Dr Michael Day D.C. has worked with athletes for 9 years in practice. His practice in Greenville, SC is comprised of athletes and those wanting to move better of all ages.
Many modern athletes utilize a Sports Chiropractor. Now on the NFL, NBA, PGA and Olympics to name a few there is a Chiropractor on staff.
It is a new era for sports care and Chiropractors are well respected for their skilled hands on approach to musculskeletal pain.
Here are some keys to finding a great Sports Chiropractor in your city.
1.) Their treatments are diverse:
You don’t want a Sports Chiropractor that performs the same adjustment no matter your injury.
The doctor should be able to adapt there therapy between fascial and muscle treatment, adjustments, mobilization, exercise instruction, and taping to name a few.
Some sports chiropractors, because they treat with so many other specialists such as Physical therapists, massage therapists and acupuncturists may only perform joint manipulation. But that does not mean they are not experts at it. Instead they firmly understand when to refer and co-treat with the other specialists on the team.
Others have an immense team working alongside them in practice. This is key for a comprehensive plan for your sports injury or sports performance need, that the doctor understands there are more factors than just joint balance.
The Doctor of Chiropractic should take a detailed exam and let you know not only their plan for spinal and extremity manipulation, but also what other services may benefit you.
At our sports chiropractic clinic we incorporate some adjuncts to the Chiropractic adjustment such as:
-The Functional Movement Exam
–Craig Liebensons functional movement exam.
-Graston or IASTM/ tool based soft tissue mobilization
-Yoga
-Movement Patterns
Some Doctors of Chiropractic default these services to an athletic trainer, personal trainer, physical therapist, massage therapist etc. Just make sure if you are injured you are getting all of the avenues of healing addressed! Taping helps heal the injured tissue and reprogram the nervous system. Fascia, when tight, can cause the athletes movements to be less fluid. Hypertonic muscles cause other muscles to “turn off” and limit range of motion in your athletic endeavour. The movement pattern as a whole must be funcitonal, we move as a whole unit, so treating just one area is not a very good method for long term success.
2.) A passion for movement in their own life:
Its hard to get treated by a doctor who doesn’t move themselves. Understanding what has worked for them and testing and trial on their own bodies always makes for a great sports doc.
3.) A passionate study of biomechanics and kinesiology:
When you understand the movement of the body you can apply it to any sport and injury.
We don’t treat a golfer the same way we treat a surfer. They have very different needs and yet they all apply to basic human movement patterns.
With a golfer we work on the body rotating the hips only in one direction forcefully, making sure to keep the pelvis and hips balanced to prevent the dreaded golfers back pain.
In a surfer, we know paddling excessively loads the pectorals and lats, making for an internally rotated shoulder and a very stressed out neck.
With every sport there are loads, forces, and patterns that are predictable.
4.) Creative:
I have found myself treating the soft tissue injury on all fours treating the athlete in the sports specific position of pain. It ended up being the only thing that got them well. We had to wind the fascia into the point of provocation and then we got success.
At other times we tape the body from the wrist all the way to the neck to re-educate the “spiral sling” that winds our arm into our shoulder and shoulder blade.
5.) Enthusiastic
A sports chiropractor truly loves the body, movement, and the spirit of competition. Your chiropractor should have a very clear treatment plan to get you back on the field or back in the gym.
They should have passion, know what the issues is clearly, explain it to you in detail, provides lots of homework and know when to refer!
Some common great techniques to look into performed by Sports Chiros:
McGill Low back pain protocols.
Craig Liebenson functional movement and corrective exercise
Kinesiotape
Tim Brown taping, and Intelliskin
Trigger Point therapy
DNS
Stop Chasing Pain, Perry Nickelson Protocols
NKT
