Why an Athletic Therapist Should Be Your Go-to For Your Sports Injuries

Injuries are never fun, but they are unfortunately a fact of life. Choosing the right professional can mean the difference between bouncing back fully, or dealing with an injury that keeps bouncing back. One profession you may not have heard of - but should know about - is athletic therapy.

Athletic therapy grew from the world of sports and has been dealing with athletic injuries for a long time. You have probably seen athletic therapists without knowing it— if you’re ever watching a sport like rugby or hurling and you see a member of the team staff run out to attend to an injured player, there’s a good chance that is an athletic therapist. This is because athletic therapists have extensive and ongoing training in the assessment of on-field acute injuries, but also in emergency care, including concussion assessment. Athletic therapists are trained to quickly sport whether an injury is serious and decide if it is safe to keep playing. Athletic therapists can be found at all levels of sport, from youth leagues all the way up to the professional and international level, ensuring participants stay safe. They are an integral part of the team because of this ability to assess and manage injuries right when they occur, setting the stage for recovery right from the get-go.

Athletic therapists also have extensive training in injury rehabilitation. This is more of a clinical setting where the athletic therapist takes their time to fully assess an injury or pain you have been dealing with, and then provides a treatment plan to help you get better. Because athletic therapists deal with active individuals and those who play sports, we know what the demands of sports are and therefore the rehab needs to be a little more than what you might think of with typical rehab. This is because the goal is to get you back to your sport or activity— the rehab needs to prepare you for this return. As such, athletic therapists don’t just focus on easing pain— it’s about building the strength, control, and confidence you need to get back to your sport and stay there.

From the moment an injury happens on the field to the final stage of your recovery, athletic therapists are trained to manage the whole journey.

This shouldn’t intimidate you though, if you feel you are not active enough or not a high-level athlete to see an athletic therapist. Athletic therapy really is for anyone who moves and wants a rehab approach that respects that. Athletic therapy takes an active approach to sports injury rehab because movement and exercise are what prepares you for that return to sports with more resilience and the confidence to participate without fear of reinjury.

Athletic therapy is a trusted part of the sports medicine world, but more importantly it is built around helping people recover and return to their sports. They are woven into the sports and activity community, from the sideline to the clinic, helping people recover stronger and get back to what they love. If you’re active, dealing with pain, or just want to move with more confidence, athletic therapy is built for you.

The Story Behind the Name

Coming up with a name for my virtual athletic therapy services was a long and challenging process with lots of brainstorming and revisions. I wanted a name that not only would I be proud of, but would also reflect my philosophy and approach to rehabbing sports-related injuries. After testing out several names and thinking I had finally found the one, I kept coming back to Bend Without Breaking for the literal and figurative message behind the name.

Literally: many people who have experienced an injury or are dealing with pain in their daily lives often come out of their first appointment feeling like they are broken. They’re often told of all of these different mechanical or movement-based reasons for why they are in pain, such as their posture or how they run. They are then given all of these “diagnoses” followed by exercises to try and correct these issues. This leaves many people feeling that there is something wrong with them, that they have to change how they move, or they won’t get better. This is especially true when it comes to those with low back pain where they become afraid of bending their back or else they will make things worse. While we do know that certain movements and positions can be painful, this doesn’t mean that we’re broken or making things worse. Often times, we just need strategies to help manage pain, let things calm down, and then slowly build ourselves back up. Even with an injury, we are allowed to move, and it is often needed to help facilitate recovery.

Figuratively: we are adaptable human beings. When we expose ourselves to the right amount of stress, say when we work out in the gym, our body responds by getting stronger. If we continue to do this, our bodies become more and more resilient to the stresses we place upon ourselves, making us better able to tolerate all kinds of loads. This is ultimately what influences injury— the balance between the stress we place upon ourselves and our ability to tolerate that stress. If we can build for ourselves a larger window or capacity to tolerate stress, we’re less likely to get injured, even when we do push ourselves a little more.

Bend Without Breaking – the ability to adapt, respond, spring back and grow stronger in the face of challenges or adversity, embodying strength, flexibility and persistence; a balance of toughness and resilience - like a branch that sways in the wind but does not snap.

My main goal is to teach people that they are not broken, but rather unique individuals with the ability to adapt and spring back from an injury; to build resilience and confidence in themselves to continue with the activities they enjoy. The image that kept coming back into my mind when I think about my treatment approach was that tree branch swaying in the gust of wind, bending to the stress of the wind and not breaking, but rather returning back to its resting position when the wind stops.