The sports medicine specialist holds a unique role in the nonsurgical care of active patients. Nonsurgical modalities are a range of treatments that are beneficial for athletes to prevent injuries, manage pain, facilitate recovery, and enhance performance without undergoing surgery.

These modalities are essential in sports medicine, as they offer non-invasive solutions to common musculoskeletal issues that athletes face. They can be used at various stages, including pre-injury for prevention, post-injury for rehabilitation, and during training to improve physical condition and performance. The choice of modality depends on the specific condition, its severity, the athlete’s overall health, and the sport’s demands. Nonsurgical modalities are low-cost treatment strategies with very few reported adverse events.

Some common modalities in sports medicine include:

Kinesiology Taping

Kinesiology tape is an elastic, adhesive tape designed to mimic the skin’s elasticity, allowing for a full range of motion while still providing support. It is used to facilitate the body’s natural healing process while providing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body’s range of motion. Kinesiology tape is also thought to improve lymphatic and blood flow, reduce pain, and enhance proprioceptive feedback.

Benefits include:

• Injury Prevention
• Injury Support and Protection
• Performance Enhancement
• Pain Reduction

Sports Massage Therapy

Sports massage is a specialized form of massage therapy that focuses on the needs of athletes and is tailored to the demands of their specific sports. It incorporates techniques from several massage therapies, such as Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, and trigger point therapy, to address the particular stress and trauma muscles undergo during intense physical activities. The primary goals of sports massage are to prepare for peak performance, prevent injuries, reduce the time needed for recovery and rehabilitation, and alleviate muscle pain and tension.

Sports massage is a valuable component of an athlete’s training regimen. It can enhance performance and aid in recovery.

Benefits include:

• Improved circulation
• Reduced muscle tension and stiffness
• Enhanced athletic performance
• Faster recovery
• Injury prevention
• Psychological benefits include stress reduction and enhanced well-being contributes to better performance.

Dry Needling

The treatment technique called dry needling is defined by the American Physical Therapy Association as a skilled intervention performed by a physical therapist that uses thin needles to penetrate the skin and stimulate underling myofascial trigger points, muscles, and connective tissue for the management of acute and chronic pain and movement impairments. No injection is involved. It is used in conjunction with physical therapy techniques to address acute and chronic pain. .The integration of Dry Needling into athletes’ wellness and recovery programs is supported by both historical use and emerging scientific evidence, suggesting benefits in pain relief, recovery acceleration, performance improvement, and overall well-being.

Blood Flow Restriction

Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) training, also known as occlusion training, is an expanding rehabilitation modality that involves the application of a pneumatic cuff or band around the proximal portion of a limb during exercise. The goal of BFR is to restrict venous blood flow return from the muscle, while still allowing arterial blood flow to the muscle. This method has gained significant attention in the realms of sports science, rehabilitation, and athletic training.

Blood flow restriction enhances rehabilitation, recovery and return to sports. Injury prevention benefits include improved muscle strength, reduced post-traumatic atrophy, heightens neuromuscular activity, decreases pain signals and increases bone mineral density, and can help patients make greater gains in strength training while lifting lighter loads. It is commonly used in recovery after ACL reconstruction.

Studies report that BFR increases muscle strength, enhances aerobic capacity, provides significant physiological benefits in a shorter period of time and with lower loads, making it an efficient training method, especially during periods of high training volume or when managing load to avoid overtraining. BFR also represents a way to decrease stress placed on the joints without compromising improvements in strength, whereas for postoperative, injured, or load-compromised individuals BFR represents a way to accelerate recovery and prevent atrophy. There is also growing evidence to suggest that it augments cardiovascular fitness and attenuates pain.

Cupping

Cupping therapy is a traditional form of alternative medicine that involves placing cups on the skin to create suction. The procedure aims to relieve muscle tension, improve circulation, and reduce inflammation, among other health benefits.

Studies show that it is safe and well tolerated without any adverse effects. Multiple clinical studies show that it is effective in managing chronic pain, knee osteoarthritis, and low back pain, neck pain. It decreases pain and inflammation, promotes blood flow and improves tissue properties.

These are just a few of the nonsurgical modalities available at CAO Sports Performance. CAO Sports Performance Center is dually focused on physical therapy and sports performance. Our team of renowned physicians, therapists, and coaches work together to help you recover well and achieve and maintain healthy sports performance. Contact us to schedule a consultation to learn how to recover well and enhance your performance on and off the field. We have offices in California, Leonardtown, and Waldorf Maryland for your convenience.

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References

• Trofa DP, Obana KK, et al. The Evidence for Common Nonsurgical Modalities in Sports Medicine, Part 1: Kinesio Tape, Sports Massage Therapy, and Acupuncture. J Am Acad Orthop Surg Glob Res Rev. 2020 Jan;4(1):e1900104. doi: 10.5435/JAAOSGlobal-D-19-00104. PMID: 32672727; PMCID: PMC7028772.
• Trofa DP, Obana KK, Herndon CL, Noticewala MS, Parisien RL, Popkin CA, Ahmad CS. The Evidence for Common Nonsurgical Modalities in Sports Medicine, Part 2: Cupping and Blood Flow Restriction. J Am Acad Orthop Surg Glob Res Rev. 2020 Jan;4(1):e1900105. doi: 10.5435/JAAOSGlobal-D-19-00105. PMID: 32672728; PMCID: PMC7028774.
• Cognetti DJ, Sheean AJ, Owens JG. Blood Flow Restriction Therapy and Its Use for Rehabilitation and Return to Sport: Physiology, Application, and Guidelines for Implementation. Arthrosc Sports Med Rehabil. 2022 Jan 28;4(1):e71-e76. doi: 10.1016/j.asmr.2021.09.025. PMID: 35141538; PMCID: PMC8811521.
• https://www.houstonmethodist.org/leading-medicine-blog/articles/2023/nov/blood-flow-restriction-training-produces-striking-results-for-elite-college-baseball-pitchers/#:~:text=BFR%20training%20involves%20the%20application,gains%20at%20lower%20exercise%20intensities.
• Wang L, Cai Z, Li X, Zhu A. Efficacy of cupping therapy on pain outcomes: an evidence-mapping study. Front Neurol. 2023 Oct 26;14:1266712. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1266712. PMID: 37965178; PMCID: PMC10640990.