Sport Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy for Basketball
Basketball is an exciting and fast-paced sport, requiring different types of physical, cognitive and mental skills and abilities. Due to the nature of the game, injuries can be very common and we would be more than happy to assess and provide treatment for them, in order to enable to you to continue playing basketball or facilitate a return to the sport.
Common Basketball Injuries
There are many injuries that can be sustained whilst playing basketball, involving the upper and lower limbs. Due to the fast paced rhythm of the game and the need to quickly change direction, ankle ligament injuries are by far the most common. Further lower limb injuries include inner or outer ligament injuries of the knee (medial or lateral collateral ligaments), patella tendonitis, Achilles tendonitis and turf toe. More serious injuries would include anterior or posterior cruciate ligament tears and meniscal tears.
Most commonly seen upper limb injuries include finger sprains, shoulder impingement syndrome, and shoulder ligament tears. In more severe cases, players may experience finger or shoulder dislocations.
Younger athletes face the risk of conditions related to stresses placed on their skeletal system. Osgood Schlatter’s, Sinding Larsen Syndrome and Severs Disease are all conditions that are brought on by increased stresses on an immature skeleton. Treatment and careful monitoring and management of activity levels can help with easing painful symptoms.
Reducing the risk of a Basketball injury
In order to reduce the risk of a Basketball related injury, it is vital that your training programme consists of mobility, stretching, strengthening, sport specific movement patterns and proprioception.
Tight muscles can cause imbalances and restrictions that can increase the risk of injury, so it is important that joints are kept mobile and elastic structures are appropriately stretched. Strengthening muscles not only improves the muscle’s capabilities, but adds support to the structures they surround to decrease the risk of failure. It is key to include the correct mixture of stretching and strengthening to ensure there is a balance between stability and mobility.
Proprioception is the brain’s awareness of joint and limb position. It is important that this is continually trained, especially to reduce the risk of ankle sprains. It is also fundamental, that after a traumatic injury, proprioception is trained to reprogram the neural pathways that may have been altered by any change in the joint position. At Metro, your therapist will have a plethora of sport specific exercises to prescribe, ensuring a smooth transition back to sport.
Treatments following a Basketball njury
Most of our therapists are directly involved in sport, so understand the demands that are required. Varying treatment techniques are employed to aid in the rehabilitation of a sporting injury. Your therapist will assess and observe your biomechanics to identify any underlying dysfunction that could have caused the injury or lead to a repeat injury. Following this, a plan will be formulated to overcome any issues that are detected.
Treatment sessions will be tailored towards the individual and the injury, but will typically consist of some of the following techniques; deep tissue massage, deep frictional massage, trigger point release, joint mobilisations, fascial release, Ultrasound Therapy, acupuncture, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, taping/strapping and a specific tailored exercise programme
Basketball Injury Therapist
All our physiotherapists are more than capable of treating basketball-related injuries, however it is something Greg has a special interest in. He started playing basketball from a very young age, and maintained his involvement with the sport by giving physiotherapy to basketball players of the Manchester Magic and Mystics teams for approximately 6 years, including senior and junior teams
You can find our clinics across Greater Manchester and Merseyside, so if you have a Basketball related injury then Please click here to contact us as our team of therapists are ready to help you.