Pilates and Physical Therapy for Athletic Performance
How to Enhance Your Game With Advanced Techniques
For athletes, improving performance isn’t just about higher scores and winning records. Optimizing physical performance helps reduce the risk of injury and unlock more enjoyment on the field, court, or golf course.
Working with a Physical Therapist can help athletes achieve their performance goals, especially when it’s combined with Pilates. By integrating advanced Pilates techniques with physical therapy, athletes can build strength and movement patterns specifically relevant to their sports.
Here at Pilates in the Grove, we use advanced Pilates and physical therapy techniques to help a diverse group of athletes — including NBA players — optimize their safety and performance. Read on to learn how this holistic approach works and see how we’ve used it to help various professional athletes reach their career goals.
How Pilates improves physical therapy results for athletes
Physical therapy on its own can be extremely beneficial for athletes. Targeted movements and exercises help reduce injury recovery times and lower the risk of getting injured again. Because Pilates involves both the body and mind, it can help athletes heal faster and improve the movements and mechanics essential to their sports.
Pilates helps you better understand where your body is in space. With a better understanding of how your body moves, you can run faster and hit the ball farther and with more accuracy. Pilates helps you build flexibility and strength simultaneously, especially at the end ranges of motion (where many athletic movements occur). This leads to better symmetry and body control during activity. Strong, more flexible muscles are also less prone to soft tissue injuries. Plus, a deeper knowledge of your body also mitigates injuries that occur with constant stress on an athlete’s body.
Combining Pilates and physical therapy techniques
Because every athlete is different, each one will have a slightly different physical therapy plan incorporating certain Pilates techniques. However, there are some basic principles that apply in most cases.
Here at Pilates in the Grove, our physical therapists have a specific protocol they use with all PT clients:
Assessment: We start by conducting a thorough assessment of flexibility, range of motion, strength, endurance, and balance.
Movement mechanics: We also evaluate basic movement patterns, including standing, squatting, rolling, lifting, twisting, and bending.
Sport: We discuss the challenges they’re experiencing in their sport and identify areas of recurring pain or injury.
Goals: Finally, we talk about their goals so we can build a personalized program for them.
Every physical therapy plan we create is customized for the client. It’s based on their body, challenges, and goals. We incorporate physical therapy techniques with Pilates movements to optimize results and give clients the knowledge and tools they need to maintain those results after the treatment plan ends.
Tailoring Pilates and physical therapy for NBA players
Just like athletes, all sports are different. So, performance enhancement plans have to be customized for the sport as well as the athlete.
As an example, let’s look at how our team developed a Pilates and physical therapy treatment plan for an NBA player we worked with. This particular player was a power forward, a position that required him to rebound and take up space on defense. He also needed to be able to quickly move from one side of the court to the other.
This player wanted to improve his performance on defense by increasing his wingspan so he could cover more space with his arms. He also wanted to increase stamina so he could use that end range of motion for longer periods of time.
We created a physical therapy plan that incorporated Pilates exercises to expand that range of motion. There were also exercises designed specifically to increase strength in that arms-extended position, allowing this player to achieve his goals for better defensive performance.
With a different NBA player, we created a plan focused on hip and ankle mobility. This player wanted to stay in defensive positions longer and also break out of them quickly when necessary. By focusing on mobility in specific areas, we helped this player feel more comfortable in those defensive postures and react faster when he needed to move to a different position.
Outstanding results for injured professional athletes
Pilates and physical therapy can help with injury recovery as well as performance enhancement. We’ve worked with athletes to minimize the impact of injuries on their season. One of our basketball players played every game during his entire season — he didn’t have to miss even one game due to an injury.
Another player worked with us following surgery. Our combined physical therapy and Pilates approach helped him stay active and fit during his recovery period, ensuring that he could jump back into his sport as quickly (and safely) as possible.
Up your game at Pilates in the Grove
Whether you’re a professional athlete or you just want to see better scores in your recreational sports activities, we’re here to help. The staff at our Miami Pilates and physical therapy studios have decades of experience working with athletes of all ages and levels, from pickleball enthusiasts to NBA players.
We’re here to support your athletic goals. If you’re recovering from an injury, we’ll help you get back on the field safely and quickly.
But you don’t have to wait until you’re injured to schedule an appointment! We can also help you upgrade your performance and reduce your risk of injuries. Just tell us what your goals are, and we’ll create a plan to help you build strength, improve your flexibility, expand your range of motion, and optimize your technique.
Ready to get started? Book a physical therapy assessment at our Coconut Grove of South Miami studio today!