Endurance Athletes: Restore Strength and Function with PT

My name is Jeremy Decker, and I’m one of the physical therapists here at Full Potential Physical Therapy. Today, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about endurance sports and endurance athletes. Typically, this includes runners, swimmers, and cyclists, but can also include other sports like hiking or rowing.

I have personal experience in endurance sports, having recently completed two Ironman triathlons, and I’m currently training for a marathon this spring. I’ve also completed several continuing education courses specific to running related injuries. I believe the human body is strong, resilient, and capable of doing really amazing things.

How to Minimize the Health Risk of Endurance Sports

Endurance sports are very good for one’s body and health and have many proven health benefits. However, one of the risks that go along with endurance sports are temporary musculoskeletal injuries. Proper training and maintaining joint and muscle health can be especially important to prevent and rehab these temporary musculoskeletal injuries, and physical therapy can be an important part of that process. 

Physical therapy has been a proven solution to musculoskeletal injuries, and those injuries related to endurance sports are very much included in that category. At Full Potential Physical Therapy, we will evaluate your issue using an orthopedic evaluation as well as a video running analysis. The purpose of the video running analysis is to identify ways to reduce load on the area of injury, as well as to help improve efficiency with your running. Oftentimes, these modifications to your running gait are minor and easy to implement.

We’ll Help You Reach Your Full Potential

If you’re an endurance athlete that has been or is currently limited by injuries, we would love to meet with you and discuss solutions. Or if you have had injuries in the past and you’re interested in becoming more active, whether it’s endurance sports or a fitness routine, we would love to meet with you and discuss ways to do that in a smart, healthy, and safe way. Give our office a call at (616) 537-2837 to set up a consultation or an evaluation.