Osteopathy for Sports People
From the weekend warrior, local sports teams to professional athletes, our Osteopaths are trusted to keep sportspeople moving. We encourage you to continue doing the activities you love while reducing the severity, frequency, or downtime from an injury.
There are a wide variety of sporting injuries that present at our practice. From contact sport collisions, horse falls, knocks and bumps, to lifting heavy weights or runners injuries, we have experience in all the various injuries and sore tight muscles that people can experience associated with exercise.
We encourage you to maintain your favorite sporting pursuit or exercise (where possible), or to get you back to being able to play, compete or participate as soon as you can. Our practitioners are available to guide and support you through the healing process. A sports trainers prior to transitioning to professional private practice.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP
If you injure yourself, it is helpful to perform appropriate first aid as soon as possible. We recommend rest, compression, and elevation, especially for limb injuries (it’s very difficult to elevate your back). The research supporting icing following injury is in reality, rather weak (read here). However, it may be helpful in the initial stages to reduce your pain levels. After the first day or two, heat is definitely a better option, as increasing blood flow to an area may improve healing time and reduce discomfort.
Diagnosing Sports Injuries
Establishing what’s wrong (a diagnosis) early in the recovery phase is essential. This ensures you get the right treatment or advice appropriate to your condition, preventing further aggravation or prolonging of the complaint. We may refer you for investigations, such as an MRI or x-ray if required.
In the early phases, hands-on treatment can assist with reducing swelling and getting you moving again. This may be followed by a more active phase, where prevention as well as exercise rehabilitation including strengthening may be more appropriate. Treatment is tailored to your individual needs. We will take into consideration; your age, level of activity, and general health status. You may find this is broader in approach when comparing with other types of health professionals.
Advice regarding breathing, posture, recovery sessions, stretching, footwear, or other recommendations may be provided on an individual basis. Sports taping is available post-injury, as well as preventative and Kinesio-taping as required.
In addition, we offer remedial massage which many sportspeople utilize as part of ongoing management and injury prevention.
Our Osteopaths love treating sports injury and getting you back to play. We are happy to liaise with your personal trainer, sports coach, or other health professionals to provide you with the best outcome.
