The Path from Injury to High-Level Performance
If you’re an athlete, chances are you have suffered an injury.
There’s never a good time for an injury, but sometimes they seem to come at the worst times!
Right before playoffs.
The month leading up to a race.
Just after breaking a plateau on your squat or bench press.
The typical cycle after an injury looks something like the graph below:
Typical Recovery
You’re training at your baseline level of performance, then BOOM - unexpected knee injury. As a competitive athlete, this can create a major setback and leave you feeling discouraged
Maybe you head to your doctor and they recommend you go see a PT 2-3x/week for 6-12 weeks. You head to your local chain physical therapy clinic and are given “the knee exercises” that they give to everybody, whether you’re a powerlifter, runner, or non-athlete.
No wonder it can take 12-20 visits just to get back to the point where you can return to your training and try to build back up to where you were pre-injury.
We have seen this way too many times, and it frustrates us just as much as it frustrates you!
Athletes, whether competitive or recreational, have specific goals.
Specific goals require a specific approach that is specialized and tailored to those goals!
…and when we say “goals,” we don’t mean just decreasing pain. Your REHAB GOALS should be the same as your TRAINING GOALS. Why wouldn’t they match up?!
This is where we come in.
An individualized, performance-minded approach that is specific to YOU.
Recovery with ROC Physical Therapy
Same starting point as above - BOOM, knee injury. Instead of going to your doctor, you realize that you can come right to ROC Physical Therapy to evaluate your injury.
Since your performance and athletic goals are our goals, rehab complements your training instead of replacing it. You’ll typically come to 1 PT session per week, and after any hands-on work that needs to be done you will be given new exercises to add to your training program until the next session.
While we may need to modify your training or practice, “stop training” is hardly ever the best method!
This is why your performance level can continue to accelerate despite the setback from the injury. You’ll return to your usual training without missing a beat, and typically at a higher level than when you started!
So…which path would you rather take? As athletes ourselves, we at ROC Physical Therapy understand what it take to compete at higher levels and we constantly strive to help our clients reach their peak performance!
If you would like to schedule a consultation or chat more about this blog post, please click here to email us, or give us a call at (585) 484-0005!
