Injuries and physical trauma from sports activities can be difficult to recover from. The good news is that there is a specialized field that focuses on rehabilitating athletes and individuals who have suffered sports-related injuries — sports therapy. While physical therapy is an umbrella term for healing any ailment that impacts your ability to move, sports therapy is uniquely designed to help those who want to regain their strength, flexibility, and agility for sports performance.

In this blog, we outline what sports therapy is and how it can help you get back into the game.

Sports Therapy Focuses on Sports-Related Injuries

Sports therapy is a sub-branch of physical therapy and rehabilitation that specializes in sports-related injuries. Sports therapists work with athletes and active individuals who have suffered from muscle and joint strains, sprains, post-operative rehabilitation, and spine injuries to increase their strength, flexibility, and agility levels. Their primary objective is to help individuals return to their pre-injury functional levels and improve their athletic performance.

Advanced Sports Therapy Techniques

Sports therapists use a range of techniques to address injuries. Manual therapy techniques include joint mobilization, deep tissue massage, and manipulation to reduce pain and stiffness from areas of the body with muscular imbalances or joint restrictions. Exercise therapy is used to improve muscle performance, stability, and posture control. Devices like compression sleeves, braces, and taping are recommended to promote faster healing and keep injured areas protected. Many sports therapy centers specialize in modalities like dry needling, cupping, and kinesiology taping.

Preventing Future Injuries

Not everything in sports therapy is about rehabilitating an injury. Preventative training is also a key part of the recovery process. A trained sports therapist will provide individualized programs for strength training and conditioning. They can identify muscle imbalances and recommend corrective exercises to prevent future injuries and ensure optimal performance. Athletes can also learn proper biomechanics and techniques to reduce the risk of getting injured during sports activity, be it in an individual or team sport.

Sports Therapy Helps Individuals in All Age Groups

Age is not a barrier to sports therapy since the goal is to increase functional abilities. Sports therapy centers offer specialized pediatric physical therapy for children who have been injured during sports and have joint and muscular imbalances, scoliosis programs for those with spinal imbalances, and geriatric rehabilitation services for sports enthusiasts over 65 years of age. Sports therapy is, therefore, a comprehensive field that caters to individuals who want to enhance their athletic performance or recover from an injury related to a specific sporting activity.

Contact a sports therapy clinic like Alliance Physical Therapy to learn more.