Pain Management Treatments to Improve Your Athletic Performance
Improve Your Performance with These Pain Management Options
Every person reacts differently to pain. While some can tolerate it and continue with their daily lives, pain can be debilitating to others and it can hinder their daily functions. Managing pain is especially worrisome for people who play sports because it doesn’t let them perform at their highest level.
Getting physical therapy that involves training and strengthening of the body parts where you feel pain can be helpful in providing short term relief. However, as an athlete, if you want to get rid of pain in the long run, you need to understand your pain management options and which ones can improve your athletic performance. Athletes who are in pain seek medical guidance because they want to get back on track and compete again in their respective sports.
Understanding Pain and Its Effect on Your Athletic Performance
If you have heard of the motto, “No pain, No Gain,” then you know that pain is an inevitable part of progress. It is an everyday experience for athletes and most of the time pain is synonymous to sports. Most athletes love the challenge of pushing through pain and sometimes success is measured through how each individual athlete is able to overcome pain.
However, pain tolerance differs from person to person. While some can still perform and compete even when they are enduring pain, the effects of pain can be very evident through their performance.
Pain can stop you from experiencing the full range of motion of your muscles. If you are suffering from chronic pain, your physical performance will also be affected and you will not be able to run, jump, push and pull like you did when you were at 100%. Here are some pain management treatments that you can try if you are an athlete suffering from pain.
Back Pain Treatments
Back pain affects the way you stand, sit, walk and lift your legs. There are many causes of back pain, including bad posture and habits, sports injuries and accidents.
If you are experiencing back pain, there are some treatments that you can try. There are rehabilitation exercises that you can do to get relief from your back pain. If you want relief from pain, you can try minimally invasive treatments such as interventional spine injections, epidural injections, radiofrequency ablation and lumbar sympathetic block treatments. These treatments alleviate back pain especially when paired with proper exercise and diet.
Joint Pain Treatments
Joint pains are sometimes caused by medical conditions. But, if you are an active athlete and you know that your joint pain is caused by injuries, strains or sprains, there are proper joint pain management treatments that you can try depending on where it hurts.
You have a ton of options for joint pain treatments such as steroid injection, viscosupplement injections, nerve blocks, nerve ablation and platelet rich plasma, and stem cell injections. To find out which treatment would work best for you, book and appointment with our trusted pain management center in Charlotte, NC to get your joints checked.
Head Pain Treatments
A headache is one of the most common pains that athletes experience, and their activities are hindered by headache symptoms. It is very common for headaches to be caused by a neck condition. When you visit your physiatrist, he or she will perform an extensive physical examination to try to determine the underlying cause of your head pain.
Head pain can be treated through rest and other head pain management procedures. Dr. Usman Ahmad of Advanced Sports & Spine, PLLC uses an interdisciplinary approach to treat headaches caused by neck conditions. Occipital nerve blocks, Selective Nerve Block (SNRB) injection and Trigger Point injections are some of the options that you have to get relief from a headache. These work by reducing the swelling of the nerves and tissues to safely and effectively eliminate head pain and discomfort.
Regenerative Medicine
Regenerative medicine is becoming a popular pain management treatment for athletes. Examples of these regenerative medicine treatments are Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) and Stem Cell Treatments.
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a non-surgical procedure that is used to treat pain caused by musculoskeletal conditions. It is great for boosting the healing process of joints, ligaments and injured tendons and muscles.
Stem cell therapy, on the other hand, is one of the most innovative treatment options for severe injuries. This treatment works by promoting the repair and replacement of damaged tissues.
For proven pain management treatments in Charlotte, NC, Advanced Sports & Spine, PLLC is the number one choice for athletes and normal patients alike. We provide a free MRI reading on your visit to find out what is causing your pain.
Contact us at 704-542-3988 to book an appointment now. Dr. Ahmad will attend to your needs and provide relief to your pain so you can perform your best again!