Common Sports Injuries
Common Sports Injuries
Dr. Sebastian Gonzales D.C., C.S.C.S., ART, Orange, California
At Orange County Pain Management, we try our best to get you out of pain FAST!
We are able to significantly decrease your pain within 3 – 4 treatments, even in some of the most stubborn cases. Most of our success is because of our use of Active Release Techniques® (ART®), which is considered as the “Gold Standard” of soft tissue care by top athletes from every major sport!
Here is a list of some of the more common sports injuries and a bit of information about each. All of these are injuries which can be resolved by using ART®.
Ankle Sprain
Achilles’ Tendonitis
Jumper’s Knee
Shin Splints
Shoulder Pain (Impingement Syndrome)
Lower Back Pain
Hamstring Injury
What is Active Release Techniques?
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Ligaments of a Sprained Ankle
There is no doubt about it; this injury is from a traumatic experience. If you land awkwardly on your foot and you feel a sharp pain at the ankle, there is a possibility you could have caused some minor or serious damage to the ligaments in your ankle. Ligaments can take from weeks to months to heal, depending on the extent of the damage.
However, most people who “turn” their ankle once usually do it again and again, making them dependent on ankle braces for support. The reason why repeated injuries occur is because the muscles on the side of the calf are usually never even looked at! These muscles control your foot in the air and if they are not functioning properly, you will “turn” your ankle again and again.
ART® and proper strength training can fix this problem fast and get you out of your old smelly ankle brace, permanently.
Achilles’ Tendonitis also is an overuse injury, which can occur from running in virtually any sport. Constant pull from the muscles of the calf on the tendon causes inflammation on the point of insertion on the bone. The tendon itself naturally lacks much blood flow and has a decreased ability for healing for that reason. One thing to remember about this injury is that if not addressed and continually trained on, rupture of the tendon is possible.
Treatment of the muscles causing the increased tension on the tendon is extremely important in resolution of this problem. Increased tightness of the calf muscles is caused by overuse and scar tissue.
Jumper’s Knee (Patellar Tendonitis)
Jumpers Knee
Jumper’s Knee is an overuse injury as well. It is very similar to tennis elbow in the way it develops. When the quad muscles exert a large demand on the tendons attaching to the kneecap, many times small micro tears are possible. These small tears fill with scar tissue in a haphazard fashion, kind of like spraying Silly String in someone’s hair. The result is a clumpy mess and decreased function of the tendons and muscles. This scar tissue will result in muscle tightness and repeated injury to the tendon.
ART® is the best manual therapy at removing scar tissue from the knee and getting you back into your sport without having to buy a patellar brace. These braces do not fix the problem; they only help with the pain for a period of time. In just 3 – 4 sessions of ART®, most basketball players and runners no longer need the knee straps they have been using for years!
Shin Splints & Tibialis Anterior
Shin Splints are extremely common amongst runners, especially when they start to increase their mileage from what is their norm. Athletes from other sports, such as basketball or soccer, can also develop shin splint from the pounding they receive from the court or grass. Increased tension of the muscles on the front and back part of the leg pulls on the covering of the bone (periosteum) and causes the constant inflammation and irritation to the area. The tibialis posterior and the tibialis anterior muscles are most common culprits in shin splints.
As stated before, muscular tension is what causes the constant pulling on the periosteum and treatment of the muscles of the calf can help significantly decrease this tension and the inflammation, which results. ART® is can significantly decrease pain associated with shin splints in about 3 – 4 treatments.
Shoulder Pain (Impingement Syndrome)
Generally speaking, Impingement syndrome is pinching pain on the front of the shoulder from overuse. The pain is usually from structures (muscles, tendons and bursas) becoming compressed within the shoulder. This injury can easily be fixed with a bit of ART® therapy and strengthening exercises for the rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder.
This injury should be address early. If it is not, repeated use can lead to full rupture of muscles of the rotator cuff or even numbness into the arm from injuries to surrounding areas, compensating from a loss of shoulder range of motion.
Hip Flexor
Lower back pain can be considered an overuse injury although it commonly beings with a certain event, like you played a basketball tournament the day prior or you slept in a weird position. It should be treated as an overuse injury because hours of sitting at a desk or in a car is where the injury begins, months before you actually start to feel pain.
Tightness in your hip flexors will cause you to alter they way you run. When running with an abnormal hip extension motion pattern, the accessory hip extensor muscles, such as the lower back paraspinal muscles, can become overused, damaged and develop loads of scar tissue, leading to pain and sitting on the sidelines.
It is not uncommon for runner’s to be out of training for weeks or even months due to this type of injury. Many times this scar tissue cannot effectively be stretched out by yourself. One thing to remember is that when a muscle has accumulated large amounts of scar tissue, this tissue become less resilient, less stretchable and gives you the sensation of chronic tightness. Many times it is necessary to see an ART® provider to manually get rid of the scar tissue in order for the pain and tightness to resolve.
Hamstring Muscles
Tight hamstring equals injuries hamstrings… but what causes tight hamstring? Again, lets look at an alteration in hip extension (as the example of lower back pain). Normally the gluteus maximus is the best extensor of the hip, but when not working correctly, other muscles will have to help out as you are running down the field or court. The hamstring, lower back and hip muscles will all try to help out, but will become tight in the process.
Tight hamstrings have the higher tendency to tear in a lengthening motion, such as when your leg is swinging forward when running, or kicking a ball. Scar tissue will then form around the tear and hinder sports performance for years to come, unless properly addressed.
With an ART® providers help, as well as proper eccentric strengthening of the muscle, full recovery is possible in just a short amount of time.
What is Active Release Techniques® (ART®)?
Most people have not heard about ART®, but it is rather popular in the world of professional sports. Nearly all NFL, NHL, and NBA teams have an ART provider for their players. Many Olympic Medalists and Mixed Martial Artists have also used ART® to enhance performance, as well as decrease pain from previous injuries and overtraining. If it works for the people who put their bodies to the test everyday, it will most likely work for you.
If you’re tired of living in pain and different forms of care haven’t worked, why not give ART® a try. Many times it’s a last resort for patients just before having a surgery, but why not fix the problem before it gets that far. You’ll be glad you did!
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