Sports Chiropractic …

Is a discipline within the field of chiropractic which the sports chiropractor focuses on the non-medicinal treatment of sports injuries. Not only do chiropractors who practice sports chiropractic treat sports injuries, they initiate care that is preventative- care that prepares the athlete to achieve more and get injured less.  Many sports chiropractors will assess athletes so that they can locate, detect and correct potential weaknesses  or imbalances in the athlete that may predispose them to injuries. Helping an athlete prevent injuries is a mainstay of sports chiropractic care.

Sports Chiropractic

I like to call it “sports medicine without the medicine.”  Chiropractors are capable of adjusting the spine and extremities when necessary to restore proper biomechanics and help injuries heal faster and more complete. Usually athletes seek sports medicine care once they have been injured. If injuries are bad enough it may require invasive procedures. Having a chiropractor on your health care team can be a wise adjunct to help the athlete excel.

Sports Chiropractic

Ten years ago it was commonplace to see physical therapy and orthopedics and athletic trainers as primary pieces of a sports medicine staff but  nearly unheard of to have a chiropractor working with a sports medicine team on a professional level. Ten years ago I was fortunate enough to be one of the co-founders of the United States Sports Chiropractic Federation. Our mission was to do just that- help the other health care professionals see the value of having a sports chiropractor.

Now nearly every team in the four major sports has a chiropractor as some part of the team. Sports chiropractic has evolved to the point where athletic trainers and medical staff has come to appreciate the unique talents a chiropractor can bring to the sports medicine environment.

Evocare Center for Physical Health has a sports injury clinic component available in Lakewood, Colorado where sports chiropractic is available to professional athletes, elite athletes, youth athletes and weekend warriors alike.

Posted from Lakewood, Colorado, United States.

Colorado is perpetually regarded as one of the healthiest states in the union. One of the biggest reasons, I believe, is due to the high participatory level of outdoor activities and sports. (Which is why I chose to be a Colorado sports chiropractor and make Denver my home)

A few years ago I was given the honor of being Colorado Sports Chiropractor of the Year by the Colorado Chiropractic Association and CEPA’s (The chiropractic association for the Care of Elite and Professional Athlete’s) National Chiropractor of the Year. (blush, blush)

Because it’s just what I do, I understand it.

Joe Montana after his treatment here in Denver at Mile High Stadium.

But you may not even be aware that a Colorado sports chiropractor can play an important role in the management and treatment of not only your injuries but your ability to perform and excel in your sport- whether it’s on a team or for you individually.

Here are some of the top athletes in the world explaining why they include chiropractic care in their sports medicine routine. Colorado sports chiropractor treatment has allowed me to have some amazing experiences with these athletes.

In the video below, you’ll see my good friend and mentor Nick Athens taking care of the San Francisco 49ers. (This is where I worked before moving my sports injury clinic to Colorado.)

Watch this short sports chiropractic video… it’s pretty cool!

Broncos Chiropractor Office

It’s been great being able to care for pro athletes but the overwhelming majority of people who walk into my clinic are ‘weekend warriors,’ otherwise affectionately known to me as… job security.

And, believe it or not, many of my sports injury patients are youth athletes.

When treating the youth athlete you have to always keep in mind these are very formative years and kids now days are asked to do far more than in the past. There are limits and laws of nature. When we break them, we break…. or break down.

Much of what ails us ‘baby boomers’ stems from not tending to minor injuries properly when we were younger and invincible. (Or so we thought)

Inherent in sports are two premises that lead to making a good case for having a sports chiropractor- competition and injury.

Colorado Sports Chiropractor Approaches

Thanks from Elway

From a treating doctors position, I take two different approaches to those two premises.

1) Injuries- Injuries can be coaxed to heal at a faster rate or with a better long term outcome if manged correctly. Sometime a sports chiropractor can offer a chiropractic slant to help fully address the nature of the injury.

2) Competition- By nature, whether against others or with ones self, sports performance and competition lends itself to treating your body like the miracle that it is in order to get the most out of it.

You don’t have to be Joe Montana or John Elway to take responsibility for the stewardship of your body. Yes, pro athletes have a team of people who work together to help them perform better and last longer but heck who says you can’t as well?

The majority of average athletes will only do what they need to do to get by. If you’re the type of person who wants to stand out from the crowd and excel in your sport, you need to push yourself.

To me, as an athlete, that’s where the marrow of life is. As a Colorado sports chiropractor, I like to inspire and motivate the athletes I treat.

Pushing yourself can be mental and/or physical. It’s far better to push yourself when you have a sports chiropractor on your health care team who is locating, detecting and correcting bio-mechanical ‘weak links’ in the chain that can be potential areas of injury.

Giants

I had the pleasure of being a chiropractic consultant for the San Francisco Giants for 10 years. Much of my job as a Colorado sports chiropractor was to not only help the rest of the sports medicine staff by playing my part in the management of injuries but to play my part in preventing injuries.

Sports chiropractic care can also improve performance by helping the athlete become more bio-mechanically ‘in-sync.’

Beyond sports injury treatment is the concept and science of performance enhancement. The thing I love most about being a chiropractor is that our science, art, and philosophy is based on the premise that nature is infinitely wise. As humans we may have been ‘issued’ our genes but no one said it’s against the rules to to maximize their expression.

Chiropractic can profoundly improve the neurological functions within the body.

Sports chiropractors, although misunderstood by some ultra-traditional therapists, have a holistic, natural approach and a well-rounded and comprehensive understanding of the neuromusculoskeletal ‘human machine.’

Andres Galarraga

A study in 1991, published in the journal of Chiropractic Research and Clinical Investigation, showed that chiropractic care increased athletic performance by as much as 16.7% over twelve weeks.

If you’re a competitive athlete, what might an increase in 16.7% do for you?

The  facilitators of this study measured each athlete’s athletic ability through a series of quantitative tests, and placed half the athletes on a specific individualized program of chiropractic care for twelve weeks. The other half received no care. The objective in choosing the particular tests was to measure aspects of athletic ability that would be minimally affected by cardiovascular and strength training.

All athletes were re-evaluated through the same ability tests after six weeks and the treatment group was evaluated again after twelve weeks. Reaction time was measured before the season began and at six weeks. In the control group (who received no chiropractic care) the improvement in reaction time at the six-week check-up was less than 1 percent. On the other hand, the chiropractic group’s reaction time was 18 percent faster.

A study published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research in 1997 revealed that chiropractic care can increase your capillary count, meaning increased blood flow. Increased blood flow means increased oxygenation. Those benefits could be substantial for any athlete.

Roger Craig

When I work with professional teams as a part of the overall sports medicine staff it’s imperative that we all ‘play nice’ and respect each others disciplines, talents and specialties.

After all, we are care givers not care competitors.

A good Colorado sports chiropractor will have a well-rounded and progressive education in sports nutrition, biomechanics, therapeutic and functional exercise physiology and physical therapy.

Just as the gears of the sprocket mesh smoothly to power the chain on your bike, the bones in your body are all connected by joints and dependent upon those inter-connections.

The Colorado Sports Chiropractor

Sports chiropractors, as well as many professional athletes, are well aware that joints that function properly perform better and last longer.

From a neurological standpoint, the body is electric, literally.

Hundreds of millions of messages travel constantly during activity from receptors in your joints, tendons and muscles, along nerves, back and forth to you brain. The synchronicity of this ‘concert’ of events is what makes an athlete an athlete. If the ‘system’ is faulty you can be prone to injury.

Chiropractic can help improve the neuromechanical communication from brain to body and vice-versa. My sports injury clinic utilizes all natural methods of therapy.

It’s not an end all, be all. But you can get a lot of mileage out of a good Colorado sports chiropractor.

Evocare Center for Physical Health

3500 S. Wadsworth Blvd. #302

Lakewood, CO 80235

303-980-5699

References: Chiropractic: The J Chiro Res and Clin Invest 1991; 6 (4):   84–87, Lauro, Anthony; Mouch, B

Being a chiropractor allows me to express my athletic background in a career. Being a Colorado sports chiropractor is the best.

It’s a beautiful winter day here in Colorado. In reality, it’s the only winter day.

I’ve had a number of my young adult patients inquire about being a chiropractor.

Of all the rewarding aspects of my job, when this happens I feel like I’ve made a difference in someone’s life.

Even if it’s just temporary and something important was etched in his mind. Over the years I’ve had a handful of patients who’ve had a great experience in the office then one thing leads to another and…

Aha! A moment of inspiration occurs. “I want to be a chiropractor!” “I was helped and I want to live a life helping others.”

The same thing happened to me. And many others in my profession for that matter. In fact, it seems ubiquitous.

It’s truly humbling and heartwarming when ‘the moment of truth’ happens. When you become inspired to do something that feels like a calling rather than a job. To see a boy become a man, a girl become a woman… of character and purpose.

Chiropractic is a tough profession in a lot of ways. You’re always the underdog because it’s not mainstream medicine. You’re usually perceived as not being a real doctor.

When a parent of a child says to me, “Hey, you got my kid feeling better, naturally, when no one else could, that’s real enough for me.”

How cool is that?

I’ve seen children who’ve had repetitive stress injuries from over use where they can’t even play.

I do what I always do- treat the person not the symptom.

After assessing patients I usually find I find pretty significant bio-mechanical instabilities or mobility problems including marked foot pronation, tension in muscle groups, or core weaknesses. All of which can be remedied. I frequently confirm findings via x-ray to have all the cards on the table.

The one axiom I can follow pretty consistently in practicing bio-mechanically sound physical medicine is this; you’re almost always wrong if you treat and chase the symptoms, so i check and treat the person, not the symptoms.

Regarding the health care aspect of this story, practicing as a sports chiropractor isn’t different because of what I think, it’s different because of how I think.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

If making an impact on a child’s life causes him to be inspired to want to help others as he was helped so be it- consider me not a real doctor.

Some things are just worth swimming upstream for.

Fish swimming against the current grow stronger….. and only dead fish swim downstream.

Hockey, golf, baseball, football- the story is always the same. If the body is bio-mechanically unsound, not only is it vulnerable and prone to injury but there will be a cap on the abilities of the athlete… it’s just pure physics.

Function is directly related to structure.

Here’s my secret recipe: (Shhh. Don’t tell anyone!) Love the patient, assess their needs, locate and detect problems regardless of symptoms, restore the structure,  develop strength in the new position, unleash the potential…drop the jaw.

Sports chiropractor from Littleton, CO Dr. Ron Spallone