Benefits of sports physiotherapy

Many of us, surely we have thought that the physiotherapy, and the physiotherapists, only serve to give massages and to put hot cloths. However, very few know with certainty, the usefulness of this science and the importance of its application to sport.

It is not a secret for anyone, that practicing any sport activity, brings with it, an increase in the chances of suffering injuries, for that reason it is absolutely indispensable, that we can know, the methods and techniques, studied scientifically, that are very useful, both for the prevention of them, as well as for their treatment and recovery.

What does sports physiotherapy mean?
It is a specialty of physiotherapy, which is based on the application of the named physical means, fundamentally for two types of treatments: first, the preventive, and secondly, that of the possible consequences of the practice of sports, injuries. This is aimed mainly at individuals who perform physical activity on a regular basis, whether for leisure, health or in a professional manner and combines active and passive measures to try to achieve improvement, and restore functionality.

What is the role of the sports physiotherapist?
This must know the physiopathology of sports injuries and master to perfection, a wide range of methods and techniques such as thermotherapy (heat), cryotherapy (cold), electrotherapy, manual therapy (massage, kinesiotherapy, etc.), hydrotherapy, therapeutic exercises , functional and isokinetic bandage, for its use in the correct rehabilitation and rehabilitation of an athlete, after an injury. Likewise, it must intervene effectively, in the prevention of the appearance of pathologies, by means of the execution of an adequate muscular training, that must start from the warming up, and the development of therapeutic tables, that are totally personalized for each of the athletes, both for the preseason, as for after the competition.

What are the benefits?
The advantages are innumerable, not only because it reduces the risk of suffering an injury, also because it reduces the ailments of sports practice, and maintain muscles, relaxed and in optimal conditions, to maintain a healthy athlete, and with a better adaptation to effort, which in turn allows you to provide a sense of physical and psychological well-being, reduce your anxiety and increase your confidence.

Another positive effect is related to providing the athlete with a much more accelerated rehabilitation. Using techniques and appropriate tools, as well as managing to stimulate their effort, with the aim of reducing the recovery time and healing faster.

Preventive treatment:
There are several elements that contribute significantly to the appearance of injuries. Among them, the main ones are, bad heating, previous injuries with incorrect treatments, overload of work or inadequate training.

Physiotherapy, as a preventive method, uses scientific knowledge in the optimization of sports activity, to improve the conditions of the muscles and joints of the athlete. It will be responsible for developing work plans, which reduce the risk of injury, controlling the intensity, load and frequency of training, either for the preseason, or during competitions, fully adjusted as the case may be. It is very common to use massages, to tone the muscles of the athlete, improving both the elasticity of them, as their contractility, nerve conduction and resistance to pathologies.

Lesion treatments:
It is assumed that with the use of preventive physiotherapy, injuries should not occur. However, when this preparation is not performed, it is performed ineffectively, or other factors that escape from the hands of the physiotherapist are present, they inevitably occur. Whether due to permanent pain, sprains or other major injuries, without proper treatment, can force the athlete to abandon their practice, so that the time comes when this science, comes back into action.

Immediately after the medical diagnosis, the first thing that should be started is the treatment, for which a multidisciplinary team should be formed, where a doctor and a physiotherapist should undoubtedly be found.

The therapeutic alternatives are quite varied, should be selected the most appropriate to the type of pathology, and that allows recovery can occur as quickly as possible. It is recommended that the athlete remain at rest to ensure their total improvement.

Rehabilitation:
Sports rehabilitation is a group of therapeutic tools, whose main objective is to restore the anatomy and physiology of the human body, to reincorporate the athlete to its activity, as quickly as possible and minimize the chances of recurrence of the injury, thus achieving that the same previous competitive performance is achieved.

The physiotherapist must always focus on working together with the trainer and physical trainer, to avoid prolonged inactivity, which would bring quite complicated consequences, such as muscle atrophies, inadequate postures, nervous deficits, circulatory alterations, and even behavioral changes such as depression.

Although there is talk of reducing the recovery time, it does not mean that it must be forced. It is a process that must be carried out in stages, initially it must work to recover mobility and functionality, then adapt the training according to the requirements of the athlete and the discipline that is practiced.

Recall that to ensure quality of life for an athlete, it is vital that you are in good health and in excellent physical condition. Physiotherapy, aims to improve the results, of them, so it is responsible for designing an individual program, to generate an appropriate environment for your training.