Sports Chiropractic
Sports Chiropractic and exercise prescription is what differentiates us from other Chiropractors. We use a combination of manual treatment and corrective exercises to improve patients’ health for the long term.
What is Sports Chiropractic? The focus of sports chiropractic is to provide care in the conservative management, rehabilitation and performance optimisation of the neuromusculoskeletal system for athletes.
3 core principles Sports Chiropractors understand
Regional Interdependence: Sports Chiropractors take a holistic view of the body and understand that all areas of the body are connected. This means that regions of your body are dependent on the functionality of the adjacent areas. Example: try to turn your head left and right in a good posture and then in a bad posture. You will find there is less neck range of motion. The function of your neck is dependent on the thoracic spine and shoulders below it. Therefore, you may have neck pain but it is only as a result of poor function of the thoracic spine and shoulders. The source of pain is the neck but the cause of the pain is poor posture. This works in many other areas of your body. Understanding how the body compensates is what sports Chiropractors do well.
Parts vs Patterns: As mentioned above, Sports Chiropractors are holistic in the view of the body. We are always interested in the ‘part’ of the body that is injured or painful however we are also very interested in what caused that ‘part’ to become painful in the first place. Our body moves in patterns. The brain does not know individual muscles, rather it knows which muscles need to fire to perform a movement pattern (Think running, jumping, throwing, crawling etc). Sports Chiropractors look at how your whole body moves and identifies movement patterns that may contribute to pain and/or injury. Specific corrective exercises are then used to improve that movement pattern and optimize your performance.
Pain education: Sports Chiropractors understand that pain is complex and not always a good indicator for tissue damage. Example: We all know someone who has run a long distance or played a sport with a significant injury but has only realized after the event. This is because pain is predominantly a warning signal. If the brain does not feel as though the injured area is the main priority in a particular circumstance it will not elicit a pain response. The flip side of this is when the brain continues to elicit pain over a longer period of time than it should (chronic pain). Fortunately the best cure for chronic pain is education and specific exercises that address the pain head on to allow the brain to switch off the warning signals (pain) and allow you to live the active life you want to live.
Sports Chiropractors are excellent in their field and play an integral role to the health and wellbeing of the general public and athletes.
If I can help you in any way please call Scope Chiropractic, or book in online.
Daniel Rothenberg – Sports Chiropractor (MChiro, MExSci, SFG1 ASCA L2)
