuous exercise. It’s important that your muscles are allowed to relax to reduce the risk of soreness.
- Develop healthy habits — The key to maintaining a healthy athletic performance is by forming the proper habits. A sports therapist can help you develop the habits needed to perform to your best ability. Proper diet, hydration and workout routines can help you reach your physical goals.
REPAIR SI can help you reach your fullest athletic potential with sports therapy
Sports therapy is just as effective at preventing injuries as it is in helping to recover from them. The key to injury prevention is by continuing to boost your body’s physical abilities, from strength and flexibility to muscle balance and range of motion. REPAIR SI is here to help you improve your performance so that you can be the best athlete you can be.
Contact our team today for more information or schedule an initial appointment.