Sports Therapy Tools for Faster Recovery
New instruments can offer hope and healing to sore and injured runners. By Michelle Hamilton; Published April 12, 2013 Sports massage has long been the go-to therapy for runners seeking relief from aches and pains. And for good reason: A rubdown can improve flexibility, boost bloodflow, and release tension, helping runners recover from or sidestep injury. But because some chronically tight or stubbornly sore spots don’t respond quickly enough to basic massage, many therapists have turned to new bodywork tools and techniques to help their injured clients. While alternative rehab methods, such as Active Release Techniques (ART) and Graston Technique, have been around for years, they are becoming increasingly available to everyday athletes. Like massage, they are forms of soft-tissue mobilization, a therapy that breaks up scar tissue and adhesions between connective tissue. When you sustain an injury or...
Read MoreMark Teixeira’s Therapy Regimen
Mark Teixeira’s Therapy Regimen Photograph by Randy Harris Mark Teixeira’s Therapy Regimen Editor’s Note: Teixeira injured his wrist in preparation for the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday, March 5, 2013. When Mark Teixeira strains a calf muscle, Yankee fans everywhere limp. This past August, the Yankees were trying to hold on to their division lead when the Gold Glove first baseman and dependable power hitter felt a stab of pain in his left calf, sprinting toward first. After 10 games, he was rushed back into the lineup and immediately strained it again, necessitating a three-week layoff and a lot of grousing that the team was old and injury-prone. Teixeira is all of 32, but in baseball years, he’s deep into middle age (he even admitted that he’s “maybe slowing down a tick”). Still, he says he’d like to play eight more seasons. That’s...
Read MoreART for the Rest of Us
Active Release Techniques (ART) “Muscles are the underdogs of the medical world,” says Keren Day, a Manhattan chiropractor and ART therapist. Never heard of ART? Most haven’t. And while orthopedists can surgically repair joints, and physical therapists supervise stretching and strengthening programs often without directly laying their hands on the muscle tissue itself, what elite athletes have learned is that there’s an alternate world of injury treatment, where therapists poke and prod soft tissue with their hands to often extraordinary effects. Some of the most common problems – lower-back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, runner’s knee – are ideal for ART. “Tight, dysfunctional muscles are tugging and pulling at the joint or irritating nerves,” Day says, “and often that’s what is causing the injury.” First developed in the 1980s by Colorado sports chiropractor Mike Leahy, ART quickly spread among the ranks of pro...
Read MoreDTS Spinal Decompression
How Does DTS Spinal Decompression Work? DTS Spinal Decompression provides relief to severe back and neck pain sufferers by gently reducing the pressure within spinal discs. The bones of the spine are slowly and methodically separated using the state-of-the-art DTS Spinal Decompression Unit. As the vertebrae are separated pressure is slowly reduced within the disc (intradiscal pressure) until a vacuum is formed. This vacuum “sucks” the gelatinous center of the disc back inside thereby reducing the disc bulge or disc herniation. Significant disc bulge reduction removes pressure off the spinal nerves and drastically reduces pain and disability. This “sucking” vacuum also pulls much-needed oxygen, nutrients and fluid into injured and degenerated discs allowing the healing to begin. The treatment motion is computer controlled to provide gentle and painless decompression of the injured spinal discs. Advanced DTS decompression techniques...
Read MoreTendinosis versus Tendinitis
A New Understanding of Overuse Injuries The days of overprescribed rest, ice, and medication are over. By Dr. William F. Brady, D.C. Does the following situation sound familiar? You put in long hours on your instrument practicing for an important gig or audition only to find that the nagging, on-and-off pain you’re experiencing occurs more frequently. Reluctant to cut back your practice time or cancel the upcoming engagement, you start icing the affected area, stretching, and ingesting more medication than your liver cares to process. Despite taking all the measures that you have heard will help to ease the pain, your discomfort increases. We now know that the treatment methods described above will not rid you of the problem. It has long been assumed that inflammation is responsible for the pain that musicians frequently suffer from and that...
Read MoreTPI – Titleist Performance Institute
MyTPI.com is the largest collection of golf-specific health and fitness information from the world’s leading experts in the game. This site is brought to you by the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) – the leaders in elite player development. TPI leads the world in research and data on golf fitness, health and swing biomechanics. TPI certified members (golf, medical and fitness professionals) are the first to receive the newest information. The certification shows that the professional has reached a level of golf fitness expertise that surpasses – and continues to surpass- the competition. Trained medical professionals provide effective golf-specific medical treatment or rehabilitative programs at any health related facility. Upon completion of the extensive certification program, medical professionals are given the designation Certified TPI Medical Provider. Training focuses on Golf-Specific Injuries and Injury Inducing Swing Mechanics, Advanced Swing...
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