As Denver chiropractor I typically see various forms of neck and back pain. People that do come to the office for the aforementioned usually see great results with chiropractic spinal manipulation and various forms of soft tissue therapy that allow them to function properly and eliminate the cause of their pain. Although chiropractors are known for helping with neck and back pain relief, we also play a special role in improving the performance of the athlete.
Just about every major professional sports team employs a sports chiropractor, along with the traditional staff including orthopedic surgeons, medical doctors, physical therapists, strength and conditioning specialist, athletic trainers, and massage therapists. Not only do sports teams employ chiropractors, but also elite entertainers that travel and need manual body care to help recover from performing.
I personally enjoy working with athletes, and in particular, I like being at their site of competition and provide care at their office, on the field. I have been lucky enough to work with a few elite professional athletes and see first hand how chiropractic has helped them with their performance, training, and injury recovery.
Proper and speedy injury recovery is crucial for the athlete, because without it, their competition is training to be better while they are nursing their wounds. The Denver sports chiropractor is thoroughly trained in neuromusculoskeletal evaluation and diagnosis. Besides injury evaluation, we also provide a unique role in treatment that has allowed us to maintain our niche in treating athletes, and that is chiropractic manipulative therapy.
When an injury does occur, typically more structures than just the injury site are affected. Pretend that you broke your wrist, and had to wear a cast for the bone to heal. How will use your hand without a full functioning wrist? You have to move your shoulder and elbow more to compensate for the lack of movement in the wrist. Although the injury occurred at the wrist, compensation patterns will develop that will affect the neck, upper back, and shoulder girdle that must be addressed.
Compensation patterns are no big surprise. If you stub your toe, and walk long enough, most likely your knee or your back will also start to hurt. So, ultimately, one injury could lead to other dysfunctional movement patterns. At the root of dysfunctional movement, is altered joint mechanics. This is the area that a sports chiropractor can influence and help speed the rate of recovery or improve movement performance in general.
What are joint mechanics? Have you ever had a bad strut, shock, or cv joint in your car? If not fixed, that part of your suspension will start to wear your tires unevenly, decrease gas efficiency, and other problems. The body is similar to the car. When a joint in your body is not working correctly other joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nervous tissue could be affected detrimentally. So, one of the chiropractor’s fortes is to improve joint mechanics through chiropractic manipulative therapy. With out proper joint mobility and stability, the athletes body will under perform and become inefficient.
Chiropractic adjustments improve joint motion!
Besides manipulating joints to improve mobility and stability throughout the body, I also like to evaluate the athletes overall function via a movement screen. The movement screen evaluates the overall mobility and stability of the body. In particular, I use Gray Cook’s Functional Movement Screen in combination with core stabilization exercises and key movement patterns.
So, as a Denver chiropractor, we are great fit to a team of professionals that can help the athlete stay safe, perform better, and recover from injuries faster.
Dr. Trent Artichoker MS, DC
Denver Chiropractic, LLC
3890 Federal Blvd Unit 1
Denver, CO 80211
303-455-2225