The sun is shining, the temperature is starting to warm up, and you’re itching to get outside and play your favorite sport or rekindle your relationship with your running group. You hear a lot about preventive health care, but did you know that preventive measures can really up your game when it comes to spring sports readiness and performance?
Paul LaRosa, MS, PT, and Billy Reilly, MS, PT, have built their practice around approaching each patient as an individual whose physiological strengths and challenges, risk for injury, and passion for movement are unique to them.
Our Empire Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation team wants to prepare you to get out there this spring and play your best, have fun, meet personal goals, and, just as important, avoid injury.
We know that the harsh temps and the winds of winter can put a damper on your activity level, no matter how committed you are to staying active and fit. There are a host of simple things you can do to make your entry into the spring sports season smooth and injury-free.
Resist the temptation to jump into a new, rigorous routine suddenly; train and build up your strength and endurance gradually. Being sensible now about the intensity of your activity level can increase the chances that you’ll ride out the season in fine form with no injuries.
As always, get on the field or course of your choice, but stay protected with all the right equipment and clothing meant for the sport. We can advise you on everything from the best shoes for your sport to essential safety gear, like helmets and mouthguards.
Just like having the right gear, it’s essential for you to speak with us about the proper warmup and cool-down techniques for your chosen sport and your body. Ditto for trying to push through pain. Skip these steps and you could be at risk for getting hurt and being sidelined.
Remember, too, that we’re available to consult with you about questions that come up about training tips, injury prevention, and more. We provide you with expert rehab care should you experience an injury.
We’re proud to offer some of the most progressive therapeutic tools available to help you enter the spring sports season feeling and performing your best.
We offer a test called the Functional Movement Screen™, which allows us to evaluate your movement before your sport’s season begins. It identifies problematic movements you may be making as you exercise. Then we can design your care plan to preemptively treat these problems to help you avoid unnecessary strain and injury, and up your performance, too.
If you do happen to overdo it, our NormaTecⓇ compression boots treat overused leg muscles by employing customized pressure and massage to increase your blood flow and combat overuse fatigue.
We also use something called a percussion massage device, which is an electric handheld tool. We massage your whole body with it, and rather than pushing and pulling like when you get a manual massage, our Hypervolt Plus system by HypericeⓇ delivers pressurized pulses and vibrations to your skin.
This treatment increases your blood flow, expands your range of movement, helps eliminate toxins that hurt your performance, and delivers nutrients and oxygen to your muscles. Treatments help with pain, enhance performance, and increase your flexibility.
Finally, another valuable treatment we offer is blood flow restriction training and rehab, whereby we use the Owen Recovery Science system on your arm or leg. The tool we use is an inflatable tourniquet that limits blood flow as you exercise your limb. This gives your muscles more protein and energizes your metabolism to build and strengthen your muscles.
Give our office a call today at 646-491-9141 to set up a pre-spring sports evaluation, discuss any soreness you may have, and get your questions answered, or book an appointment online.
