An active sports player is prone to the risk of injuries and if the injury is severe, it will put you off the game that means you will have to set back by a few months. Eventually, it may affect the conditioning and training. It can impact your mental health negatively. Thus, to recover quickly, regain strength required to excel in the game, physiotherapy plays a critical role.The most common forms of injuries seen in athletes are knee injuries, dislocations, tennis elbow, sprains, strained hamstring, muscle strain, and shin splints. Physiotherapy helps the athletes by treating their injuries and help them achieve optimal performance.

Sports physiotherapy:

The sports physiotherapists have knowledge related to sports; by making use of it, they treat the injuries and provide safety measures to athletes. Sports physiotherapist helps the patient to recover quicker and better. Sports physiotherapists are also considered as sport psychologists; they can help you by sharing their knowledge and help you to boost your performance, in turn, increasing your flexibility.

Benefits of sports physiotherapy:

• It helps in reducing susceptibility to future injuries related to sport
• It improves restrictions on mobility by some personalized exercises
• It improves the overall health of muscles and ligaments.
• It helps an athlete to perform well.

Techniques used by Sports Physiotherapists:

The physiotherapists can include the following techniques in the rehabilitation depending on the condition:

• Strengthening: Injuries lead to weakening the muscles. A physiotherapist uses a combination of therapies, exercises especially muscle strengthening exercises like static and dynamic activities that help in improving the weakened muscles. Static exercises endeavor muscles at a high intensity without causing a lot of joint movements; it has some exercises such as holding a push-up position or holding a squat position. Whereas the dynamic activities help by involving movements in muscles like moving while running, walking or lifting light weights.
• Range of Motion (ROM) Exercises: Most physiotherapists use a range of motion (ROM) exercises for the reduction of stiffness in muscles and joints. These exercises are done by concentrating on a particular part of the body that is injured. Depending on the severity of the injury, the doctor suggests which exercises are to be performed (active or passive). When the patient performs exercise without taking help from the physiotherapists, it is termed as Active ROM. If exercise is performed by physiotherapists with null movement from the patient’s side, it is called Passive ROM.
• Low-Level Laser: Low-Level Laser is an alternative to surgery and medications. It uses the power of light to reduce inflammation and muscle pain, which heals the pain. This technique is used by physiotherapists for musculoskeletal sports injuries.
• Application of Hot pack: Hot packs are used by physiotherapists for a chronic injury or an injury lasting for 3 months or more; it provides relief from stiffness and pain.
• Application of Ice pack: The first step taken by a physiotherapist to cure an acute injury is the application of an ice pack. It plays an important role by preventing the excess swelling in the affected area.

Apart from Exercises, there are some other techniques used by physiotherapists.

• Joint mobilization and soft tissue techniques: These techniques are used to heal joints and muscles by reducing the pain of the patient and allows the body to start moving freely. Physiotherapists use these techniques on patients apart from other treatments and help the patients to get better quickly.
• Aqua Therapy: Aqua therapy or Hydrotherapy, involves exercise as well as rehabilitation in water. This is an effective way of assisting joint and muscle rehabilitation; it also reduces other conditions and helps to relax and support body weight. Also, It assists the movement and provides pain relief in some patients. It is not necessary for patients to know how to swim. However, it is beneficial to inform the physiotherapist if you do not know how to swim.
• Acupuncture: Acupuncture involves the insertion of sterile, single-use needles to specific points of the body by relieving pain and symptoms.
• Corticosteroid injections: Corticosteroid injections are recommended if severe or persistent inflammation is observed. It relieves pain caused by the injury; although, the pain relief through this is minimal and lasts for a short period of time. The injection can be repeated but only two or three injections can be given in a year.

FAQs:

• What is the role of a Sports Physiotherapist?
• Sports physiotherapists are educated and trained to deal with patients from all walks of life. They diagnose and treat various conditions of the patients. They also help patients to improve their performance and provide long term wellness.
• Does a sports physiotherapist earn well?
• The average income is 90,000 dollars per annum; it can vary depending on the sports team.