Our Physical Therapy Clinic in Napa County, CA Can Help Your Athletic Performance

If you indulge in competitive sports, you have likely also suffered injuries. There are various reasons for why these occur, and the effects are often disheartening. You could be sidelined for a few games or an entire season, depending on the extent of the injury. Fortunately, our physical therapy clinic in Napa County, CA is here to help you recover. Here are six benefits physical therapy offers to athletes:

• Addresses the root causes: Poor training, inadequate warm-up routines, fatigue, overuse and lack of conditioning are all causes of sports injuries. Dehydration also comes into the picture, since staying hydrated contributes to muscle suppleness. While many of these injuries arise from freakish circumstances, most are traced to these root causes. In physical therapy, you learn better stretching techniques and how to listen to your body so you know when you are ready to compete. It helps you exercise better judgment so you can avoid injury in the first place.
• Restores range of motion: Flexibility often contributes to injury prevention. If you have not worked on range of motion in your hamstrings, for example, you are prone to back injuries and muscle strains. Sore shoulders and repetitive stress injuries also reduce range of motion and performance—after all, pain makes it more difficult to get in a good back swing on a tennis racket or get the reach to block a shot in basketball. It is also common to suffer reduced range of motion after injury, and physical therapy helps you return to normal.
• Rebuild strength: To return to your previous level of performance, you need to exercise effectively and frequently, but also carefully. Your physical therapist can assess your abilities and push you to your limits so you can gain strength again. However, the supervision involved allows you to expand your possibilities without reinjuring yourself and delaying recovery.
• Target specific problems: It is not uncommon for some body parts to heal quicker than others. You can also develop another issue while recovering from an injury. For example, patients who fracture a leg may also lose core strength, develop sore shoulders or even experience back pain. We can address issues as they arise, while also targeting the initial complaint.
• Injury prevention: Physical therapists can locate where muscles are weak or inflexible. By addressing these areas, you are more likely to avoid injury in the future. Even if a condition never caused you trouble before, that does not mean that you are in the clear. Assessments throughout your treatment period will help you stay on course, but also keep new problem areas from developing.
• Pain reduction: The biggest complaint about injuries is pain. Unfortunately, common painkillers will do more to compromise athletic performance than help it. Opioids result in side effects that make exercise unappealing. Some patients may find they sleep more or experience an increased appetite. While pain medication is often necessary for sleep and other functions early in treatment, regaining range of motion and strength through physical therapy also reduces pain. This reduces your dependency on medication and helps you feel stronger sooner.

Focus Forward Wellness & Physical Therapy is a trusted physical therapy clinic in Napa County, CA. Call us today to assess and treat your sports injury.

Categorised in: Physical Therapy

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