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Sports Physical Therapy in St. Petersburg

A man and a woman in a room with exercise equipment.

What is Reactive Neuromuscular Training?

For every movement, there is a muscle, and for every muscle there is a nerve. This nerve and muscle relationship is the neuromuscular connection and it is key to moving optimally, improving performance, and reducing injury risk.

Nerves are to your muscles, as electricity is to the Tesla. It is the power source and it can be ramped up or ramped down depending on the state of your body and that relationship.

Neuromuscular training is a technique used by physical therapist to improve muscle activation, function, and restore movement patterns. When an injury occurs, this nerve muscle connection, the reaction time, and the speed of movement gets impaired and needs to be addressed to return to optimal function!

Types of Neuromuscular Training include:

1. Balance and core exercise for reaction and stability

2. Manual techniques – (PNF – peripheral neuromuscular facilitation)

3. Corrective exercise to improve body feel, spatial awareness, and movement patterns.

Is Reactive Neuromuscular Training Only For Injuries?

Neuromuscular training is not only for injuries and you don’t have to be a serious athlete either. This type of training is a great way to prevent injury before the sports season, during the sports season, and intermittently as people simply train in the gym.

We routinely have athletes come in for recovery or maintenance work in which we utilize neuromuscular training to improve activation, movement, and performance.

How Will Neuromuscular Training Help Me?

Neuromuscular training has many benefits that can help anyone who utilizes it. A great example is a sprained ankle. You roll your ankle after your foo turns in while walking, cutting, or running. Pain ensues and it might be hard to walk on it. Lot’s of people actually roll it again, even days or weeks after the first one. This happens largely because the ankle sprain actually affects the sensation, joint awareness, and the muscle’s response to maintaining to stability.

Specific therapeutic exercises to improve stability, reaction time, joint awareness and strength are essential to overcome an ankle sprain and return to the demands of your activity or sport. The same can be said for movement dysfunctions like over-pronation, knee valgus (knee diving inward), and hip drop!

If you are someone who wants to move more optimally for sport or for life, call our office at 727-258-7224 to speak directly with our doctor of physical therapy.