Whatever sporting level you play at
- from weekend warrior to elite athlete -
you want to avoid injury and perform at your best.
Sports generally involve body contact, fast starts and stops, and positioning that places an unusual amount of strain on your back and structural system. Most sports injury we see is brought about by a combination of muscle imbalance and joint dysfunction.
How can chiropractic and active release technique help athletes with sports injuries?
A specific activity that overuses a particular set of muscles, and underuses another set, causes imbalance in muscles that were designed to counterbalance and support each other. Like the joints of the spine, joints in the extremities can also become misaligned. Chiropractic adjustment helps restore normal joint motion, which in turn provides nutrients to the joint, reducing inflammation and pain.
Repetitive motion in sports training and endurance activities cause repetitive strain injuries on the soft tissues and joints. This causes abnormal wear and tear within the joint, abnormal pulling of the soft tissue – muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joint capsules – which causes scar tissue to develop. When the soft tissues bind up and pinch a nerve, pain alerts you that there is a problem. Active release technique is a type of deep tissue therapy which helps to break up scar tissue or adhesions caused by acute injury or repetitive strain in sports.
Chiropractic adjustment in combination with active release technique, provide an immediate increase in joint range of motion, restore and enhance joint functioning which in turn keeps wear and tear to a minimum and can increase the life of the joint.
This is especially important to athletes who, because of the nature of their sport, put themselves on the fast track to future joint disfunction if they’re not proactive in addressing joint stress.
How can chiropractic and active release technique improve sports performance?
Addressing the pain, injuries and extremity disfunction brought about by joint misalignment and soft tissue injury is just the first step for athletes, whether you play sports at novice or pro level.
The next step is for you, the patient, is to correct the biomechanics so the injury does not recur. Because the nature of sports will continue to stress your joints, it’s important that you address the underlying causes of injuries such as muscular imbalances, incorrect biomechanics, and improper sporting techniques and conditioning. Dr. Seals will recommend ways for you to improve your biomechanics to better support the problem area.
Maintenance is especially important because athletes generally demand optimal joint performance from highly stressed joints. Maintaining soft tissue movement and proper joint alignment will allow you to be prepared for your sport.
Many elite athletes come in for a ‘tune-up’ treatment before competition to prepare their bodies for optimal performance. Following competition, they return for treatment to enhance the recuperative process after the stress of their particular event.
Specialty in Sports Injuries and Sports Performance
One of Dr. Seals specialties is sports injury and sports performance.
With extensive experience in soft tissue treatment over nearly thirty years, Dr. Seals has developed a very advanced ‘feel’ for the tissues and their texture, tension and movement. He evaluates the movement of each tissue relative to the one next to it, and with a thorough knowledge of biomechanics, is able to correct your specific problem.
His interest in this area peaked when he had the opportunity to be an attending chiropractic sports physician at the ’88 Olympic Games, held in Seoul, Korea. His experience here demonstrated the importance of working with the biomechanics that are natural to the individual, rather than trying to apply textbook biomechanics.
More recently, Dr. Seals certified as a fully body ART® provider. Although active release technique is already used widely throughout professional sports, lay people are just discovering its benefits for soft tissue injury. Nearly all NFL, NHL, and NBA teams have an ART® provider for their players. Many Olympic medalists and team competitors use active release technique to enhance their performance, as well as to decrease pain from previous sports injuries and overtraining. In fact, Active Release Techniques® is the official Ironman® soft tissue management partner.
Dr. Seals currently works with elite athletes in the fields of weight lifting, gymnastics, speed skating, skiing, pro football, and martial arts.
