How to Recover From a Sports Injury Quickly

If you're an athlete, getting sidelined for an injury is one of your biggest worries. Not only can an injury take you away from your favorite sport, but it can also affect your day-to-day life. There is something that can help you get back to your active lifestyle — and back to your sport — sports therapy from a specially trained physical therapist.

Sports physical therapy, a specialized form of rehabilitation, focuses on restoring movement and function after sustaining a sports injury. It involves a variety of exercises and techniques that can help you regain strength, flexibility, and range of motion. Sports physical therapy can also help reduce pain and inflammation, which can be especially important when recovering from injury. 

Read on to learn how sports therapy can help you recover faster and where to find the best physical therapist in Troy, MI. 

Sports Therapy can Help With Pain Relief

At Performace PT, we’re asked, “How can sports therapy help me?” The first thing it can help you with is relieving pain caused by your sports injury or a recent surgery done to fix your injury. 

One of the most common techniques used in sports physical therapy for pain relief is manual therapy — this involves hands-on techniques such as massage, joint mobilization, and stretching to help reduce pain and improve range of motion.

Another technique used in sports therapy for pain relief is exercise therapy. Exercise therapy involves specific exercises that are designed to help strengthen the injured area and improve flexibility, which can also help reduce pain and prevent future injuries.

Additional therapy modalities include: 

• Heat therapy to improve circulation and blood flow
• Cold therapy to reduce swelling
• Electrical stimulation to help strengthen muscles, block pain conductors, and improve circulation 
• Ultrasound therapy to increase collagen production and improve recovery time

By using a combination of these and other techniques, physical therapists can help reduce pain and improve overall function, allowing you to get back to your sport as quickly and safely as possible.

Sports Therapy Can Help You Have a Quicker Recovery

Another common question that we are asked is, “How quickly can I get back to playing?” Sports therapy can help you recover from a sports injury quicker than if you were to let it heal on its own. There are a few different ways that sports therapy can help you recover faster, including the following:

• Regaining range of motion: After an injury, scar tissue can form around the affected area, limiting mobility. A physical therapist can use techniques such as stretching and massage to break up this scar tissue and help you regain your range of motion.
• Strengthening the muscles around the injured area: Exercise therapy can be used to strengthen surrounding muscles, which can help support the injured area and prevent further injury. 
• Managing pain and swelling: Therapy modalities like ice, heat, and electrical stimulation can significantly reduce pain and swelling, which can help you feel more comfortable, allow you to participate in therapy exercises more easily, and ultimately lead you toward a faster recovery.

The best way to get the most out of sports therapy is to work with a physical therapist who can customize your treatment to suit your specific injury and recovery goals. 

Sports Therapy Can Help Prevent Further Injury

One of the most important aspects of physical therapy for sports injuries is preventing re-injury. After you’ve injured part of your body, it may be more prone to similar injuries, especially if you try to return to full use too soon. 

Continued strength and mobility therapy are important to ensure that you don't experience a recurrence of your injury and that you're able to return to your sport or activity at full strength.

Need to Find the Best Sports Physical Therapist in Troy? 

Performance Physical Therapy provides comprehensive sports therapy to the Troy, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Royal Oak, and surrounding Michigan areas. Our expert sports therapists are dedicated to helping you recover as quickly as safely possible and prevent re-injury. 

Led by Taleen Najarian, PT, DPT, our team uses the most advanced technology and techniques to get you back on your feet and into the sport you love with as few appointments as possible. After you recover, we’ll continue to help you avoid re-injury with our pre-hab program, which focuses on whole-body physical wellness and injury prevention. 

Ready to speed up your sports injury recovery with the best sports physical therapy in Troy?