Any person living on the face of the earth has played sports at least once in their entire lives. The prime objective of engaging in sports is to improve fitness and health on a day-to-day basis. Regardless of its type, it benefits us in diverse ways, improving relationships, bodies, and minds. 

Both health and Sports complement one another, bringing a variety of benefits to everyone regardless of their age. It allows them to stay more productive, happy, and healthy throughout their lives. But during the process, you also need to have access to a sports therapist. They will help you prevent injuries and optimize performance. 

In this blog, we will discuss the aspects of maximizing athletic potential with a sports therapist. As a healthcare professional, they focus on the rehabilitation of exercise and sports-related injuries. 

 

What Is Sports Physical Therapy?

So, what is sports physical therapy? Whether recreational or professional athletes, the goal for them is to push their bodies to the limit constantly. However, while doing so, they endanger the risk of strain and injuries. Thus, this is how it is beneficial to have a sports physiotherapist as a backup. 

 

Significance Of Sports Physiotherapists

The role of sports physiotherapists is to prevent athletes from getting injured and optimize their performance. By performing physiotherapy in Abu Dhabi, they focus on the treatment, prevention, and assessment of sports-related injuries. However, at the same time, they also support overall mechanics, improve athletic performance, and optimize biomechanics.

According to Statista, in Canada during the fiscal year 2021-2022, the number of hospitalizations due to sports injury reached 6,270 in Quebec, the highest out of all provinces. This statistic shows the number of hospitalizations in Canada due to sports injuries, sorted by regions in fiscal year 2021-2022.

Sports physiotherapy centers upon improving overall functionality, building strength, and enhancing mobility, to ensure athletes give their best performance. The goal of sports physiotherapy is to ensure sports longevity and performance maximization. 

 

Benefits of Sports Physiotherapy

So, what do sports physical therapists do? Sports physiotherapists work with the athletes, ensuring they recover faster from their injuries. Some of the benefits of sports physiotherapy are mentioned below:

  • Preventing Injuries: 

In the domain of sports physiotherapy, injury prevention is the core aspect. To ensure the improvement of balance, flexibility, and strength of the athletes they focus on the targeted exercises. Furthermore, these are essential in bringing down the risks and possibilities of getting injuries. With a well-designed plan of physiotherapy, you can have imbalances and weaknesses of the body. Before your body experiences problems, you should identify imbalance or weakness areas. 

  • Diagnosis and Assessment:

Accurate assessment and diagnosis are necessary, in case of injury. There are several techniques that a sports physiotherapist employs to identify the primary cause of injuries sustained. Thus, it allows for precise plans of treatment according to the specific requirements of the athletes. 

  • Injury Rehabilitation:

Physiotherapy plays an important role in helping athletes recover from significant injuries and surgeries due to the rehabilitation process. The practitioners follow customized programs of rehabilitation that help patients recover from post-surgical processes, sprains, or strains. The process is helpful in several aspects including restoration of functionality, strength, and flexibility. Hence, this way, athletes improve their performance. 

  • Biomechanical Analysis:

In the domain of sports physiotherapy, biomechanical analysis is very important. The team of physiotherapists analyzes the movement patterns of the athletes to find any irregularities or imbalances that may lead to injuries. The strategy development following the analysis helps to prevent future issues and optimize biomechanics.

  • Faster Recovery: 

Once an athlete sustains an injury, it may take a long time to recover from it. With the help of physiotherapy, the healing process accelerates. It strengthens muscles around the injury site, promotes blood flow, and reduces inflammation. Hence with lesser chances of reinjury, one can expect faster return in the sports arenas and activities. 

  • Pain Management: 

For athletes recovering from injuries or dealing with chronic pain, physiotherapy seems to provide an effective medium for pain management. Techniques like dry needling and manual therapy can improve function and reduce pain, without medication need. 

 

Improving Athletic Performance with Sports Physiotherapy:

As mentioned above, sports physiotherapy has a crucial role to play in boosting the performance of athletes by improving their strength, mobility, and flexibility. With manual therapy and targeted stretching, athletes gain a better range of motion. These allow for efficient and more fluid movements. 

The risk of injuries gets reduced by improving overall power and stability. 

Sports physiotherapy also focuses on strengthening imbalanced or weak muscles. Furthermore, sports physiotherapists correct inefficiencies by analyzing techniques, correcting inefficiencies, and improving posture. With quicker recovery and injury prevention, athletes can aim to achieve higher stamina and endurance.

 

Common Injuries Treated by Sports Physiotherapy:

Athletes may go through a variety of injuries whether more serious ones requiring extended recovery periods or minor strains. Sports physiotherapy has proven to be effective for the treatment of the following injuries:

  • Strains and Sprains: 

Strains and Sprains are among the few of the most common injuries that occur in sports. Sprains happen when ligaments are either torn or stretched. On the other hand, strains take place when the tendons or muscles get torn or overstretched. To overcome the sprains or strains in the future, physiotherapy helps restore the affected areas’ flexibility and strength.

  • Tendinitis: 

While running or playing sports like golf or tennis, athletes may have to go through repetitive motions. Due to this, they may experience tendon inflammation, also known as tendinitis. However, athletes can return to sports once they reduce pain and inflammation. Some of the core treatments for sports physiotherapy include dry needling, stretching, and strengthening exercises.

  • ACL Injuries: 

The ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) occurs due to a sprain or tear in the knee. The most common occurrences of ACL injuries include sudden changes or stoppages during play. Sportspersons involved in downhill skiing, wrestling, soccer, and basketball may suffer from such injuries. 

In ACL injury, a sportsperson may go through a variety of problems and issues. These include difficulty bearing weight on the affected leg, a loud popping sound, intense pain, instability, and swelling. Hence the athletes may change direction or stop suddenly while landing and jumping. 

Treatment for ACL injury may depend upon its severity including rehabilitation exercises and rest. These are essential, helping you regain stability and strength. For replacing a torn ligament, surgery is important along with rehabilitation. To reduce the ACL injury risk, you may require a proper and effective training program.

  • Runner’s Knee: 

Sports athletes participating in basketball, running, or soccer may encounter a runner’s knee. If you are the one going through discomfort and pain, sports physiotherapy can help overcome this condition. In a broader context, runners’ knees describe pain due to the occurrence of several knee problems. 

The reasons behind the runner’s knee include the Chondromalacia patella, unbalanced or weak thigh muscles, overuse, a direct hit to the knee, improper bone alignment, and foot problems.

As a form of treatment, sports physiotherapy is often highly beneficial. With the help of hands-on manipulation and specific stretches can help to gain a full range of motion and strength to the knee. Furthermore, it can also help correct possible biomechanics, correct and identify gait or postural issues, and assess running technique. 

  • Shin Splints: 

When the shinbone goes through overuse, it results in shin splints. This issue is common among jumpers and runners. The repeated stress on your shinbone by tugging and pulling connective tissues and muscles in the lower leg may result in shin splints. The repetitive and frequent stress due to jumping and running can result in weakening and inflaming (swollen or irritated) your shin bone. 

The damage may worsen and may result in extreme pain if the bone is not allowed proper time to heal. There are many reasons that result in repeated stress, including increasing the level of physical activity quickly or starting a new exercise routine. A sports physiotherapist may suggest a few exercises to reduce the impact and increase muscle strength. 

  • Rotator Cuff Tears: 

Rotator Cuff Tears involve damaging tendons and muscle groups stabilizing shoulder joints. Athletes involved in sports with overhead movements, like volleyball, baseball, wrestling, or swimming may encounter rotator cuff injuries.

In wrestling, these tears may occur while resisting the hold of the opponent. Some of the symptoms include limited range of motion, a dull ache deep in the shoulder, weakness, and difficulty lifting the arm. Sports physiotherapists can help restore range of motion, strengthen the shoulder muscles, and reduce inflammation.

 

Commonly Used Techniques in Sports Physiotherapy:

There are a wide range of techniques used within sports physiotherapy. By using these athletes may prevent future injuries, promote healing, and improve performance. Some of the commonly used techniques within sports physiotherapy are as follows:

  • Manual Therapy: 

Manual therapy is a hands-on technique featuring manipulation, joint mobilization, and soft tissue massage. These serve the purpose of reducing pain, relieving muscle tension, and improving mobility. For athletes wanting to recover from joint dysfunction, sprains, and strains, manual therapy is worth consideration.

  • Strengthening Exercises: 

In sports physiotherapy, strength training is considered a key element. By concentrating on muscle strength building, these exercises may help athletes regain power and stability after an injury. They also improve overall performance by reducing the likelihood of future injuries and increasing endurance.

  • Flexibility and Stretching Training: 

For athletes to improve performance and prevent injuries, maintaining flexibility is very important. Sports physiotherapists may often include stretching routines to improve or maintain flexibility in athletes. This way they can become more agile and have better motion in their sport.

  • Biomechanical Assessment: 

Sports Physiotherapists evaluate the movement patterns of an athlete to identify any imbalances or weaknesses leading to suboptimal performance or injury. According to such findings, developing a personalized program may help reduce risks of injury, correct these issues, and optimize the efficiency of movement.

  • Dry Needling: 

As a technique for triggering tight areas or trigger points within the muscle, dry needling is another process to improve athletic potential. Physiotherapists can promote faster recovery, relieve muscle tension, and reduce pain by inserting fine needles into these points. Athletes experiencing chronic pain or muscle tightness or chronic pain may find this method effective. This way they can perform their best and regain mobility. 

  • Sports-Specific Rehabilitation: 

Sports-specific rehabilitation programs are based on the particular aspects of the sports of an athlete. These programs focus on physical demands and unique movement. Such aspects include agility, full range of motion, and strength. 

 

Conclusion:

Sports physiotherapy offers many advantages for athletes regardless of their performance levels. The role of a highly skilled sports physiotherapist is very important. These include improving mental well-being, injury prevention rehabilitation, and enhancing athletic abilities. Canadian Medical Center (CMC) is a medical clinic in Abu Dhabi that provides comprehensive sports physiotherapy services. 

 

FAQs

What is the Difference Between Physiotherapy and Sports Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapists treat respiratory and neurological issues, illnesses, and diseases based on medical background and a broader knowledge base. This makes them valuable for treating complex patients with a variety of conditions. 

On the other hand, sports therapists are familiar with sporting environments at an undergraduate level. This makes them ideal for averting sports injuries through particular strengthening programs. Physiotherapy allows the patients to rehabilitate, whereas sports therapy, on the other hand, focuses more on whether the patient has returned to or can maintain the required physical level for whatever sporting activity they would like to carry out.

What happens in sports therapy?

Sports therapy centers on rehabilitation, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of injuries related to physical activity and sports. In it, physiotherapists make use of several techniques such as exercise, massage, and mobilization, helping active individuals and athletes prevent future injuries and return to their optimal performance.

Is physiotherapy a workout?

Indeed, physiotherapy often includes movements and exercises, hence they can be termed as a workout. However, the primary goal includes functional improvement and promoting rehabilitation, instead of focusing solely on fitness.

Is DPT and physiotherapy same?

Indeed, physiotherapy and DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) are the same thing. The entry-level professional degree for becoming a physical therapist is the DPT degree, also called a physiotherapist.

Do physiotherapists do sports massage?

Indeed, physiotherapists may use sports massage techniques often in their plans of treatment. These include individuals and athletes suffering from musculoskeletal conditions. These help facilitate recovery, and muscle relaxation, and improve circulation.

Is physiotherapy better than surgery?

No Scarring: as compared to surgery, physiotherapy does not require incisions or leave behind scars, maintaining your physical appearance. As compared to surgery patients undergoing physiotherapy may have faster recovery times.