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Sports Injury Care and Return to Play
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If you are a professional athlete, elite performer or just a weekend warrior, HPT is the place for you.
Mark Taylor, PT, who was recently inducted into the Marshall University Sports Medicine Hall of Fame, leads his team of professionals with 25 years of experience. HPT provides not only treatment in the office, but is often found on the fields and courts of play in the Tri-State area.
HPT follows the patient from the acute management stage to strengthening and conditioning to evaluation of return to play skills in the sports environment. And if the athlete chooses, our High Intensity Athletic Development Program at the HIT Center can further improve his skills.
HPT attends sports injury clinics at Scott Orthopedic Center to evaluate the athlete with the physician and to develop a plan of treatment customized to meet the athlete's needs. The communication between the therapist and the physician is imperative to successful rehabilitation.
Bracing and soft casts are also provided by HPT to meet the needs of those athletes with minor injuries who can still participate in sports during the healing process. These modifications can assist in quick and safe return to play under the physician and therapist's supervision.
HPT has developed special programs and protocols for:
- Women athletes, emphasizing lower extremity balance and exercises to train hips, knees and feet to function in proper alignment. Women tend to land differently than men due to the Q angle that causes the knee to drive inward.
- ACL injuries are rehabilitated to move individuals from non-weight bearing to full-weight bearing, edema management, and return to full function.
- Elbow injuries, also known as "little league elbow" or "tennis elbow," can be caused by overuse and/or improper body mechanics, which cause inflammation or tendonitis. Treatment concentrates on first reducing the inflammation and pain, then progresses to teaching proper body mechanics, proper stretches, proper strengthening and conditioning exercises.
- Back injuries may occur with many sports. The McKenzie approach to evaluation and treatment gives us the foundation for great outcomes and empowers the athlete to use techniques to prevent back pain in the future. Evaluation is the cornerstone to our back program, determining what produces the pain, classifying the derangement of the spine, and then exploring what movements and positions decrease the pain. After the pain is decreased, patient education continues, home programs are designed, and specific back stabilization, postural corrections and exercises are given to strengthen abdominal muscles and the muscles that support the spine.
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