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Sports physical therapy helps athletes and physically active people rehabilitate their injuries and enhance their performance, so they can return safely to sports or activities with fully restored pain-free function.
Sometimes, sports medicine physical therapy follows surgery, helping the athlete to regain confidence and restore functional mobility. The sports physical therapists at NYDNRehab use advanced technologies to monitor our patients’ progress, to ensure that each athlete is sufficiently rehabilitated to safely return to play.
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Clinical director & DC RMSK
Dr. Lev Kalika is one of NYC’s most authoritative sports medicine doctors. He has trained under some of the world’s most eminent names in sports medicine, including Dr. Pavel Kolar of the Czech School of Rehabilitation, and Dr. Christopher Powers, an expert in treatment and prevention of running and jumping injuries. Dr. Kalika is certified in a variety of therapeutic techniques, and has extensive training in diagnostic ultrasonography.
All therapists at NYDNRehab are trained and certified in two or more specialized therapeutic methods. Together, we combine our years of experience and expertise to help our athletes and physically active patients restore optimal function and reach new levels of performance, while reducing their risk of injury. For the best sports physical therapy in New York, choose NYDNRehab.
Athletic injuries are an inherent and accepted risk of participating in intense and competitive physical activity. Because athletes and fitness enthusiasts want to return to full activity as soon as possible, getting an accurate diagnosis and top-quality treatment is critical.
Sadly, conventional physical therapy for sports injuries often falls short, following one-size-fits-all approaches and generalized return-to-play timelines that set the athlete up for reinjury and premature retirement.
At NYDNRehab, we treat every athlete and every injury on a personalized basis. We never use cookie-cutter approaches or antiquated timelines that fail to fully prepare the athlete for return to play.
We go beyond treating pain and strengthening damaged tissues. Using our advanced diagnostic tools, we assess the athlete from head to toe, to identify motor deficiencies, biomechanical errors and imbalances that may contribute to or increase the risk of injury.
We draw on our extensive array of high-tech equipment and software to rehabilitate the athlete using evidence based scientific approaches and quantitative data, precisely measuring progress at every stage of rehab.
Once tissues have healed and strength has been restored, we keep going, using artificial intelligence and virtual reality feedback training to restore neuromotor pathways, retraining the brain and muscles for optimal coordinated muscle recruitment.
We don’t send our athletes back into competition until we are satisfied that they have regained or exceeded their pre-injury performance levels and can return to play with confidence. Our advanced training methodologies allow for faster return to play with lower risk of reinjury.
Sports injuries often arise from acute trauma, happening in a split second while the athlete is in motion. However, there are many other ways that athletes can become injured.
Overuse injuries from inadequate recovery strategies
Biomechanical errors that cause damage over time
Injuries from pivoting on a loaded joint
Sport-specific asymmetrical loading patterns that cause
imbalances over time
Sudden increases in training load or volume
Collisions with another athlete or obstacle
Inadequate warmup before intense exercise
Old injuries that were never properly rehabbed that
create inefficient compensation patterns
Many athletic injuries are misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed, leading to ineffective treatment and disappointing outcomes. Many times, the athlete suffers from more than one injury, but doctors focus on the predominant symptoms without looking for additional problems.
In addition, many practitioners lack the expertise or access to technology required to accurately diagnose and objectively measure critical performance parameters.
At NYDNRehab, we believe that what cannot be measured cannot be effectively treated. Our NYC clinic features some of the most technologically advanced diagnostic tools in the world.
Our diagnostic toolbox includes:
Ultra high-resolution research-grade ultrasonography to visualize injured tissues in real time, with the athlete in motion
Sonoelastography, to assess soft tissue damage and monitor the healing process
Superior microvascular imaging (SMI) to detect microscopic blood vessels that signal cell neogenesis
3D Gait and running analysis to identify mechanical gait errors
Surface electromyography (SEMG) to analyze muscle coordination and firing patterns
Force plate technology to assess weight distribution and ground reaction forces
3D infrared cameras to assess joint kinematics
Blood Flow Restriction Training (BFR)
Our team of sports medicine specialists recognize common sport-specific biomechanical errors that lead to injury. At NYDNRehab, our goal is to restore optimal motor patterns for peak performance. We treat the whole athlete, not just the injury.
We pull out all the stops to make sure our athletes return to sport in peak condition. Some of our assessment tools include:
Sports and Motion Analysis Tests
Sport-Specific Testing
Our patients with sports injuries are treated with the latest research-based approaches and advanced technologies for athletic rehabilitation. Proper rehabilitation not only ensures better performance, but provides a safeguard against future injuries.
Athletic injuries often cause compensation strategies that become habitual over time. This can lead to inefficient muscle recruitment patterns, asymmetrical muscle tension, and loss of confidence in the injured limb. In effect, the brain “forgets” how to recruit, coordinate and fire muscles in the most efficient way.
At NYDNRehab, we use real-time feedback retraining to restore optimal neuromotor pathways between the brain and body. Our advanced technologies enable us to build strength, agility and confidence, to reduce the risk of injury upon return to play. Our rehabilitative protocols are progressive, offering greater challenges as the injury heals and rehab approaches its end goal.
Our individualized approach to sports medicine physical therapy means that every athlete gets personalized treatment, based on objective data and according to the athlete’s specific needs. At NYDNRehab, we treat the athlete, not just the injury.
Our state-of-the-art treatment methodologies and technologies include
We use regenerative medicine to reduce pain and accelerate healing:
ESWT (Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy)
EMTT (Electromagnetic Transduction Therapy)
Ultrasound guided dry needling and injection therapies
Our methods are backed by research and encompass some of the most innovative methods and technologies available for the treatment of athletic injuries. The expertise of our staff, combined with our featured technologies, provides a one-of-a-kind rehabilitation experience not found in traditional physical therapy clinics.
Our methodologies are based on groundbreaking motion analysis technologies that allow us to identify and quantify multiple functional deficits, including:
Reactive strength
Proprioception
Eccentric control
Balance
Force production
Ground reactive forces
Tendon elasticity
Sensory-motor control
Reweighing
Repositioning
Neuro-cognitive processing
Our C.A.R.E.N system (Computer Assisted Rehab Environment) immerses patients in a virtual reality environment while their motion is captured by 12 infrared cameras that provide 360º real-time feedback. Used for both diagnosis and treatment, C.A.R.E.N provides precise therapeutic strategies based on objectively derived muscle activation patterns, eliminating human error.
Recent scientific research has proven that non-invasive interventions can render optimal clinical outcomes. At NYDNRehab, we steer clear of invasive and pharmacological treatment approaches.
Whether you come to our clinic post-surgery or immediately after your injury, our innovative and non-invasive therapies work with your body’s own self-healing mechanisms to optimize treatment outcomes, so you can safely and confidently return to play.
At NYDNRehab, we never take a cookie-cutter approach to patient care. Athletic injuries and motor strategies vary widely from one athlete to the next. We thoroughly examine and test each athlete and base our therapeutic solutions on your unique diagnosis. We provide one-on-one sports physical therapy, custom-designed for the individual athlete.
The expertise of the sports medicine specialists at NYDNRehab, combined with the most advanced technological tools in the world, make NYDNRehab’s sports physical therapy your top choice in NYC for athletic injuries and performance enhancement. If your goal is to return safely to play, contact NYDNRehab today and begin rehabbing your injury so you can get back in the game.
Contact us to discuss the solution for you
Clinical director & DC RMSK
HyunJu
YOO, PT, MPT, DPT, CPI (Licensed Physical Therapist)
Dr. Christina Pekar
DC
Dr. Michelle Agyakwah
DC
Mariam Kodsy
Physical Therapist
Below is a prime example of how ultrasound can take the guesswork out of diagnosis.
A bad physical therapy experience is one of the primary causes of unnecessary surgery
In this instance, an athlete was originally diagnosed with minor quadriceps muscle strain and was treated for four weeks, with unsatisfactory results. When he came to our clinic, the muscle was not healing, and the patients’ muscle tissue had already begun to atrophy.
Upon examination using MSUS, we discovered that he had a full muscle thickness tear that had been overlooked by his previous provider. To mitigate damage and promote healing, surgery should have been performed immediately after the injury occurred. Because of misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment, the patient now has permanent damage that cannot be corrected.
The most important advantage of Ultrasound over MRI imaging is its ability to zero in on the symptomatic region and obtain imaging, with active participation and feedback from the patient. Using dynamic MSUS, we can see what happens when patients contract their muscles, something that cannot be done with MRI. From a diagnostic perspective, this interaction is invaluable.
Dynamic ultrasonography examination demonstrating
the full thickness tear and already occurring muscle atrophy
due to misdiagnosis and not referring the patient
to proper diagnostic workup
Demonstration of how very small muscle defect is made and revealed
to be a complete tear with muscle contraction
under diagnostic sonography (not possible with MRI)
Complete tear of rectus femoris
with large hematoma (blood)
Separation of muscle ends due to tear elicited
on dynamic sonography examination
