Category: Athletes

Common Knee Injuries: ACL, MCL, & Meniscus

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As the largest joint in the body, and one with multiple moving parts and connections, common knee injuries are something we deal with often. Some occur from acute trauma when the pain of the injury is definite and sudden, and others are the result of repetitive motion or wear and tear over time. The latter is generally suspected following a period of gradually increased pain, weakness, and/or stiffness during and after activity. 

Knee pain is one of the most common reasons people seek sports chiropractic care. Following the well-known RICE method (Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation) for the initial relief of swelling and pain, sports chiropractic offers a number of diagnostic and rehabilitation therapies to effectively treat acute and chronic knee pain. 

* Ultrasound imaging
* Interferential therapy
* Trigger point therapy, soft tissue/deep tissue massage
* Eventual introduction of strengthening and stabilizing exercises to improve mobility & function

These therapies are great non-surgical ways for addressing pain from ligament injuries, meniscus tears, and other common knee-related issues, but also work as a complementary treatment when surgery is required.  

Ligament Injuries

The knee has four main ligaments that work together to provide strength and stability during various back-and-forth and side-to-side motions. 

* Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
* Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL)
* Medial collateral ligament (MCL)
* Lateral collateral ligament (LCL) 

Ligament injuries, particularly to the ACL and MCL, are not a rare occurrence among athletes. When any part of the knee is forcibly overextended due to traumatic impact to the joint or an awkward landing during activity, the ligaments can fail to adequately support the motion. When pressed beyond capacity, ligaments can be strained and torn.

The pain, swelling, and bruising experienced are dependent upon the severity of the injury. When dealing with a Type I or II ligament injury, defined as a sprain or partial tear, chiropractic adjustments to the knee joint can help improve functionality and mobility in the area and both encourage quicker healing times and help prevent further damage. 

Once completely torn, ligaments often require surgery.  In these cases, sports chiropractic care is an invaluable adjunct approach to rehabbing the knee following surgery to offer more complete healing in a shorter time period. 

Meniscus tears

A torn meniscus is common in athletes who participate in sports requiring a lot of jumping and twisting or sudden change in direction while running. Volleyball, football, and soccer are good examples. Wear and tear over time, especially when combined with sudden cutting and pivoting motions, can result in a meniscus tear, which can be quite painful. While these injuries can occur on their own, they often accompany ACL injuries. 

Mild to moderate meniscus tears, whether degenerative or traumatic, usually don’t require surgery, with patients being told to rest the knee, and treat pain and inflammation while the meniscus calms down. Eventually, physical therapy is introduced to help patients regain mobility.

But instead of just waiting, why not try sports chiropractic care? The meniscus actually responds extremely well to therapies like myofascial release applied to the muscles surrounding the meniscus, dry needling, Active Release Technique, and corrective exercises designed to strengthen the structures of the knee during healing and provide relief and protection from future injury.  

Because injuries are inevitable for athletes, sports chiropractic care should be a regular part of any training program. Designed to identify weaknesses in the structure of the knee and the connecting muscles of the leg that lead to pain and injuries, sports chiropractic can assist in the rehabilitation of the knee and get you back into pain-free training. 

Even when there is a known knee injury, sports chiropractic care begins with a full-body assessment to identify biomechanic issues — such as poor quadricep strength, gluteal weakness, patellofemoral tracking disorders, and foot over or under pronation — that have potentially led to knee instability, and work to correct those issues while addressing the knee pain. 

If you are experiencing new or chronic knee pain, contact Dynamic Sports Medicine today for an evaluation. Training through your pain may lead to more serious issues down the road.  

 

Chiropractic Care for Sports Injury Rehabilitation

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Speed Recovery and Prevent Re-injury

If you’re involved in any kind of sports activity, you’ve probably experienced a sports-related injury in one form or another. Strains, sprains, tears, and fractures, among other complaints, are often common byproducts of being physically active over time. 

Whether for a team sport such as football or soccer, or solo activity like running or dancing, hours of training result in natural wear and tear on the body causing many people to train in pain.  In addition, sports injuries sustained from tackles, falls, improperly warming up, and overtraining leave many people sidelined for long periods of passively waiting for injuries to heal. 

Chiropractic care can help keep you in the game by assisting with active healing, reducing both recovery time and the likelihood of re-injury.

How does chiropractic care help in sports rehab?

Chiropractors specialize in body alignment issues and routinely perform manual adjustments of the spine to ensure, among other things, proper movement and maximum mobility. Properly aligned and balanced bodies allow muscles, ligaments, and tendons to work together instead of against each other in the performance of physical tasks. By identifying and correcting alignment issues, allowing the body to work in balance, chiropractors can both treat and help prevent injuries of the neck, back, shoulder, knee, and ankle.

Often, when extremely sore or mildly injured, an athlete will change their gait, grip, or other motion to allow themselves to still participate in their sport. This not only prevents the original injury from healing properly, but it can also create new issues in other areas.

By performing a detailed assessment of body alignment, a chiropractor can identify causes of pain and inflammation leading to a patient’s impaired range of motion, and with gentle chiropractic adjustments restore the neck and spine to proper form.  This can relieve pain in the immediate area, and eliminate pressure on nerves that might be causing radiating pain in the extremities.

Resting the affected area is generally advised, but isn’t always enough on its own for complete healing, particularly when dealing with chronic or recurring pain.  Including chiropractic care as part of your sports rehab allows you to be proactive with your healing process and get you back to your usual activity in less time.

Injuries are a possibility when participating in almost any sport, but there is no doubt that the benefits far outweigh the risks in your efforts to be physically fit. However, it’s important to treat sports injuries quickly no matter how minor, so talk to us about how chiropractic care can be a valuable part of your sports injury rehabilitation, as well as a beneficial, ongoing part of your physical fitness program.

 

Top 5 Benefits of Routine Chiropractic Care

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It is estimated that chiropractors care for 30 million Americans annually and those numbers keep rising each year. Chiropractic care is a natural, safe and holistic approach to spinal care. It is an effective way to address certain injuries and recurring pain that may put the spine in an abnormal state. Many people associate chiropractic with back and neck pain, but chiropractic therapy can improve function across your entire body. A wide range of patients seeking optimal wellness and pain relief can all benefit from routine chiropractic care.

If you haven’t been to a chiropractor before or only visit on occasion for specific care, there are several benefits to making routine chiropractic care part of your well being resolution.

Better Mobility

The type of activity most people perform on a daily basis exposes them to stress and tension, causing spinal misalignment which leads to pain and loss of mobility. Playing sports, running, sitting at a desk all day or working on your feet for hours at a time can cause misalignment. Chiropractic treatment works with a series of bone adjustments and stretches that helps to improve range of movement, mobility and reduces pressure on the joints. This also improves blood circulation which, as a result, improves blood oxygen within the muscles.

Pain Relief

Pain, usually in the neck and back, is one of the most common reasons for visiting a chiropractor. Whether it is pain related to a sports injury, an accident, faulty mechanics, multiple repetitive motions, lack of core strength and flexibility, or an underlying spinal misalignment, they may all contribute to pain. Chiropractic care for pain not only offers traditional spinal adjustments for immediate relief, but many effective complimentary therapies like soft tissue manipulation, massage, and specialized stretches and exercises will keep you pain free.

Shorter Healing Times

Even with the most proactive preventative care, sometimes sports injuries happen. Chiropractic care uses a variety of therapy options such as electrical pulse stimulation, dry needling, myofascial massage and other techniques to encourage faster and more complete healing. In fact, studies show that chiropractic care is often better than conventional therapy options at reducing pain and restoring function—and without prescription medications.

Prevention of further injury

Alignment issues cause unnecessary stress on the body and can often lead to more serious injury. With consistent chiropractic treatment, patients are at less at risk of further injury since their bodies are stronger and in proper alignment.

Improved Immune Function

One of the main causes of immune system problems comes from subluxations, or compression of nerve pathways. Our immune system is directly connected to our spinal health and if the spine is out of alignment, it can disrupt our entire nervous system. Thus, weakening our immunity, making some more prone to colds, flu and other illnesses. Chiropractic care combines a variety of spinal manipulation to help relieve compression that can improve your immune system function. Caring for misalignments at the source produces faster results and an effective pathway to improved health.

Chiropractic care can help relieve discomfort, speed healing, identify ways to prevent future injuries, and improve your overall wellness. If you are ready to bring your health routine to the next level in 2020, call Dynamic Sports Medicine today and schedule your visit!

Home Remedies for Plantar Fasciitis

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Plantar fasciitis is a whole-body issue that requires a whole-body solution, which is why sports chiropractic is so effective at helping it. The chiropractic approach to healing is not just centered on pain relief, but in identifying imbalance and dysfunction wherever it is in the body that has resulted in foot and ankle pain.

Our care options for building strength and stability, increasing blood flow, and improving overall foot functionality to heal plantar fasciitis are non-invasive and don’t involve medications, injections, or surgical interventions. 

But home care to complement in-office therapy is extremely important to completing rehabilitation. Below are several proven effective ways you can assist your sports chiropractic therapies and better encourage recovery from plantar fasciitis. 

Lower Extremity Stretches

Tight, restricted calf muscles increase the strain on the plantar fascia, which both leads to overpronation of the foot and causes limited ankle dorsiflexion (the amount you can pull your toes toward your body.) 

Regularly stretching the muscles in the calf and arch of the foot is good for both rehabilitation and prevention of foot pain, because it creates strength and adds stability to the area. Begin with gentle stretches based on your own personal flexibility level, and increase the tension as you establish your stretching routine. Repeat each stretch 10X per foot/leg beginning with one session per day and eventually increasing to two, preferably at the beginning and end of each day. Hold the stretches for 10-20 seconds before releasing. 

Soleus Stretch (Calf Raises on a Step)

Stand upright with the front half of one foot on the edge of a step or curb. Slowly let the heel drop toward the ground until you feel a stretch along the back of the calf. This can also be done facing a wall by stepping one foot back and leaning into the wall until you feel a stretch. 

Straight Leg Calf Stretch (Dorsiflexion Stretch)

Sit upright with legs stretched out in front of you, and, leaving legs on the floor, slowly pull/point the toes up toward the face until you feel a stretch along the back of the heel and leg. This can also be done facing the wall by pressing just the toes of one foot against the baseboard and leaning in for the stretch. This one can be done before even getting out of bed in the morning!

Anterior Tibialis Stretch

With one foot flat on the floor, place the top of the toes of the other foot on the ground and gently press until you feel a stretch in the top of the foot and up the shin. This can be done seated or standing. 

Tripod Stretch 

Begin on all fours and press the hips up into a tripod (triangle) position with knees bent. Tuck one ankle behind the other and slowly straighten the standing leg until you feel a stretch on the back of the ankle and calf. 

Therapeutic Tools

There are a number of easily accessible, therapeutic tools that can help increase the strength and mobility of the foot.  Foam rollers, mobility sticks, textured balls, and resistance bands are all great for encouraging the release of tight muscles and helping improve blood flow and flexibility. 

Rolling out tight and sore muscles in the calf and hamstrings with a foam roller before and after stretching warms the muscles and increases blood flow. As a bonus, it assists the lymphatic system in flushing the body of toxins.

Placing a textured ball or TheraBand roller under the arch of the foot and rolling it back and forth stimulates the nerve endings on the bottom of the foot and increases blood flow to the area. This is easy to do while resting or watching television. 

For those with severe pain and limited flexibility, resistance bands can assist in stretching. By placing bands around the toes and pulling the toes/bands toward the torso, patients can get a more passive stretch, but still effectively enhance dorsiflexion. 

Orthotics

Plantar fasciitis pain from tight calf muscles and over-pronated feet can often be addressed with supportive shoes or other orthotics. While these types of aids don’t address the root cause of the pain, they do often offer some temporary physical relief when on your feet.

Turmeric Supplementation

It can be tempting to repeatedly reach for NSAIDs when struggling with foot pain, but plantar fasciitis can take weeks and even months to heal. Taking OTC anti-inflammatories for an extended period can have a host of side effects including gastrointestinal issues, disrupted hormone levels (especially in men), and a polluted microbiome. Just one week of taking NSAIDs as directed can increase your risk of stroke by adversely affecting an enzyme that promotes clotting!  

In addition, NSAIDs can impair the ability to build muscle which can be counterproductive to the strengthening exercises involved in rehab, so it may actually slow the healing process. 

Turmeric, on the other hand, improves the body’s ability to heal in a variety of ways.
* reduces systemic inflammation
* encourages collagen production to speed the healing of wounds
* fights oxidative stress on the body
* regulates mood (pain and depression often go hand-in-hand)

As with any form of supplementation, taking quality, bioavailable turmeric is key to experiencing noticeable improvements. 

Lifestyle Changes

To create an optimal environment for healing in the body, no matter what the complaint, good lifestyle habits are important. Eat nutrient-dense foods. Aim to get plenty of quality sleep, and seek to relieve stress in positive ways. 

Remember that successful home care for plantar fasciitis requires consistency over the entire healing period. When practiced diligently, especially in conjunction with sports chiropractic care, natural healing for foot pain is possible. Contact Dynamic Sports Medicine today to schedule an appointment. We can assess your situation and recommend which of these home therapies might best assist you on the road to recovery. 

Sports Chiropractic for Plantar Fasciitis

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Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of foot and heel pain. It can be the result of a number of factors and range in severity from mild to excruciating. The worst pain is often first thing in the morning or following physical activity, so it can be a strong demotivator for athletes and strip the pleasure out of training.  For some, it can take weeks or even months to heal, with others dealing with the painful condition for years.

This, however, doesn’t have to be the case and is usually only so when attempts to treat plantar fasciitis are aimed at alleviating symptoms instead of identifying the underlying factors causing foot pain in the first place.

Rest, ice, and a change in footwear all have their benefits but only offer temporary relief. That’s because inflammation, the most commonly believed cause of plantar fasciitis, is really only an issue during initial onset, and shoes and other orthotics are eventually taken off.   

To truly heal the plantar fascia, it is important to determine body mechanic dysfunction that may have led to the condition, and correct it by working to improve mobility through the facia and ankle, increase strength and blood flow in the area, and optimize rest and recovery. It is vital that rehab not be restricted to just the ankle.

What is Plantar Fasciitis?

The plantar fascia is a thick band of connective tissue that runs from the heel bone to the toes. It is a continuation of the calf muscle, and it helps to form the arch of the foot and support the ankle. Like other body parts, the plantar fascia is designed to function a certain way, under certain conditions. When the load placed on this connective band is greater than its capacity, the result is plantar fasciitis. 

A patient’s body weight in combination with their regular and repeated activities — and sometimes the surfaces on which they’re performed — determines the band’s maximum load. Things like running on pavement or compacted trails, high-impact aerobics, or other activities that involve repeated jumping or bouncing, can all lead to plantar fasciitis. But many people do these things for years and never develop the condition. That’s why abnormalities in the arch of the foot due to excess weight or improper body mechanics must also be considered. 

The strength and resilience of the fascia determine its ability, or capacity, to successfully withstand the load placed on it. The overall capacity of the foot fascia can also be affected by daily activities, one’s general overall health, and lifestyle habits including age, weight, current medications, blood flow, and quality of sleep.

That’s why just assessing the foot or buying expensive shoes is not going to do the trick long term. 

Sports chiropractic takes a whole-body approach to relieving pain, making it uniquely suited to identify balance or dysfunction up the kinetic chain that has resulted in a plantar fasciitis diagnosis.

Through postural assessments, range- and ease-of-motion evaluations, and muscle testing, sports chiropractic offers a thorough analysis of the mechanics and functionality of the hip and knee, as well as the ankle, to fully reveal how everything works together, or doesn’t, for overall foot function and mobility. 

With a thorough understanding of a patient’s mobility and functionality, sports chiropractic can offer a number of helpful modalities for complete healing of plantar fasciitis without medications, injections, or surgeries. 

Obviously, immediate pain relief is a primary concern, and therapies like trigger point massage, soft tissue work, sports taping, and stretching rehab, among many others, make patients more comfortable while beginning the task of rebuilding body mechanics, increasing blood flow, and restoring mobility.

If you have, or suspect you have, plantar fasciitis and have not tried sports chiropractic for relief and rehabilitation, call Dynamic Sports Medicine today. 

 

Professional Athletes & Chiropractic Care

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It’s not uncommon for professional athletes to have trainers, physical therapists, and even orthopedists on speed dial.  After all, sports-related injuries or pain during play can seriously hamper training efforts, if not sideline the athlete altogether.

But increasingly, pros are turning to certified sports chiropractors as their first resource for pain relief and rehab because of their more proactive and less invasive sports medicine approach.

In fact, sports chiropractic is known to be so effective that most major NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB franchises have a team chiropractor on staff, and many world-class golfers, tennis players, and swimmers regularly seek chiropractic care. New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady has been quoted as saying chiropractic care not only makes him feel better but keeps him “one step ahead of the game.”

While orthopedists and other conventional practitioners are necessary for certain circumstances, such as when surgery is required, after that surgery, or when it’s not needed, traditional rehab protocol often involves a lot of resting and waiting for the pain to subside, outsourcing rehab to a physical therapist, and/or prescribing potentially addictive pain meds and injections.

Resting and waiting is hard to do for athletes with a goal (or on a payroll,) especially when experience has shown them that returning to activity means returning to pain, and prescription medications can leave players groggy and lethargic. Neither is ideal for staying in training mode.

Studies show that chiropractic care for athletes is actually better — and faster — at reducing pain and restoring mobility, flexibility, and range of motion than other more traditional treatments. That’s because chiropractors focus not just on the painful joint or limb, but on the body as a whole.

Sports chiropractors begin with a thorough evaluation of an athlete’s posture, skeletal alignment, and when, where, and how a movement causes pain to effectively assess which, of a number of specialized therapies, might be beneficial. These include myofascial release, dry needling, acupuncture, electrical stimulation, and spinal and limb adjustments, among others, to break up scar tissue, release muscle tension and restore body balance for pain-free activity.

These techniques often allow athletes to continue training/playing during therapy. The clinical interventions of sports chiropractic care can speed healing and lessen the likelihood of re-injury, whether following surgery or in lieu of.

But sports chiropractic care is not just for treating athletes who are hurt.  It is an excellent way for them to proactively work to prevent injuries in the first place, as well as significantly boost their athletic performance. 

Chiropractors address issues related to postural imbalances, skeletal misalignments, and strength deficiencies to increase strength, speed, balance, and flexibility. Many also report better hand-eye coordination after alignment. Through hands-on manipulation of the spine and joints, in tandem with other drug-free, non-surgical interventions, chiropractors enhance the functionality of all bodily systems with noticeable results.

Every athlete can benefit from the natural, non-invasive therapies that sports chiropractic care offers.  If you want to train like the pros and take your game to the next level, let us show you how sports chiropractic care can reduce your pain and keep you injury-free.

Top 3 Tips for Sports Injury Prevention

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Chiropractic care is an effective, drug-free way to treat a number of common sports injuries. It’s also one of the best ways to prevent athletes from getting injured in the first place.

Preventative sports chiropractic, or prehab, addresses the muscle and body imbalances that occur naturally during athletic training. Repetitive motions from practicing a tennis or golf swing, swimming laps, or serving a volleyball, along with other physical stresses like being on either end of a football tackle, and running miles at a time contribute to muscle tightness, strength imbalance, and joint instability.  All of these factors can eventually lead to the kind of sports injuries that sideline athletes — or at least take the fun out of training and playing.

Athletes at every level of play are including chiropractic interventions as a regular part of their athletic training programs to ensure skeletal misalignments and fascial distortions are corrected before form and/or technique is sacrificed to compensate for the damage done during training. Spinal and limb adjustments keep the body in proper alignment while myofascial massage eliminates knots in soft tissues before they can tighten and thicken to the point they cause pain and limit the range of motion. Preventative sports chiropractic can drastically reduce the chances of injury to knees, elbows, shoulders, and other joints, as well as the likelihood of painful muscle strains and sprains.

That’s why practically every professional organization employs a team chiropractor.

A certified sports chiropractor conducts careful evaluations of strength, range of motion, and body mechanics to identify muscle weaknesses and skeletal misalignment.  Any issues are addressed with a variety of non-invasive chiropractic therapies and sports-specific stretches and strengthening exercises to achieve overall body balance.  Using chiropractic care as injury prevention keeps the minor aches and pains associated with training from advancing to more serious conditions.

Other tips for preventing sports injuries include:

Warm-Up and Cool Down

For some, this translates to gentle stretching or jogging in place before and after exercise, and for others, it’s simply beginning and ending your chosen workout at a slower pace and intensity than the main part.  Either way, warming up and cooling down are both important.  Easing into a workout routine increases body temp and blood flow to the muscles before taxing them full out, reducing post-exercise muscle stiffness and soreness, as well as the risk of injury.  Cooling down afterward allows body systems to gradually return to resting rates.

Condition Your Body For Your Sport

Just because you play a sport doesn’t mean you’re conditioned for it, and that’s often why injuries happen. This is particularly true with non-professional athletes who spend their day’s behinds desks.  Instead of just aimlessly hitting the gym, carefully consider which muscles are utilized in the mechanics of your chosen sport and work them from all sides for overall strength, flexibility and balance.  And don’t forget about the importance of core strength!

Remember Recovery Days

A rigorous training session does damage to muscle fibers and tissues. This is by design.  As the muscle heals, it comes back stronger, but it needs that time to strengthen and repair between workouts in order for you to see the results of your effort.  Rotate training focus to give taxed muscles some R&R and weave in some gentler workouts like stretching or walking on “off” days.

Contact Dynamic Sports Medicine about integrating sports chiropractic into your training program. We work to keep athletes injury-free

Top 3 Reasons to Use A Sports Chiropractor

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While everyone can benefit from visits to the chiropractor, athletes, in particular, find regular visits to a sports chiropractor more than helpful. Many find it necessary.

That’s because whether you participate in sports at a recreational, competitive, or professional level, including sports chiropractic care as part of your training program has many advantages, including enhanced performance, fewer injuries, pain reduction, and shorter healing times when injuries do occur.

Sports chiropractic care is a safe, natural, non-invasive way to keep your body functioning at its peak.

Improved Training & Performance. The intense training that serious athletes and fitness enthusiasts subject their bodies to cause strain on muscles and joints, resulting in soreness, stiffness, and other aches and pains that can affect range of motion, flexibility, stability, and balance — all things that can put a damper on training effectiveness and, ultimately, overall performance.  The specialized treatment therapies offered by a sports chiropractor are uniquely designed to undo the damage done during athletic training and keep the body functioning at its highest strength and speed potential.

Fewer Injuries. If you’ve ever watched a slow-motion replay of a baseball pitcher throwing, a tennis player pounding the court in stop-and-start fashion, or almost any football tackle, you know it often looks painful and unnatural — because it is! The things athletes require of their bodies during training and play frequently cause the body to become misaligned. This puts unnatural stress on joints, muscles, nerves, discs, and ligaments and can lead to injury if not corrected. Sports chiropractors can address many common sports complaints, such as elbow, knee, ankle, back, and shoulder pain caused by both repetitive motion and acute trauma, as well as referred pain like headaches associated with neck and spinal misalignments. Regular spinal and limb adjustments, myofascial massage, and sports-specific exercises and stretches, along with other sports chiropractic treatments, can reduce or eliminate sports-related pain before it progresses to a more serious condition.

Shorter Healing Times.  Even with the most proactive preventative care, sometimes injuries happen anyway.  Chiropractic sports rehab uses a variety of therapy options such as electrical pulse stimulation, dry needling, myofascial massage, and more to encourage faster and more complete healing. In fact, studies show that chiropractic care is often better than conventional therapy options at reducing pain and restoring function – and without prescription medications.

There are many other reasons to regularly visit a sports chiropractor as a complement to your athletic training program including better hand-eye coordination due to more effective nervous system communication and improved overall wellness.  What’s more, chiropractic care is often a viable non-invasive alternative to surgery.  Let Dynamic Sports Medicine show you how our sports chiropractors in the Dallas and Austin areas can help manage your pain, lower your risk of injury and achieve the performance results you want.

Immediate Help for Teen Sports Injuries

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Many people suffer sports injuries each year for which they don’t feel the need to seek treatment, particularly young athletes. Fear of being sidelined leads them to think that because it only hurts a little or only during certain activity they can safely push through the pain during workouts, or “treat” the injury themselves with ice, wraps, pain relievers, and self-designed workout modifications. 

But over time, minor knee, shoulder, or elbow pain not treated properly can become lingering discomfort, or even a permanent health problem, despite the fact that complete recovery is possible.

It’s vitally important to seek early and proper treatment, and chiropractic rehab is increasingly relied upon by youth and teen athletes of all levels for full and faster healing of sports injuries.

With specialized training and knowledge of sports-specific body mechanics, sports chiropractors can restore functional integrity and stability to affected areas to provide faster pain relief and prevent minor pain from becoming exacerbated or chronic.

“Proper” Treatment is Not the Same for Everyone

Every injury and every athlete is different. While two people may have the same complaint, the events that led to the reported pain may be different, as are the health, lifestyle habits, and body compositions of the patients.

Sports chiropractic utilizes thorough evaluations of posture, alignment, and body mechanics to formulate an individualized rehab regimen for each patient consisting of a number of therapies and modalities. To recover fully, patients must achieve an intricate balance of rest, activity, and lifestyle support, along with proactive sports rehab.

Rest: Activity. Rest equals repair, but while the immediate point of injury may need a period of inactivity, it’s important to strengthen the surrounding soft tissue, ligaments, and tendons with appropriate stretches and exercises. Sports chiropractors utilize proven tools and therapies that speed healing and often leave injured areas stronger than they were before. 

Lifestyle Factors. To restore an injured part of the body, the athlete needs adequate sleep and healing nutrition. While most teen athletes can consume vast amounts of junk foods without gaining weight, diets high in sugary, processed foods don’t assist repair. Not only will vitamins, minerals, and proteins energize the body for rehabilitation, they will prevent other illnesses like colds and viruses from demanding important immune-system attention. Likewise, smoking/vaping, drinking alcohol, and overusing OTC pain meds slow the regeneration of injured tissues and interrupt the healing process.

Sports chiropractic rehab. While it’s tempting to think minor injuries can be self-treated, it’s important for young athletes to seek guided professional care. Because youth and teen athletes are still growing, not properly taking care of issues early on can damage growth plates and affect development.  In addition, athletes who have been attempting to play with minor injuries tend to have altered techniques to compensate for pain, affecting their performance and creating bad habits that can contribute to future injuries. Alleviate pain with sports chiropractic allows the body to function more optimally to enhance performance.

Sports injuries are a natural part of sports. Whether you have a new injury or are dealing with lingering pain from a previous one, chiropractic sports rehab can help you heal more quickly and get you back in the game.

 

Back To School With Chiropractic Care

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Even with so many unknowns in the world today, there are some things you can always count on when heading back to school:

* Backpacks will be heavy
* Back to school means back to sports
* Excitement equals stress for parents, students, and teachers
* Boosting wellness is vitally important

Regular chiropractic care can help!

Backpack Basics

While style, brand, and color may be your student’s primary concern when shopping for backpacks, yours should be size, shape, and construction. That’s because book bags fit and weight distribution are very important for reducing stress on growing bodies, as well as for maintaining spinal alignment. Look for backpacks with ergonomic straps that are wide (and preferably padded) and can be adjusted so that the bag doesn’t hang too loosely or too far down the back of the body. Encourage the use of both straps when they have them, or regularly rotating the side it’s carried on when they don’t. Crossbody bags may be an option as well so that the whole load doesn’t hang off of one shoulder all the time. 

Getting in the habit of regularly cleaning out backpacks is also a great idea. Often, much of the weight of a book bag’s contents are comprised of things that no longer need to be in there.

Overburdened backpacks can eventually present in uneven shoulders and hips, as well as other skeletal problems that can lead to pain and affect growth. Spinal adjustments and routine monitoring for alignment issues can address many of the problems caused by heavy backpacking through school hallways. 

Sports Conditioning

Whether your student-athlete took the season off or trained their summer away, sports chiropractic care can be extremely beneficial for entering Fall practice in peak shape. There’s a reason so many professional sports teams have a chiropractor on staff and this is it: when the spine is properly aligned, and areas of muscular weakness are identified, performance can be improved, and injury much less likely. Chiropractic care can make a dramatic difference in the health and performance of athletes of all ages and levels. With regular care, football and soccer players, cheerleaders, and swimmers, among others, all can experience greater strength, flexibility, and mobility, along with the reduced risk of injury, to help keep them on the field, court, and track all season long. 

Stress relief

Back-to-school time is exciting, but it can also be physically and mentally stressful. Social, academic, physical, and health-related stressors, like sitting for long periods of the day, subconsciously adopting a hunched posture when anxious or uncomfortable, and overtraining in after-school sports or other activities can leave young bodies drained and misaligned, and young minds mentally stressed. It’s important to eat well, get plenty of sleep, and ensure kids are not over-scheduled.  The addition of regular chiropractic care to other healthy lifestyle habits can reduce tension and improve circulation, keeping bodies — and minds — in a more relaxed state. 

Overall Wellness

We all want to keep our families as safe and healthy as possible, especially in the face of Covid-19, seasonal flu, and even the common cold. Regular hand washing and other hygiene, proper nutrition and exercise, supplementation when necessary, and appropriate social distancing contribute to our efforts toward better wellness. Chiropractic care can support all of those efforts. By encouraging spinal health, restoring joint function, and supporting nervous system communication, all body systems can function more optimally. Spine and limb adjustments when necessary, therapeutic massage, transcutaneous electric nerve stimulations (TENS), and many other proven treatment modalities can relieve pain and stress, allowing for better overall body function, including immunity. Of course, we aren’t saying that chiropractic care cures Covid, but it is a great preventative tool for both improving the body’s natural ability to resist and recover from infection. We can even assist with nutrition counseling and lifestyle modification plans. 

While making what are sure to be many back-to-school checklists this time of year, put chiropractic care at the top. Dynamic Sports Medicine can help ensure that your students (and you) are ready to face this school year in the best way possible!

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