Athletes usually want to get stronger and faster. You can invest time and money into training, racing, new gear, smart devices, and so on, but most athletes overlook the care and tune-ups required for their most important asset – their own body. Without consistent care muscles can learn impaired, inefficient movement patterns and compensation strategies for weaknesses.
The body is an incredibly smart machine. When something hurts the body, it has the ability to develop alternate motor and movement patterns to decrease discomfort. However, these altered movement patterns can lead to weakness down the road and result in the complete shutdown of muscles. The results can be devastating.
For many athletes it begins with a twinge of pain that you can work with, hoping it will go away. You may rest, only to have the pain come back when you return to action. Or, you push through the pain because your ‘A’ race or goal event is coming up. Sometimes pushing allows you to overcome the pain, but eventually it may catch up with you. Rest and isolated exercises fail to correct problems that come from improper movements and inefficient motor patterns.
These issues can be eradicated and even prevented by working with a physical therapist skilled in motion analysis and muscle firing. RosePT therapists have unique certifications and training to address these complex problems. This expertise includes video analysis of full-body movement, as well as an advanced biofeedback system that shows muscle contraction in real-time, to identify compensation patterns throughout a movement.
At RosePT you are an active participant in the design of your rehabilitation program. With the guidance of a RosePT therapist through one-hour, one-on-one sessions, you can see what exercises encourage proper motor movement and muscle activation patterns. This allows you (and your coach, if you are working with one) to determine proper resistance, load and frequency of exercises to strengthen and stabilize.
This time of year at RosePT, many of our clients are moving from off-season to base-building training. Athletes are monitored closely for efficiency, symmetry, improved technique and performance. By working on improved patterns of motion and efficiency, RosePT therapists ensure that athletes remain injury-free as the frequency and duration of workouts increase. RosePT also accepts private health insurance to make these unique services accessible in order to build a stronger, healthier and injury free DC.
This article also appears on Active Life DC.