Sports Physiotherapy Guide: What is it? | Roles | Benefits | Rehab Station

What is Sports Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy, also popular as Physical therapy, is an allied health science branch. A physiotherapist with his expertise in exercise therapy and prescription, joint mobilization, manual therapy, and electrotherapy rehabilitates various musculoskeletal, cardiopulmonary and neurological conditions. The aim of physiotherapy is to improve quality of life and enhance performance.

Sports physiotherapy is a specialised branch of physiotherapy that deals with injuries and other problems associated with sports.

According to Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy, New Zealand, a sports physiotherapist is defined as-

“A recognized professional who demonstrates advanced competencies in the promotion of safe physical activity participation, provision of advice, and adaptation of rehabilitation and training interventions, for the purposes of preventing injury, restoring optimal function, and contributing to the enhancement of sports performance in athletes of all ages and abilities, while ensuring a high standard of professional and ethical practice.”

What does a Sports Physiotherapist do?

A sports physiotherapist works as a part of the larger team that looks after the complete health and fitness of the team or an athlete.

The primary team members involve the athlete and the coach. However, a physician, a masseuse, sports scientist, video analyst, a strength and conditioning coach and a sports nutritionist play a key role in building the team stronger.

Sports physiotherapists assess the athlete, perform a detailed evaluation and devise a plan of action. The exercise programs incorporate tackling the weaknesses, working on the imbalances and certain workouts to reduce the chances of re-injury.

Roles of Sports Physiotherapist & Competence Areas

In India, especially at the grass-root level, sports physiotherapist might be the only medical personnel available on the field in training and tournaments. In such situations, the sports physiotherapist need to have sound knowledge in first aid and essential life support.

Additionally, in endurance events, a sports physiotherapist may have to give advice on subjects like nutrition.

It is a critical part of the on-field sports physiotherapist’s job to take the crucial decision of whether the athlete continues to play post an incidence of injury.

Sports physiotherapists are often aware of the rules and regulations of the specific sport and the norms set by the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) in order to ensure fair play.

Roles in Sports Physiotherapy

*PREHAB = Preventive Rehabilitation, REHAB = Rehabilitation(Credits Rehab Station)

The assessments mainly involve identifying muscle strengths, muscle lengths (flexibility), faulty postures and movement patterns. This can be achieved by performing manual physiotherapy assessment tests, on and off-field tests, posture and movement video analysis.

With the advancement in technology, newer, more sophisticated equipment are available, that provide quantitative data.

As we all know, some injuries are common to a particular sport depending upon the demands, repetitive nature of movement, and position of the player in the sport.

Most of the injuries arise due to the demands of the sport and the training done for the same on and off-field. Since none of the athletes simply trains, there are many demands placed on the body that goes beyond the sport.

Let us consider an example of bowlers in cricket. The demands placed on the bowler are significantly different when you are a fast bowler and a spin bowler. The injuries that could arise due to the demands of bowling and off-field training also vary.

This makes the work of sports physiotherapists more challenging as they have to customise programs for each player separately!

What are the benefits of Sports Physiotherapy?

• Sports physiotherapists help minimize the risk of overuse injuries. Suppose you are a footballer, you are most likely to injure your knee ligaments (the most common being the Anterior Cruciate Ligament [ACL]).
• A sports physiotherapist will help you reduce the chances of developing a tear in this ligament.
• They will do so by strengthening your appropriate group of muscles and lengthening the others to bring about a biomechanically correct movement with lesser loads on the ligament. This, in turn, will help you to increase the length of time you can perform well on the field!
• To execute it in a better way, the modern approach is to develop a structured exercise plan that includes working on your weaknesses all the while aiming to maintain your strengths. The structured exercise plans consist of adequate proportions of strength, flexibility, endurance and balance, just like in a balanced diet. We all know there is no alternative to exercises.
• A sports physiotherapist specializes in planning an effective ‘return to sports training’ that helps an athlete return on the field after an injury. This program also helps reduce the incidence of re-injury to reduce dropout rates.
• Post an extensive rehabilitation program; the sports physiotherapist focuses on incorporating sports specific and goal-oriented drills in the plan of care. 
• Sports-specific routines mainly contain exercises that mimic the whole or a part of the movement necessary in the respective game. The sports-specific movements are reanalysed to bring about pattern correction.
• These seemingly minor corrections are essential to reduce the risk of injury. Especially in sports with tremendous repetitive movements like cycling, swimming, running (track and field), etc., correction of the faulty pattern becomes crucial to prevent injuries. Pattern corrections in such events also help enhance performance by changing muscle efficiency.
  
  

  Frequently Asked Questions

What is physiotherapy treatment?

The aim of physiotherapy is to improve quality of life and enhance performance. Sports physiotherapy treatment includes healing, minimising, and preventing the risk of sports injuries, disorders or diseases.

What happens at physiotherapy?

Sports Physiotherapy includes using methods like massage, physical activity, and manipulation among others to heal and prevent injuries. It also includes a structured exercise plan to strengthen weak muscles and ligaments prone to injuries.

What are the benefits of physiotherapy?

A sports physiotherapist not only specialises in treating injuries but also planning an effective ‘return to sports training’ to help reduce the incidence of re-injury. Sports physiotherapists also help minimise the risk of overuse injuries.

Suppose you are a footballer, you are most likely to injure your knee ligaments (the most common being the Anterior Cruciate Ligament [ACL]). A sports physiotherapist will help you reduce the chances of developing a tear in this ligament.

What is Rehab Station?

REHAB STATION is a sport and musculoskeletal centric physiotherapy lab, situated in the heart of Pune city. We, the physiotherapists at REHAB STATION, strive to ensure that we live up to the statement that defines an ideal sports physiotherapist.

“Prevention is better” than cure is the least applied phrase in the modern world. REHAB STATION aims at spreading awareness regarding Preventive Rehabilitation. We, as sports physiotherapists, can help you prevent injury and overcome the plateau in your performance!

9 Most Common Sports injuries!

WHAT IS SPORTS INJURY?

Sports injury can be broadly described as an injury which occurs while playing any sports or doing any athletic activity or exercising. As per the statistics published by NCHS (National Centre for Health Statistics US), almost 8.6 million sports and recreation related injuries are reported in a year. The common causes for sports injuries are overuse, direct impact, or the application of force that is greater than the body part can structurally withstand. With increasing participation in sports, competitive nature of the game over a period of time has led to increase in the rate of injuries. In conjunction, the advancement in Physiotherapy and Sports Science research is also on the rise that helps bring down the incidence. However, awareness regarding these newer options is extremely limited.

TYPES OF SPORTS INJURIES

To simplify these sports injuries they are broadly classified as-

1. Sprains (sudden stretch or twisting force subjected to a ligament)
2. Strains (fatigue, overuse or inappropriate loading of a muscle leads to muscle strain)
3. Spasm (painful and tender increase in the tone of a muscle due to sudden demand placed on the muscle)
4. Ligament tears (partial or complete break in the continuity of the ligament)
5. Muscle ruptures (partial or complete tear in the integrity of a muscle)
6. Dislocations (mal-alignment in the integrity of the joint)
7. Fractures (discontinuity in the bony architecture) 
8. Meniscal injuries (disruption in the structure of crescent shaped cartilage in the knee joint due to twisting or rotating movements at the knee)
9. Concussion (a mild traumatic head injury)

Credits: REHAB STATION

SPORTS INJURIES TREATMENT

The treatment for any sports injury will depend on factors like the severity of the injury, age of the player and also the body part affected. However, the first line of management in almost all sports injury commonly involves the famous acronym RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) which has been recently changed to POLICE (Protection, Optimal Loading, Ice, Compression, Elevation). The swelling is seen in majority of the cases that resolves within the initial few hours with appropriate Cryotherapy and compression sessions. Early mobilizations have been proven to improve rate of recovery and progressive graduated exercises helps reduce the risk of re-injury. On the contrary, sometimes immobilization is required to prevent further damage of the joint and tissue. It is advised to consult an expert after an injury so as to make the right decision about the injury.

Credits: Pure Physio Clinic

In sports physiotherapy, taping techniques, gentle manual mobilisations and equipment with modern facilities like electrical stimulation, vacuum electrodes aid in achieving edema reduction and accelerate the healing process. In these machines, the vacuum created inside the electrodes help creating space in the tissues so as to promote draining of the swelling. An add-on effect is produced by electrical muscle stimulation that brings about active muscle contraction to promote removal of excess tissue fluid from the site of injury. As swelling reduction and early mobilization is necessary for an athlete to fulfill his early return to sport demands. 

Following this initial phase of injury management, the plan of care in the next phase involves working on the injured muscle groups, identification of weaknesses and generating stability in the supporting structures. Joint motion and muscle strength are simultaneously worked upon to yield the combined end result of normal and pain free movements. It is important to perform exercises under supervision so as to have a healthy recovery. The understanding of progression of exercises plays a crucial role in physical rehabilitation, particularly in sports injuries. Usually the exercises are graduated from non-weight bearing to partial weight-bearing finally progressing up to full weight bearing exercises in case of lower limb injuries. 

In the later phase, physiotherapy exercises involve a lot of plyometric and sports specific training. Currently, the idea of sport specific training is to be able to duplicate or mimic a specific skill or action of one’s sport or activity in a controlled atmosphere. These specific drills help to encourage players to have a stronger comeback as a part of return to sport training. The exercises involved in this phase are exclusively athlete-centric and goal-oriented. It is important to attain optimal and symmetrical muscle strength and joint mobility on both the sides in order to minimize the incidence of re-injury. Agility, balance and co-ordination drills while incorporating sport-specific activities help enhance performance in training sessions on field. Combined with training sessions under the coach, we can thus help make the comeback stronger than the setback!

SPORTS INJURIES PREVENTION

We commonly come across people saying ‘injury is a part and parcel of playing any sport’ or tags like ‘no pain no gain’, but the concept is changing over the period of time. Fairly new concept of PREHAB – Preventive Rehabilitation is emerging and getting a focus in sports. Injury rate in sports cannot be nullified, but the risk and number of injuries sustained can be surely reduced.

Sports injuries, apart from the above classification can be broadly categorised in two parts:

1. Traumatic injuries:
2. Overuse Injuries:

Traumatic injuries as the name suggest happen in that fraction of a second when the athlete executes on field. However, overuse injuries are a resultant of the accumulated impact of imbalances existing in the musculoskeletal system. These imbalances could be in the form of strengths, lengths, and proprioception. PREHAB basically involves working on these imbalances before they land up in overuse injuries.

Credits: REHAB STATION

We, at REHAB STATION can help you identify these imbalances and work on them in time to help reduce the incidence of overuse injuries. Like it is often said but rarely applied, ‘An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure‘, we help you work on these flaws to keep the chances of an injury to minimal and enhance your longevity as an athlete or passionate fitness enthusiast!

Neuro Physiotherapy Guide: What is it? | Roles | Benefits | Rehab Station

What is Neuro Physiotherapy?

Neuro physiotherapy is a type of therapeutic intervention that aims at treating patients who suffer from disorders that are neurological in nature. It is not just a technique but it’s a completely different approach! It includes a multitude of intervention techniques aimed at rehabilitating patients having neurological illnesses.

Credits: Facebook

“Neuro” means related to brain, spinal cord and nerves. As we all know, ‘brain’ is the controlling centre of our body. Whatever we do, whenever we move, each movement is initiated, controlled and stopped by the brain through spinal cord and injuries. Treating the brain or spinal cord directly is not what neuro physiotherapy involves. But we treat the muscles and the joints, whose receptors send signals to the brain and thus the connection is renewed and maintained. 

The spectrum of neurological disorders includes:

• Parkinson’s Disease: It is typically characterized by slowness and shaking of movement, rigid muscles and impaired posture and balance.The jerky movements can be improved to smooth actions. Exercises can improve walking patterns and balance. Rehabilitation of majority functional disability is possible with supervised Physiotherapy guidance.

Credits: Fleurieu Physiotherapy and Wellness

• Balance / vestibular system affection :  Balance training is one of the integral part of the neuro physiotherapy. Rehabilitation of these conditions clinically has proven to show tremendous results. Few of the diagnosed vestibular conditions include Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)/ Vertigo, Labyrinthis or Vestibular neuritis, Ménière's disease etc. 

Credits: Queen street yoga 

The following is an example of what can be done in the exercise program:

 

Credits : Ace fitness

• Stroke/ Paralysis: The main manifestation is weakness of one side of the body. The functional impairments that occur after stroke are highly debilitating. They make the patient dependent for doing even normal activities of daily living (ADLs).  
  By use of different neuro approaches and strategies, we can help make the patient independent for ADLs.

Credits : Webmd

Credits : Alamy

• Spinal cord injuries: A common result of falls or road traffic accident. It manifests as weakness in both legs, arms and inability to get up, stand, etc.

Credits : Scientific American

• Peripheral nerve injuries : This is usually caused due fractures of hands/ legs or direct injury to hands / legs. This leads to reduced sensations, difficulty in movements of hands and legs. 

Credits: Europe PMC

Recovery of neurological structures

It is widely known that recovery of nerve and brain is much more complex and time consuming than other structures in the body. Other damages to skin, muscle recover in days or months. A neurological structure like nerve, spinal cord or brain may take days to years for recovery. A full recovery may not be expected in cases of severe injuries.

How do neuro physiotherapists help?

If the recovery is this complicated and time consuming, how do neurophysiotherapists help? Yes, it is true that it is a little complex, however we can change rate and quality of recovery to some extent. For example, a person with stroke may recover independently without ny exercises, but the recovery maybe much less than with exercises. All the movements will be less in terms of energy consumption and quality. Such movements will causes overloading other parts and lead t pain and disability.

As other tissues, nervous tissues have the property of neuroplasticity, meaning that the neural tissues are plastic and can be reshaped. Even if a nerve is injured, there is sprouting of new neural connections and hence, recovery is possible. This is where a  Neuro physiotherapist comes into picture.

In our childhood, when we are learning new skills, we observe that practice makes it perfect. Similar is the case here, the more you practice correct movement patterns, the more you will recover. The earlier you start physiotherapy, the better it gets for an optimal recovery. Through systematic study of the impairments a neurological disorders, neuro physiotherapists re-educate the muscles to perform the functional movements that were impaired. There are various strategies that train muscles and help the patient achieve a functionally independent status. The main aim of neuro physiotherapy is to enhance the quality of activity by improving the control of movement by various techniques and make the patient functionally independent.

The objectives of neuro physiotherapy: 

Credits: REHAB STATION

How can we help you at Rehab Station?

We believe in catering to specific needs of the client and addressing their goals to return to functional independence. The client must undergo full evaluation in our expertise and then a custom- made exercise protocol will be assigned to enhance recovery. We go with our motto “ Relief, Regain, Recover”!

- Dr. Sukanya Dandekar (PT)
Neuro physiotherapist at Rehab Station, Pune

You can find us at:

REHAB STATION, 259, Shaniwar Peth, Vishnukrupa Building, Level 3, Pune-411030
Or contact us on: +91 8888833508/ 020 24493526/ 020 24463860 
Or send an Email id: contact@rehabstation.in
Do Visit: www.rehabstation.in