Understanding Sports Injuries

Most sports injuries to joints occur because the joint was unable to respond appropriately at the time of injury. The extent of the injury is largely determined by how much dysfunction there was in the body prior to injury. That means that participating in sports while you are already injured, sore, fatigued, stressed out, or haven’t eaten makes it more likely that you’ll be injured. Unfortunately, not all treatment programs help people completely recover from injuries nor do they teach them how to adequately decrease the likelihood of future injuries.

In a typical sports injury, the injured area suffers from inappropriate muscle response rates that do not allow the muscle to protect the joint at the time of injury. This is NOT merely a function of how strong the muscles are, but more so whether they are responding at an appropriate rate. Once the muscle function is compromised, excess strain is placed on the ligaments to maintain joint integrity. The damage to the ligaments is the hallmark of a sprained joint. If the ligaments are not able to adequately protect the joint, then dislocation or fracture may occur. Simply put, the severity of most sports injuries to joints are determined by muscle function, not strength, the ability of the ligaments to withstand strain, and finally bone health.

Our Sports Injury Evaluation:

• 1. Evaluate the function of the muscles around the injured joint.
• 2. Metabolic Screening.
• 3. Set up home exercises for you and/or refer you to (or back to) your Step 3 provider.

Common Sports Injuries We Can Help With

• Knee Sprain/Strain
• Ankle Sprain/Strain
• Shoulder Sprain/Strain
• Hand Sprain/Strain
• Elbow Sprain/Strain
• Foot Sprain/Strain
• Back Sprain/Strain
• Neck Sprain/Strain
• Post Surgical Recovery
• Non-Surgical Recovery (depending upon the injury)
• Tennis Elbow, Golfer’s Elbow, Pitcher’s Elbow, “Rolled” Ankles, etc.

Sports Injury Services

Recovery from a sports injury requires three main components to heal. The amount of time for each step will be different depending on the severity of the injury & stability of the joint.

Step 1- Metabolic Support
Step 2- Muscle dysfunction
Step 3- Muscle strengthening

Step 1- Metabolic Support

• Review current lab work if available
• If necessary, order any missing lab tests for evaluation of electrolytes, pH, inflammatory markers, etc.

After an injury your body will move resources into the area to removed damaged tissue and make repairs and rebuild damaged tissue. This can involve bone, ligament, cartilage, and/or muscle. The availability of nutrients is dependent upon your diet and your habits before the injury. Nutrient availability is altered when you are already injured, sore, fatigued, stressed out, or haven’t eaten. This is due to the adaptive processes necessary to manage these stresses. These adaptive processes require high amounts of minerals, vitamins, and fats to maintain your health. These same factors are needed to support healthy bone, joint and muscle function as well as to help them heal once they have been injured. Management of these resources is the metabolic component to healing. If you have injured a joint or any part of your body. Supporting the metabolic processes that promote body repair is the first step. This should involve blood work to see where long standing problems may be negatively affecting your health. This can be ordered through my office or through another primary care doctor. However, if your doctor is not trained in evaluating lab work for functional deficiencies on lab work, I would recommend working with my office directly even though our lab tests may not be covered by your insurance.

Click here for more information about how to support your body metabolically before and after a sports injury.

Step 2- Muscle dysfunction, Joint Support, Pain Reduction

• Low Level Laser Therapy
• Correct all response rate problems in the muscles around the injury

Strength is one aspect of function, however, response rate is a better measure of muscle performance in athletes. Rehabilitation and strengthening an injured joint is an important step, however, it is not in the best interest of the athlete to ignore the response rate and patterns of dysfunction in their muscles. Dysfunction in the body, both at the site of injury and in some cases in areas unrelated to the injury will have a direct influence on recovery time, as well as your ability to return to athletic activities sooner. Patterns of muscle dysfunction in the joints above and below (part of the kinetic chain of movement) may impact function of the injured joint. Therefore, evaluation of the response rate of muscles involved in the movement patterns for strength building exercises should occur prior to increasing intensity of those exercises. In some cases, often when the injury is severe, it should occur before any exercise programs begin. This will help limit the potential of doing the exercises inappropriately and injuring other parts of your body which may delay healing. Natural pain reduction therapies are also an important part of your recovery. When pain is present it alters the nervous system’s coordination of muscle and joint movement. Pain medication comes with side effects and can often times increase the time it takes to recover. They can also be habit forming. The drug free solutions for pain reduction that we offer are a great solution. We have many options, such as laser therapy, acupressure, energetic reflex points, and autonomic reflex points which are extremely effective and often times can eliminate pain in just a few visits (depending upon the severity of the injury).

Step 3- Muscle strengthening

This is where your typical healing journey begins with most physicians, chiropractors, physical therapists, and trainers. In some cases, this is a step that can be managed and supported at home with an at-home exercise program. Your ability to successfully build strength without damaging your body or predisposing it to further injury is often dependent upon your success in Steps 1 & 2. That being said, even if you have already began to perform strength building exercises, it is not too late to re-evaluate Steps 1 & 2 to ensure that your likelihood of re-injury decreases further and your ability to recover improves. My goal is to support your recovery process, not take it over if you already have help. During Step 3 exercises, it is important to pay attention to your performance. If you are not able to recover quicker in between exercises as you proceed with a program, or you are not able to consistently improve without set-backs you need to evaluate Steps 1 & 2 to find out why.

Fees For Services Provided

• Sports Injury Exam: $125
• Sports Injury Treatment (1-2 Regions): $75.00
• Sports Injury Treatment (3-4 Regions): $100.00
• Sports Injury Treatment (5 or more Regions): $150.00

Sports Injury Office Hours

Monday: 3:30PM – 5:30PM
Wednesday: 3:30PM – 5:30PM
Friday: 9:00AM – 5:00PM

Services provided by appointment only. Walk-Ins are booked for a later date. Please call with any questions regarding time, services, or fee schedule. Insurance is not accepted by this office for these services, however, you may submit your receipt for any reimbursements directly to your insurer according to your policy.

How We Help People Get Better @ Lucid Force Health Center (LFHC)

Healthy diet and lifestyle choices lay the foundation for good health and recovery from all disease. At Lucid Force Health Center, our focus is on helping you rebuild your health by teaching you how to care for YOUR body so that you can get your life back and get rid of your symptoms. We use specialized lab testing to help identify other problems that have been robbing you of your health, but because there are not medications to fix them…your doctors don’t run the tests and often don’t know how to correctly interpret the results to help you. By looking for health versus disease, we can help guide you back to your Path To Health, so that you can fulfill your life’s purpose, pursue your dreams, and serve your family & community at a higher level!

Learn more about LFHC, or about conditions we help people with, how we look at lab tests differently, and how to be successful at getting your health back.