Return to Sport
Returning to sport after an injury is often difficult with progress seeming slow. The injured area typically feels better but when you try to get back your chosen sport, you find that you continue to get pain. This can be difficult to interpret; is the pain ‘bad’ and you are not ready to return or, or is it ‘good’ and your injury is behaving exactly as you would expect? Perhaps you have had a fracture or surgery and are unsure how to start your exercise programme? At Murphy Physiotherapy we are happy to help guide you through the process of safely returning to sport. It is important to look at why the injury happened in the first place, and to ensure that there are no mechanical predisposing factors that will cause a recurrence.
Every joint has its own set of stabilising muscles, and these need to be strengthened in a specific way to help protect the joint. Using the Pilates approach, the concept of using the ‘core stabilising muscle’ of the spine assists recovery of both injured spinal muscles and also your more general global strength. Muscles often need to be re-trained to work effectively in both directions i.e. ‘concentrically’ (contracting) and ‘eccentrically’ (lengthening or paying out). There is a specific series of exercises that we can use to rehabilitate your muscles and tendons to the level you need for your chosen sporting activity.
Returning to sport can be particularly frustrating. You miss the sport itself but you probably also miss the all-important social interaction. If you compete, you have the added worry that you are missing valuable training time. At Murphy Physiotherapy we share your commitment to sporting success and are here both to assist you in quickly getting back to your sport whilst acknowledging, and hopefully allaying, any anxieties you may have.
Whether you wish to return to work, sport or just pain-free walking, we would like to share in your success of getting back to normal activity. No problem is too big or too small. We can provide a holistic therapy programme designed to return you to full activity and we can also introduce you to a network of other professionals who specialise in other techniques that may be of benefit to you, such as the Alexander Technique, Podiatry Biomechanics (gait analysis) and the Steven Shaw Method of Swimming. If we don’t have the full answer at Murphy Physiotherapy, we will be able to put you in contact with someone who can help complete your return to peak performance.