We all find ourselves striving to be the best we can be, whether that is a parent, friend, partner or sportsperson. When you are an athlete, it comes with the territory to push and persevere through sometimes very intense training to try and improve physical performance.

Striving for improvement is good, but sometimes the ways we go about it are not necessarily beneficial. In fact, they may even be detrimental to our sporting performance.

Sports physiotherapists often see clients for the first time following an injury, likely sustained by pushing themselves too hard, too quickly. Fortunately, many injuries can be avoided with some help and guidance from a physio – and that doesn’t mean lowering your level of performance.

It is well known that sports physiotherapists are the experts at helping athletes recover from injuries and have them back playing sport safely and successfully. The other lesser-known key advantage to visiting a sports physio is that they have all the expertise and knowledge to help improve your sporting performance.

Helping You Perform at Your Best

Melbourne Sports Physiotherapy have a team of qualified and experienced physios who will work closely with you to have you performing at your optimal level, regardless of your preferred activity.

Finding Your Weak Spots

You may not like hearing it, but everyone has weak spots because all bodies have different strengths and weaknesses. A sports physio will undertake a thorough assessment to find where your weak spots are so they can be targeted during future sessions. 

Straight away this will give you an advantage when it comes to your performance as well as minimising the risk of injury. Taking your weak spots into account means you can be proactive and consider them when warming up, training or engaging in exercise.

Good Team Work

You should expect your physio to work closely with you at all times. They should be across your training sessions and your coach’s expectations as part of the team. The more information they have, the better they can tailor your program to have you performing at your best. 

Communicating with coaches or members of your team keeps everyone on the same page to assist with having a cohesive and organised training plan.

Rest and Recover

Serious athletes go hard and that means they are often exhausted, and their bodies fatigued. Muscles need some recovery periods because tight, shortened and tense muscles and stiff joints can easily result in injury. 

Sports physios can compile a recovery session which focuses on reducing muscle tension and helping with delayed onset muscle soreness. This means less chance of injury and higher performance levels.

Muscle Strengthening

Ensuring your stabilising muscles are strong will help prevent injury by providing stability and increasing endurance. These muscles don’t help directly to move the load, rather they work on keeping certain body parts stable and steady.

So, when you are training, don’t just focus on strengthening your primary muscles because that can lead to them over-compensating and result in poor technique, lower endurance and even injury. Keep your stabilisers active to improve your overall performance.

Use Good Technique

Always having good technique when exercising is vital for safety and also for boosting your performance. A sports physio can check your technique by watching you during your activity and provide advice on how to do some things differently.

Changing your technique can take a little getting used to and it is ideal for you and your physio to work with your coaches until it becomes a habit for you.

Noticing Something That’s Not Quite Right

Having a sports physiotherapist alongside you during training sessions and playing sport allows them to closely monitor and track your performance. They may spot something going on with your movement that is worth investigating to help you avoid a potential injury. 

Advice may be to lessen your training load for a period of time to allow for improvement. While it may be frustrating to reduce your time in the game, remember it could stop a little ‘niggle’ from becoming a serious injury. So, overall, you will benefit as you can still make improvements and stay active.

Watching athletes succeed and reaching levels perhaps only dreamt of is a great part of being a sports physio. If you want to take your performance up a notch, contact the team at Melbourne Sports Physiotherapy by phoning or making an online appointment. They are looking forward to working with you and sharing the journey of reaching your maximum potential.

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