Return to Sport After Injury
With JAG's Effective Return-to-Sport Therapy
Studies of athletes at the Olympic Games show that the rate of injury among the world's best competitors ranges between 10% and 65%. Most of these injuries occur in the lower limbs.
The prevalence of sports injuries should tell you that sports medicine and physical therapy are a necessity no matter what level you play or compete at.
Often, the issue is returning to play too quickly after an injury, leaving the recovery process behind, or failing to employ the best practices for injury prevention along the way.
Getting back in the game, with JAG Physical Therapy
At JAG PT, our team of physical and occupational therapists work with you, drawing from years of expertise and hands-on experience with injured athletes. Our team addresses the needs of each injured athlete in a one-on-one delivery method. We design our Return-to-Sport therapy programs to physically and mentally prepare injured athletes for a successful return at an equal or even greater level of performance and strength pre-injury.
Using proven techniques and innovative technologies, our personalized rehabilitation process moves from phase to phase within appropriate environments, working on sport-specific movements. Our compassionate and caring therapists support and guide you through various re-conditioning exercises, resistance training, passive and active range of motion techniques, and more. We also introduce you to strategies you can use to greatly reduce the risk factors for re-injury.
If you're ready to return to competition, contact our team at JAG PT today. We can help you meet your rehabilitation goals and transform your sports setback into a setup for a comeback!
What is Physical Therapy for Sport Injury Rehabilitation?
Physical therapy for sports injury rehabilitation focuses on caring for and healing imbalances in the musculoskeletal system. Physical therapists evaluate and diagnose areas of muscle weakness, range of motion, stiffness, and the loss of mechanics, specifically after sports-related injuries.
At Jag, we create a comprehensive treatment plan for a holistic recovery process. We'll work with you to address injury prevention techniques that will protect against sports-specific stressors and the functional requirements of a particular sport.
The goal of our physical therapy programs is to help injured athletes return to sport in a way that supports their personal and athletic goals. The path of recovery is different for everyone, so we ensure that any sports participation you do after physical therapy conforms to the demands you're making on your body.
Return to Play Stronger, Better, Faster
Our Return-to-Sport framework can help you progress your injury recovery in a way that allows you to balance rest and exercise, reduce pain, and improve strength.
Knee Injuries
Some of the most common knee injuries related to sports are ACL tears and patellofemoral syndrome.
- Patellofemoral syndrome occurs due to the repetitive movement of the kneecap or the patella against the thigh bone or femur. This degrades tissue health under the kneecap and results in stiffness, soreness, pain when bending, squatting, or climbing stairs, and crackling or popping sounds.
- It is common for ACL tears to occur when you're running and make a sudden stop or your knee gets hit from the side, which strains or tears the ACL.
Jag's personalized post-op ACL recovery care can help you:
- Strengthen the muscles that surround your knee, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors, and calf muscles.
- Return to a full range of motion on your knee and hips, which, if left unaddressed, is another major contributing factor for a second ACL injury.
- Achieve full knee flexion and knee extension.
- Reduce pain, swelling, and stiffness in related muscles during recovery.
- Return to play with strategies that reduce the chance for injury risk once more.
Sprains, Strains, and Pulls
Just because they're counted as “common” side effects of participating in a sport doesn't make sprains, strains, and pulls are any less painful. Sometimes, these issues can indicate that you're putting too much stress on a particular ligament or tendon. Other times, it can point to an unconscious adaptation because you're trying to compensate for a weakness elsewhere.
No matter what the underlying source, our team of dedicated athletic trainers and physical therapists at JAG PT can help you address the most common issues such as hamstring pulls, groin strains, and tennis elbows, to name a few. Your treatment will include a range of exercises designed to strengthen and lengthen muscles such as the adductors, the glutes, and the lower back.
Acute and Stress Fractures
The body is all about balance. And when an external, one-time event, or a constant, repetitive motion places stress on these areas, you can experience acute or stress-related fractures.
- Acute fractures occur when you injure your bones as a result of a sports-related activity like being tackled or landing on your elbow.
- Stress fractures occur as a result of repetitive activity or due to overtraining, overloading, and fatiguing the muscles to such an extent that it doesn't have time to rest and recover.
After immediate medical care, our focus is to support you through a treatment program that allows these areas to heal while giving you strategies to regain range of motion. Weight-bearing, low-impact strength training, and functional movement can help give you the confidence you need to feel comfortable using the injured area once again.
Get back to the life and sport you love with JAG Physical Therapy on your team
As an athlete, all you want to know is, “When can I play again?” Your successful return to optimal pre-injury strength depends on the course of treatment and the commitment you bring to recovery, exercise, and rest in equal parts. At JAG PT, we’re committed to delivering your full recovery as expediently and safely as possible.
“Getting back in the game” is more than the one day when you return to your sport, and more than the last few weeks of rehabilitation. Rather, it's the entire process of getting you back to being even better than you were pre-injury.
Let us take you from the sidelines to the starting line. Contact JAG PT today to learn more about our personalized Return to Sport programs.
