Endurance Athletes and Their Needs...



26.08.22



By Free Motion Physiotherapy





Endurance = "time to fatigue"



Training - "you need to stress, not strain the system to create change"



Endurance athletes need to push themselves to maintain their physical strength for optimal performance. Therefore, as an endurance athlete, you need to take your health and well- being seriously. Including a Physiotherapist in your management can help you identify early stresses and reduce the risk of injury, which can lead to training limitations. A Physiotherapist can also identify and eliminate weaknesses allowing you to push your body to further limits.



Running, cycling, mountain biking or triathlon - any one of these endurance sports, require sustained submaximal work for a prolonged period. Training involves developing both general and event specific endurance as well as the mental toughness or “grit” needed to achieve your peak performance.


Whether you’re the type of athlete who likes to push for faster times and better placings, or you’re just looking to cross the finish line in one piece, it is important to understand your body and how best to train and look after yourself. A physiotherapist can help you be stronger, faster, and smarter about your training and racing.



Benefits of Sports Physiotherapy In Athletes:



1. Relief from Pain:

This can be from a current injury or merely stiffness or pain from the training program being followed


2. Improve Physical Strength:

A Physiotherapist can assess and identify any weak areas or possible risk factors and then design a specific exercise and strengthening program for your individual needs, that is both sport-specific and functional.



3. Better Understanding of your Body:

A Physiotherapist will help educate you on the biomechanics and movement patterns of your body.


4. Treatment for Injuries:

There is always a small chance or underlying risk of injury or accidents occurring. A Physiotherapist will help you speed up recovery so that you can return to your routine and training as soon as possible.



5. Prevention of Injuries:

Managing muscle lengths and maintaining mobility will limit the risk of overuse injuries. Tight muscles can lead to improper techniques resulting in muscle injuries, torn ligaments, and more.


6. Increased Muscle & Joint Flexibility:

Regardless of the type of sport, your level of flexibility contributes to your performance.



Physiotherapy treatment will follow a holistic approach including a full body assessment. This assessment will be evaluating how your body moves as a unit by putting you through the paces of different movement patterns, from various sitting and standing positions to sports-specific movements, where relevant. It will take into consideration your level of discomfort, and the goal will be to identify any weak areas, possible risk factors and where you might have some breakdowns in what we call your kinetic chain (all the interrelated joints, muscles, and body parts and how they work together). The goal is to make sure that all your muscles, tendons and joints are strong and supple enough to prevent injury.


After assessment the physiotherapist will develop a plan that will include manual therapies to improve movement control, joint mobility and tissue function as well as exercises for strengthening, flexibility and functional rehabilitation.



Contact us!



For any enquiries, please feel free to contact us.

Phone: +27(87) 702 7850

Email: info@freemotionphysio.co.za

Website: www.freemotionphysio.co.za



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