Physiotherapy for Sports Injuries in Edmonton

Whether you like to join an occasional pickup game, play tennis every weekend, workout at the gym, or compete in your chosen sport – you are at risk of hurting yourself. Athletes at all levels risk sports injuries during every practice and each game.

When you do get injured, and most players do, there’s not just the physical discomfort. Most active people find it hard to be sidelined for even one game, let alone for several weeks! So, if you’ve got a sports injury for the first time or a reinjury, let’s work together to get you back in the game!

At Revive Spine and Sport Physiotherapy Clinic, we know how important your favourite activity is to you. And we’re here to help you get back to it. Our goal is to make sure you recover quickly, your performance is at least as good as it was before – and to reduce your chances of hurting yourself again.

Physiotherapy Benefits for Sports Injury

Some sports injuries will eventually heal on their own. BUT – and it’s a BIG but – many athletes find that they end up with a “bum knee” or a “weak ankle.” Over and over you end up hurting yourself in that same shoulder, hip, foot… or wherever you hurt yourself before.

Athletes at all levels tell us that they injured the same area before, often years or even decades ago. As a weekend warrior in your 40s you are bound to hurt that same knee you wrecked playing football in high school.

If that wasn’t a big enough reason to see a physiotherapist after a sports injury, there is another major benefit. While your injury heals, with physiotherapy you are likely to be in less pain, and reach full recovery sooner.

Quicker, more complete healing, with less pain – and it’s less likely you will hurt yourself again. No wonder physiotherapy is so popular with althetes.

Physiotherapy helps prevent future injuries using expert analysis of posture and movement patterns to ensure your body moves correctly, making mishaps less likely.

Plus, your physiotherapist will help you improve your balance, strength, coordination, and stability as part of your customized, holistic recovery program.

Upper Extremity Injuries

Did you hurt your arm, elbow, shoulder, or wrist? Did you have a sudden traumatic event? Or has the pain just got worse over time and now it’s impossible to ignore? Are you hesitating to play the game you love because of upper extremity pain? A sports injury to an upper extremity can put you on the sidelines, sometimes for months!

While you may have hurt yourself during a game or practice, a sport injury can make daily tasks difficult, too. Suddenly, picking up a child or reaching out for something becomes painful, difficult, or even impossible.

The physiotherapists at Revive Spine and Sport Physiotherapy Clinic in Edmonton use orthopedic manual physiotherapy techniques to treat your upper extremity sports injury. Our therapists look beyond surface-level pain symptoms, so we can identify the root causes of your pain. We always begin with a comprehensive assessment, taking into consideration your lifestyle and goals. Then, we take that information and develop a customized treatment plan designed specifically for you.

• Shoulder Pain and Injuries
Shoulder injuries impact many ligaments, joints, and muscles all work together when your shoulder functions properly. Physiotherapy helps rid your shoulder of the pain and dysfunction.
• Rotator Cuff Injuries
Sports injuries to the muscles and tendons connecting your arm to your shoulder make your favourite sports difficult to play. But a rotator cuff injury makes regular daily activities difficult and painful, too. Physiotherapy can make a difference.  
• Impingement
Inflamed connective tissues are painful and often create a “catching” sensation if you reach over your head, behind your back, or across your body. If reaching into the back seat of your car is difficult or painful, it’s time for some physiotherapy.
• Elbow, Forearm, Hand, and Wrist Injuries
If you have hurt your elbow, forearm, wrist, or hand our physiotherapists can diagnose and treat even the most complex injuries, including golfer’s or tennis elbow.

Lower Extremity Injuries

Sports injuries to lower extremities often end up affecting your whole body. You know… the knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone… and all. You can end up with pain in your hip when you hurt your foot. Or knee pain can come from ankle stiffness or hip weakness.

That’s why your physiotherapist at Revive Spine and Sport Physiotherapy Clinic will complete a comprehensive examination. With lower extremity injuries, since everything impacts everything else, it is even more important to get to the root cause. We’ve talked to patients who have received extensive treatment on their knee, for example, but the pain keeps coming back. We often find the root cause of their knee pain sits in their hips, or an imbalance in their gait, or other places (not their knee!)

The initial assessment examines how your body functions as a whole when you sit, stand, and walk. We identify the underlying issues that may have contributed to your injury, and that may contribute to the risk of reinjury. Then, your physiotherapist develops a customized treatment plan for your lower extremity sports injury.

• Sports Injuries that Cause Hip Pain
Regular aging can cause hip pain, but so can sports injuries. Revive Spine and Sport Physiotherapy Clinic in Edmonton successfully treats all types of hip pain, often after other therapies fail. Anterior impingement, when your femur doesn’t rest properly in your hip socket, makes your hip slip forward a little, often because of imbalanced supportive tissues. You’ll find this painful, especially when you walk or try to get up from sitting down. If you find your hip clicking or clunking there are many possible causes, so an evaluation is crucial.
• Knee Injuries
A sports injury involving your knee can make it difficult to get back in the game, and to be involved in regular daily activities. Whether you require knee surgery or not, physiotherapy is key to the recovery of knee injuries. Physiotherapy helps you both prepare for and recover from knee surgery. Sometimes knee pain is referred from your hip or back, so make sure you get a thorough assessment from Revive Spine and Sport Physiotherapy Clinic in Edmonton. Your physiotherapist will get to the root cause of the problem and help you recover quickly and completely.
• Foot and Ankle Injuries
If you fall or step out of alignment it stresses your muscles and ligaments around your foot and ankle. You may end up with pain, bruising, swelling, and less flexibility.
• Shin Splints
You probably feel shin splints along the insides and front of your shins. This doesn’t require a specific traumatic event, as it often happens to athletes with increasing stress on their lower legs.

Throwing  and Pitching Injuries

If you are a pitcher, or otherwise regularly throw anything, as you wind up, prepare the throw and release, you may be placing yourself at risk for a pitching injury.

Elbow injuries have increased over the last decade because of the changes in the pitching motion “upside down W or L.”  The specific phases of throwing a ball are:

• Wind up and early cocking
• Late cocking
• Acceleration
• Deceleration
• Follow through

Throwing and pitching injuries occur when the timing is wrong producing excessive torque and stress on the elbow or shoulder.

Physiotherapists work to strengthen your body to better handle the actions needed for pitching and throwing, specifically working to prevent reoccurring injuries. After physiotherapy, many pitchers find they can throw the ball at a higher velocity without injury.

Running Injuries

Running is great for your cardiovascular, physical and mental health, but running can be hard on your body because of repetitive impacts. A physiotherapist works with you to prevent and manage running injuries with a customized treatment plan.

• Runner’s Knee
The condition called Runner’s Knee makes up about four in ten running injuries. Runner’s knee is cartilage irritation under your kneecap, often caused by rolling your foot inward while you run, combined with weak muscles in your upper legs. The ache around your kneecap gets worse with squats, walking up or down stairs, sitting, and standing.
• Achilles Tendinopathy
Achilles tendinopathy makes up another one in ten runners’ injuries. Your Achilles tendon attaches your heel to your calf muscles, so when it tightens and gets irritated it is mighty uncomfortable. This pain is usually caused by having weak calf muscles, sprinting, and running on hills.
• Plantar Fasciitis
About 15% of runners have plantar fasciitis caused by tiny tears and inflammation in the tendons that connect your heel to the ball of your foot. This often feels like you bruised the middle of your foot. You will likely feel the most pain when you get up in the morning. If you have low arches or roll your feet inward or outward while you run, you are more prone to plantar fasciitis. Standing for a long time can also cause plantar fasciitis, so if your work involves standing and then you go for a run, you may be at higher risk.
• Shin Splints
Repetitive running is a common risk factor for shin splints. Your physiotherapist may create a plan that includes stretches to target the muscles in your legs, calves, and feet, therapeutic massage, taping, and suggestions for more supportive shoes.

Make an Appointment with Revive Spine and Sport Physiotherapy Clinic in Edmonton

No matter what sports injury you have, at Revive Spine and Sport Physiotherapy Clinic in Edmonton, we will work with you to get you back in the game. A comprehensive exam and customized recovery plan are the foundation for your healing path.

Call today to get started on your sports injury recovery!