Sports injury Rehab
What is it?
Injury rehab is the main process in order to regain full function and restore range of motion and strength to the an injured area of the body. Injuries can occur in everyday life and in sporting activities, the process of rehab is based around the same concept of reducing pain and increasing range of motion to the area and the joint leading to restoring strength.
How do they happen?
Injuries can occur due to a mechanical dysfunction in the body, imbalances in the muscles can lead to certain areas of the body working harder due to a weak or tight area of the muscle and joint. there are several joints in the body and they are made up of structures such as ligaments, tendons and muscles. with overtime and reoccurring injuries these joints can become tight and weak causing a dysfunction leading to a decreased ability to perform at optimum level in everyday life and in sporting activities.
Rehab is usually done along with other therapy treatment, sports therapists are equipped and trained to adapt to all individuals needs and requirements depending on their daily needs. Rehab to restore strength and power will be achieved through certain stretches, exercises and later drills in order to regain full function to pre injury.
Stages of a sports injury
There are three main stages of rehabilitation, early, mid and late stages. in the early stage this is where very little exercise is done to reduce the risk of re-injury, the main focus at this stage is to reduce pain, and increase range of motion. Damaged tissue will begin to heal, at this stage risk of re-injury is common due to putting to much stress on new and fragile tissue. Mid stage is where loading will occur on the injured area in order to increase tensile strength to the soft tissue, exercises will start to increase and stretching will remain in order to improve range of motion throughout rehab. in the late stage of recovery functional exercises and drills will be used to adapt the muscle tissue to full strength to allow the muscle to meet the demands of the individuals daily requirements. at the final stages of rehab proprioception will be given, proprioception is where the body is able to detect movement and where the body is in space. this will allow us to prevent injury when faced with unstable surfaces are muscles react to prevent excess movement that can cause injury. through injury proprioception can be damaged and therefore has to be re-trained.
