Understanding What Sports Performance Therapy Can And Cannot Do

You play sports; you get injured. That is the risk you take when you want to play a sport. Most of the time, it is not a problem, but if you are injured, it could take weeks, even months, to get back into play. That is a lot of time most athletes do not want to give up. Want to know how the big boy and big girl athletes deal with injuries and manage to get back to their sport faster? It is called "sports performance therapy," and it can do a lot to help you heal. There are also a few things it cannot help you do, but it is all described below. 

It Decreases Pain and Increases Circulation

A lot of sports injuries include swelling, tenderness, pain, and constricted circulation. Performance therapy works on the nerves in your body to decrease pain stimuli so that you can stretch slowly and deeply without feeling too much pain. When you are able to stretch in this way, the swelling and inflammation decrease, and the circulation of blood increases to the injured area. When blood flow increases, the blood is able to carry dead cells and dead tissues away from the injured site, allowing you to heal faster.

It Works With Physical Therapy for Better Overall Results

If your doctor has prescribed physical therapy, performance therapy through a licensed chiropractor actually complements the physical therapy. Both help you stay limber and heal better. The performance therapy does things a little bit differently from physical therapy too, which means that you are not doing the exact same things or working the injured areas in the exact same ways when you attend your physical therapy and performance therapy sessions.

What Sports Performance Therapy Cannot Do

This type of therapy will definitely get you in touch with your body and understanding your own pain threshold. What it will not do is increase your pain threshold so that you can run, swing, jump, throw, etc., while you are still in the initial stages of recovery. You have to heal, and the initial couple of weeks will seem like forever, but then you will find that you can tolerate a little bit more work with each session. Performance therapy also cannot give you the green light to return to your sport of choice; only your regular doctor can give you clearance to return to the sport.