Exercising is key to living a healthy life. Young or old, everyone from any generation can all benefit from an active lifestyle. However, injuries do happen, whether you’re simply exercising or participating in a sports activity.
Injuries are often painful, even debilitating to some. While some resort to taking medications to ease their pain, a lot of people still prefer to have them looked at by experienced physical therapists.
Athletes, for instance, experience injuries more than most people. They engage themselves in activities that are usually stressful and exhausting to an average person. Being an athlete, amateur or professional, doesn’t excuse them from getting injured at times.
Sports physical therapy is often the first line of treatment for athletes who suffer an injury while playing sports or games. The people who practice it are licensed professionals who have the skills and the dedication to help athletes--pro or amateur--recover from their injuries.
While you may not be a decorated fighter or an Olympic gold medalist, you are just as likely to experience injuries. As such, just like these athletes, it is also ideal to treat these injuries the way that they are treated.
Here are a few simple ways to help you recover from an injury thru physical therapy:
Splinting
Our body has its natural way of healing. Immobilizing an injured area allows your body to repair bones, muscles, and tissues. By restricting movement to the area to stop it from doing anything strenuous, it prevents further damage.
Unlike casts, splinting allows the injury to have room for swelling. Swelling is the body’s natural reaction to trauma. By allowing your injury to have room to swell, it prevents potential nerve damage that can often be severe and disabling.
Thus, resting while injured is not only ideal but also plays a crucial role in your recovery.
Massage Therapy
Massaging the injured area of the body also stimulates blood flow. While it can either be painful or comforting, massaging helps drain out the lactic acid in the area – allowing more oxygen-carrying blood to flow in.
Massaging also restores your body’s flexibility and mobility, especially when the injury is deeper than the tissue such as the joints, ligaments, and bones. With the help of a licensed physical therapist, your injury has a huge chance of recovering more quickly– getting you back to being active again in no time.
A simple massage can help the body’s whole healing process. Not only does it reduce stiffness and improve movement; it is also soothing and relaxing.
Edema Control
Edema, or swelling is a very common yet uncomfortable sensation an athlete might experience. Once done with the initial assessment, your therapist should be able to rule out anything that poses a threat or damage that requires emergency medical attention. Your therapist may choose to treat your injuries with temperature control - an excellent first line of treatment for most injuries.
If your injury is a recent one, chances are, it hasn’t reached its worst state yet. It need not be if a cold compress is applied. A cold compress helps minimize the inflammation as it constricts the blood vessels. By applying a cold compress to the injury, it can prevent your blood vessels from pooling up too much blood that causes inflammation.
Packing ice on your injury may sound very uncomfortable or painful even, but it is an important process one has to endure to avoid further damage that your body may potentially experience.
A warm compress may be a very different sensation and does the absolute opposite to your blood vessels. It also minimizes inflammation as well as reduces bruising. By allowing your blood vessels to dilate, the blood clots and other metabolic wastes are drained out from the area – giving way to nutrient-filled and oxygen-rich blood to start repairing your body.
Injuries are the last thing that any person would want to experience, be it someone with an active or sedentary lifestyle. It is painful and reduces one’s ability to do their day-to-day tasks. Therapists are knowledgeable when it comes to treating various types of injuries. They are no stranger to athletes and people who live an active lifestyle. It is important to know that physical therapists are licensed and highly-skilled professionals who are trained in treating these injuries as well as alleviating the physical pain you are experiencing. Thus, it is advisable to have a professional do it for you to ensure that your injuries will heal faster with little to no complications.
Ashley Rodriguez is the Content Marketing Strategist for Center for Athletic Performance, an affordable premier physical therapy and performance clinic that provides physical therapy services and sports training throughout the valley. When not writing, she enjoys going to the gym and spending time with her family and Labrador Retrievers, Cloak and Dagger.