Written by: Jonathon Cooper, PTA, NesinFIT @ Lincoln Mill Clinic Director
Prehab – also known as preventive rehab – is not a new concept. Yet, a lot of people aren’t familiar with this proactive approach. Prehab is something competitive athletes and health care personnel have used for years to not only help with rehab but also to help prevent injury. Increasing strength, improving stability and balance, learning proper techniques, and working on mechanical alignment are a few prehab activities that our experts at NesinFIT offer.
A young man recently scheduled with NesinFIT due to complaints of nagging back pain. A few months earlier, he had begun eating right and lifting weights regularly to become healthier and gain muscle mass. However, his back pain had started weeks earlier. As the pain was not unbearable and did not affect his ability to work out, he ignored it completely for several weeks. I think you know where this story goes… When his pain got to the point where it was affecting his workouts, he finally decided to seek help and schedule an evaluation.
At his initial evaluation, I was able to learn more about what led him here and examined the area of injury. To help reduce his pain and increase his mobility, I used manual therapy and stretching to reduce soft tissue restrictions in the injured area. After that, we utilized our facility’s gym space to help pinpoint the causes of his pain. Here was where we learned that his lifting techniques were very poor, and he didn’t understand the importance of proper body alignment. Therefore as a part of his personalized treatment plan, our team taught him proper techniques for lifting and helped strengthen the areas of his body to help reduce pain and keep him from returning with the same injuries.
Prehab is nothing more than injury prevention but can often make all the difference in keeping you injury free. By utilizing certain techniques before beginning a sport or season, as well as recovery techniques following practices or workouts, you can be proactive in preventing pain or injuries. If you’re interested in prehab, give one of our NesinFIT clinics a call to schedule an appointment- NesinFIT @ Lincoln Mill: 256.489.1100 or NesinFIT @ Madison: 256.461.9654.