More Chiropractic Care Articles
Sports Injuries and Applied Kinesiology
A common sports injury that is treated at a doctor office is rotator cuff tendinitis or tendinosis. There are four rotator cuff muscles. In practice the most common muscle is supraspinatus. Pain in the shoulder can stay local and/or can radiate down the upper arm to the elbow joint.
Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioners (CCSP), and an Applied Kinesiologists have to look to other causes of muscle dysfunction. Motor to the supraspinatus muscle is rooted in the cervical spine, so a full cervical functional neurological exam is necessary to determine whether the problem is local to the shoulder joint, or the weakness is stemming from the cervical spine nerve roots.
In Applied Kinesiology (AK) research, inhibited muscles may have a problem with an associated acupuncture meridian imbalance. Every muscle in the body has an associated acupuncture point that influences its ability to fire correctly. So a deficiency in the Qi running through that meridian will cause a problem and weaken that muscle. Think of the amount of throws a baseball pitcher performs in one game. An abnormal cervical spinal motor firing and/or an acupuncture energy meridian firing will result in an overuse injury eventually. Pain from an overuse injury comes on as a sequel to dysfunction, and that could be a decrease in throwing speed and accuracy.
Chiropractors who have advanced training in AK have many subtle but effective tools to accurately diagnose and treat neuromuscular skeletal sports-related injuries. Many professional and non-professional athletes seek out doctors who do AK. One of the most useful and effective tools that complements AK in sports medicine is the use of low-level cold laser. Photo-biomodulation is the mechanism by which cold laser light therapy works on the human body to facilitate healing, reduce pain and improve function.
Cold laser therapy has been involved in sports medicine rehabilitation in the NFL since 2004 and also in the National Baseball League. The light energy from the laser is second to stimulating the acupuncture points after traditional needling.
To treat a rotator cuff overuse injury effectively, perform full cervical spine motor exam, including manual muscle testing of approximated 16 muscles (including four rotator muscles) that stabilize and move the shoulder joint. Up-regulate the inhibited muscles with the cold laser and myotomes of the associated cervical spine. Then proceed with active release technique, Graston soft tissue mobilization, isometric and isotonic exercise and stretching. Then you phase back into full activity.
From a clinical standpoint you can reduce rehabilitation with physical therapy by 50-60%. The goal is to get you back into the game sooner rather than later.
