Sports Medicine

Treating Athletic Pain Effectively

Truspine offers chiropractic sports medicine services that help to eliminate chronic pain and discomfort.

CHOOSING CHIROPRACTIC CARE

Chiropractic care helps to remedy sport-related injuries without the help of invasive surgeries and drugs. This can enable athletes to experience relief with minimal downtime, allowing them to get back into their preferred activities. These non-invasive treatments can also take less of a toll on their bodies in the long run.

In addition to treating current impairments, chiropractic sports medicine also aims to help patients prevent future injuries, improve overall performance, and increase natural strength. This is done with the help of our unique spinal manipulation and pain relief techniques, along with a focus on education. With our hands-on approach and knowledge of the human body, we can provide athletes with tips on ways to properly move and care for their bodies, which can decrease the chance of injury.

We provide information on the most recent research and technology in the field of sports chiropractic to our patients. The doctors at our clinic are committed to serve you in strength training, peak performance, rehabilitation and nutrition.

TREATING PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES

Treating everyone from collegiate to professional athletes to Olympians has helped chiropractic sports doctors gain wider recognition. According to the ACA, the profession has been creating a growing demand among younger athletes who benefit from chiropractic care in the areas of critical, acute and emergency care. Since the typical primary care physician is moving away from dealing with biomechanical and neuromusculoskeletal dysfunction this is very important.

Keeping a sustainable career as an athlete depends on injury prevention. A typical professional sports player may earn millions of dollars per year if he or she remains competitive. An athlete with a disabling injury is an athlete that can’t perform their job. The sports agents, athletic trainers, and coaches view chiropractic as instrumental in preventing these types of injuries and consequences.

With professional sports casting light on its value, chiropractic is staged to become the golden standard for improving sports performance and injury rehabilitation among every type of athlete.

TREATING YOUNG ATHLETES

From the 30 million kids that engage in organized sports activities in the United States, about 775,000 are being treated for sports injuries. More non-fatal sports injuries are treated in the emergency room compared to other unintentional injuries, according to the Journal of Neurological Science. Conventional medicine treats fractures, dislocations, lacerations, and damaged tendons and ligaments. Yet many athletes leave the hospital with as much spinal stress as they had prior to care.

Due to more delayed reaction times compared to adults, younger athletes are more susceptible to injuries. Since they are growing and developing, they also are more likely to be less coordinated. Majority of injuries happen due to overuse. These injuries are called repetitive stress injuries or RSI’s. RSI’s happen by placing stress on the musculoskeletal system. Improper techniques or using faulty equipment may cause RSI’s to be created. Putting greater demand on the body with less healing time leads to repetitive stress injuries.

TOP 5 MOST COMMON SPORTS INJURIES

You want to start by pinpointing which injuries occur most often. San Francisco Chiropractor Supreet Shah of Truspine, says that these often include:

Concussions
Back Strain
Lower Extremity Injuries
Rotator Cuff Sprains and Strains
Rib Pain

COMMON CONDITIONS & TREATMENTS

One of our main treatment options is spinal manipulation or adjustments. During this procedure, we apply pressure to the spinal joints in an effort to correct any misalignments. We may also incorporate muscle and soft tissue therapy to test and improve muscle flexibility. ART therapy, corrective exercises, stretching, and acupuncture are a few of the other treatments that we may employ, depending on the type and extent of the injury.

These procedures can help to treat a wide range of conditions. This includes everything from headaches, scoliosis, and whiplash to elbow injuries and heel pain. Other common conditions include:

Tennis Elbow
Golfer’s Elbow
Bicipital Tendonitis
Rotator Cuff Injuries

Hamstring Pull
Calf Pull
Groin Pull
Frozen Shoulder

Runner’s Knee
Spinal Disc Injuries
Concussions
Muscle Contusion

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SPORTS CHIROPRACTOR EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

A Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) has completed a four-year doctoral program at a nationally accredited institution.

This training includes a minimum of 4,620 educational hours that consists of classroom, laboratory and clinical internship time. These requirements are very similar to those for medical doctors (both allopathic and osteopathic, MD and DO) and physical therapists.

A sports chiropractor is a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC), which means that they have completed all of the above and much more. In addition to this initial training in chiropractic, a sports chiropractor can have two further educational certifications: CCSP® and DACBSP®.

CCSP® stands for Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician and is a certification that requires additional training and testing beyond the doctoral (DC) degree.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A SPORTS CHIROPRACTOR?

Here we have listed out 5 things that seem to be the common theme among top performing sports chiropractors. The 5 you’ll need to be a Sports Chiropractor are (in no particular order of importance):

1. Soft tissue release skills.

There are many classes and certifications that chiropractors can take and achieve (ART, Graston Technique, Strain/Counterstrain, PIR, etc.) but they need to have mastery of where the muscles are, what they do, and how they react or compensate. The best “soft tissue” therapists are the ones that understand not all muscles need to be stripped, released, stretched or needled. The best “soft tissue” DC’s are not only skillful in their techniques, but they realize a trigger point that refers pain into another area won’t respond to active release technique (ART) just as a muscle that has lost its elastic properties won’t respond to dry needling. Muscles respond to changes in joint motion and tasks being asked to perform. The best understand how the control triad works and the role the muscles play in that system. The control triad is the CNS (the coordinator) the PASSIVE SYSTEM (the joints, ligaments, tendons) and the ACTIVE SYSTEM (the muscles).

2. Functional Assessment Skills.

All good sports chiropractors utilize functional screening tools as part of their assessment. Again there are a number of classes that can be taken to learn these or some have come up with their own functional assessments. Regardless, all good sports medicine specialists assess movement. Being able to do this gives one insight into what basic movements and biomechanics might be pitfalls in the kinetic chain. Incorporating functional assessment into his or her examination is very important and helpful even if you aren’t a sports doctor.

3. Functional Rehabilitation/DNS Skills.

All good sports chiropractors incorporate rehabilitation/active care into their care plans. A health care professional does not have to be a coach or trainer but they do need to incorporate movement retraining as well as core and joint stabilization into their practice. This doesn’t have to be 30 minute retraining sessions but all good sports chiropractors understand the importance of laying the foundation of respiration retraining, lumbar spine stabilization/bracing, scapular stabilization, hip stabilization, and more functional retraining based on the sport (i.e., chops or rotational movement for golf and squat retraining for CrossFit, etc.).

4. Sports Taping / Dry Needle / Cupping / Shockwave Therapy

It seems most sports chiropractors have some other ancillary services or specialties they provide. These ancillary services typically help with inflammation or acute pain. The athletic population will often come to see the when they injure themselves so it is often beneficial to have some way to stop or slow the inflammatory process and get an athlete out of pain so treatment can be rendered. The new cutting-edge treatment offered now is Shockwave Therapy. The results of the mechanical stimulus delivered through Shockwave Therapy can lead to increased circulation and pain relief – key components in the healing process.

5. Joint Palpation and Adjusting Skills.

As DC’s very essence, our profession is our ability to assess, diagnose, and treat (heal) with our hands. It’s important to not lose sight of the importance of seeking mastery with our hands as well as our minds. There are so many “other” things students and doctors can do now and more certifications you can get than a business card can hold. However, more often than not doctors take these classes and acquire the letters without knowing how and when to use these new tools. We have a buffet of information but starving for application and usefulness and buy-in. Having a vast set of tools and certifications with no understanding is like having a bag full of golf clubs and only playing with a 7 iron.
Because active people want to maximize performance while minimizing injury, many look for the unique skill set of the sports chiropractor to help them achieve this goal. At Truspine, we aim to help athletes and weekend warriors improve their strength and agility while preserving their long-term health. If you are looking for chiropractic sports medicine and would like to find out if you are a candidate for our treatment we would like to meet you. To schedule an appointment with our sports chiropractor, please call 415–415–1115 or book an appointment online.

Treatable Conditions

Active Release Technique

Graston Technique
Kinesio Taping

Appointment Request & FAQ

Not all chiropractors are created equal. Our sports chiropractors, most importantly will take their time with you. We boast that we offer a generous amount of time for our appointments. With your feedback and our expertise, we will customize your appointments to fit your needs. Call (415) 421-1115 to book your appointment with one of our San Francisco sports chiropractors.

GOLD STANDARD VIP

You’ll be knee deep in a smorgasbord of treatment options that will be custom tailored to your treatment. You won’t get left behind with an assistant, as your session will be with one of our current chiropractors, Dr. Supreet Shah.

HIGH QUALITY TREATMENT OPTIONS

We don’t sell knockoffs, our doctors are trained to be the best, to treat the best. Hands down, our treatment options will make you feel like the champion that you are. Learn more about your treatment options by visiting our service menu.