For many athletes, physical injury is just another part of the sport.  Every sport, from football to tennis, requires the athletes to push their bodies to new extremes and try their hardest to accomplish what many can't.

When they're injured, most athletes don't choose to work through it or find a solution.   The only humane solution is physical therapy.  If you're on the fence about it and not sure if it's the best option for you: these are the things to keep in mind.

Gets Athletes Back Into The Game Quickly

Physical therapy can help you quickly regain your abilities.  Physical therapy helps you work through healing to come out better on the other side. For example, Russian Gymnast Artur Dalaloyan was told that he would take a year to recover from his torn Achilles tendon in April of 2021.

Still, in August of 2021, less than four months after his surgery, he performed incredible feats and won team gold in the Tokyo Olympics.  Physical therapy can help athletes gain back their abilities quickly.

Gain Movement and Flexibility

Physical therapy stretches out and limbers your body to degrees that are sometimes further than you were capable of before the injury.  This stretching and working at getting good results can give you the chance to become a better athlete on the other side.

Physical Therapy in Wilkes Barre can provide you the opportunity to work through healing so that you can be more flexible, skip the stiffness of healing, and have as full use of your body as possible.

Reduce Pain and Aches

The worst part of any injury is the physical pain you'll feel going through it.  This pain can twinge and ache throughout the entire day.  This distracts athletes, diminishes their abilities, and affects their gameplay.

Physical therapy not only reduces the pain and aches, it makes it so that you know the proper coping mechanisms to deal with this pain if it should pop up again.

However, if you want to maximize your recovery from injury, incorporating your physical therapy treatment plan with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy would be an excellent idea.   

Physical therapy and PRP therapy are often used together to treat sports injuries. The former helps to reduce pain and inflammation, improve range of motion, and strengthen the muscles and tendons around the injured area, while the latter helps to speed up the healing process and reduce the risk of re-injury. The good thing about PRP therapy is that it’s a minimally invasive procedure that uses the body’s healing properties to speed up the recovery of injured tissues. A reliable and qualified provider will use PRP tubes to separate the platelets from the rest of the blood. The concentrated platelets will be injected into the injured area. 

Therefore, if you’re an injury-prone athlete, you may be a good candidate for physical and PRP therapy. Your doctor can help you determine if these treatments are right for you and refer you to a qualified provider.

Increase Confidence In Sports

Some athletes develop the yips after any injury or close encounter, and physical therapy can give them the insight to see that these injuries aren't career-ending.

In addition, allowing athletes to heal and work through it will enable them to be more confident when they play instead of worrying that they will get hurt again or that their injury will act up.

Moreover, physical therapy can help athletes increase their confidence in sports by providing them with a safe and supportive environment to work. A physical therapist can offer encouragement, guidance, and practical advice to help athletes stay on track with their rehabilitation and return to their sport as quickly as possible.  

For example, they can help them set realistic goals, develop a training plan, and overcome setbacks. This support can go a long way toward building confidence and preventing future injuries.

Protect Against Future Injuries

There's no surefire way to protect someone against all injuries, but showing an athlete what hurt them and how they can avoid it, can make them less likely to get harmed again in the future.

Physical therapy helps them learn to recognize their body’s limits and figure out how far they can push those before they need to stop.  This gives them the chance to play hard and enjoy their sport without fear of getting harmed or messing up again.

Physical therapy may be long and hard work that you have to complete to move past an injury, but it’s worth it from all of the benefits it offers.