What Warrants a Visit to a Sports Medicine Therapist?

If you’re an athlete, you want to stay at the top of your game. Above all, you want to avoid injury. Learn how appointments with a sports medicine therapist can help you with both goals.

No one wants to be injured, but to athletes, an injury that doesn’t heal correctly can mean an end to your playing days. If you’re an athlete, part of your identity is in your sport. You want to be able to continue to play your sport competitively as long as you can.

As an athlete, you place repeated stress on specific body parts. It may be your knees if it’s basketball, tennis, soccer, football, or skiing. You’re more susceptible to shoulder injuries such as a rotator cuff tear if you play baseball, softball, or tennis.

Southwest Orthopedic Associates includes a physical therapy practice. Our Director of Physical Therapy, Krystal Ackerman, can help you prevent an injury. If you get injured while playing your sport, she can direct your rehabilitation to help you recover physical function and reach your maximum sports performance.

The best reasons for making an appointment with a sports medicine therapist include the following:

Injury prevention

Our sports medicine therapist, Krystal Ackerman, is certified in FMS (Functional Movement Screen). That means she can perform a comprehensive screen of body movements as you go through motions involved in your sport.

As a result of the screen, she can identify weaknesses in your body mechanics when running, jumping, or throwing and help you correct them to avoid an injury.

In addition, Krystal can develop an exercise plan to help improve faulty biomechanics and lower your risk of a sports-ending injury. One example is specific strengthening and stretching exercises that can reduce your risk of shoulder or elbow injuries if you’re a throwing athlete or play tennis.

Krystal is also Sportsmetrics™ certified. If you’re a female athlete who plays basketball or soccer, you’re at an elevated risk for an ACL injury. Sportsmetrics is a gold standard ACL prevention program that is research-based in helping female athletes prevent ACL injuries.

Women’s knees tend to have less muscle mass than men’s, which can lead to instability and an ACL tear. Krystal helps you strengthen key muscles to avoid injury as well as help you improve faulty jumping or leg rotation technique that can lead to an injury.

The plan Krystal develops for you also helps enhance your sport performance. She identifies and addresses any issues that prevent you from performing at your highest possible potential.

Rehabilitation after injury or surgery

If you have an injury, our sports medicine therapist helps you recover. She uses various modalities to calm pain and inflammation. She teaches gentle stretches and exercises to move the injured body part to avoid stiffness. As you progress, she adds progressive strength training exercises.

Your therapist also includes proprioceptive training that improves your balance. Balance is critical in preventing injury.

As you progress, you start to work on sports-specific movements. Your therapist trains you in correct body movements needed to avoid future injury. She helps you regain your maximum potential performance in your sport.

Call Southwest Orthopedic Associates today or book an appointment online for expert sports medicine therapy that gets you back in the game.