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Prevent Re-Injury with Integrated Training & Rehab

 The majority of us will not get through life without sustaining some degree of injury. The joints of the back, shoulder, hips, knees and ankles are all very common injury sites for not just athletes, but the general fitness population as well.Most injuries that develop over time tend to have one thing in common, a breakdown in the human movem...

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How Movement Improves Brain Function

Movement is essential to the function of our heart, lungs, and lymphatic system. Movement is critical to keeping our muscles, joints, cartilage, and connective tissue healthy. Movement aids in the delivery of oxygen and nutrients throughout our body and assists in removal of metabolic waste products.These are points that the majority of us have eit...

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Busting Chiropractic Myths & Misconceptions

The chiropractic profession is an interesting one to be a part of. For some, they more than accept the role chiropractic can play in not only getting them out of pain, but also elevating their overall sense of health and well-being. For others, they remain skeptical and dismissive for reasons that simply come down to myths and misconceptions that h...

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The Essentials of Hamstring Rehab

This video highlights the hamstring rehab with Carter Henderson. Carter was a standout linebacker at Duquesne University, leading the team in tackles the last two seasons. Now he is in preparation for an NFL Pro Day. Carter came to GP for rehab of a hamstring pull 12 days out from his Pro Day. His initial 5 days focused on manual therapy, eleetromu...

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A Solution to Headaches

Headaches are among the most frustrating and debilitating conditions seen by healthcare practitioners, from primary care physicians to chiropractors. When severe enough, headaches may interfere or prevent even the most basic daily activities that we take for granted, such as thinking, talking, and reading.While a logical assumption would be that th...

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Maintaining Health & Athleticism Over the Long Run

I've never highly regarded myself. There's tons more athletic and stronger people out there. For what I lacked in natural ability, I've been disciplined and worked to accomplish tasks and goals. Even at age 36.I've loved training hard and learning about the human body since I was 14. Ultimately it's what lead me to what it is I do today. I knew as ...

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Trigger Points: A Good Thing in a Poorly Functioning System

"Trigger points are a good thing in a poorly functioning system."  - Brett Winchester, DC One of my favorite quotes I've heard. Period.Identification and treatment of muscular trigger points is often a common therapeutic intervention of physical therapists, massage therapists, chiropractors, and other physical medicine providers. There's an en...

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Structural Adaptations: How They Impact Training and Therapy

Similar to a growing number of athletic facilities across the US, Gallagher Performance places a significant amount of emphasis on assessing our athletes in order to address structural adaptations and movement dysfunctions appropriately during the course of the athlete’s training program. This trend is seen throughout collegiate and professional athletics as organizations are recognizing the importance of keeping their athletes healthy by promoting optimal training environments.

However, this service is rarely available to young athletes prior to sport participation or a training program. This is truly unfortunate since proper screening of athletes is not available when it arguably matters most, during the early stages of athletic development. Dr. Mike O’Donnell DC, CCSP, CSCS touched on this concept in a recent interview. He states,

“In North America, athletes start playing a sport as unprepared youth with no background in general conditioning. This isn’t always true, but we have no system to condition young athletes besides just playing the sport. In an Eastern model, camps are held without a sport focus to condition young athletes, and the specialization comes later. In general, early specialization is a mistake. This has been proven to limit progress, lead to early burnout, and increase injury rate.”
Certainly in an ideal situation, young athletes would be introduced to general conditioning prior to sport participation. Likewise, prior to the initiation of a general conditioning program and/or sport participation, young athletes should be screened to provide an understanding of any structural adaptations that will require individualized considerations to ensure continual progress in the pursuit of achieving athletic mastery and minimize the risk of serious injury.

Structural Adaptations: How Common Are They?
There are numerous studies suggesting that the majority of people in the general population, especially athletes, have developed various forms of structural adaptations. What are structural adaptations? Essentially they are alterations in the anatomical structure of the body due to repeated physical stresses placed upon joints and connective tissue. These adaptations often occur during the developmental years. Keep in mind, structural adaptations are not pathological in nature, but certainly require their own unique management strategies since they will impact movement mechanics and potentially be a reason for movement dysfunction. It is also important to understand that not all individuals with structural adaptations will present with symptoms, such as pain. In fact, the majority of them will not present with pain.

Below are just some of the findings from a growing collection of evidence that suggests how frequently structural adaptations may occur:
  • 79% of asymptomatic professional baseball pitchers have evidence of shoulder labrum abnormalities on MRI.
  • 40% of dominant shoulders in asymptomatic tennis and baseball players had evidence of partial or full-thickness rotator cuff tears on MRI.
  • 34% of asymptomatic individuals in the general population had evidence of rotator cuff tears. 54% of those 60 years of age and older had evidence of rotator cuff tears - so if you’re dealing with older adults, you could safely assume they are present in almost half of this population.
  • Recent research has demonstrated that high school baseball pitchers from southern, warm weather climates have decreased shoulder internal rotation range of motion and external rotation strength compared to northern, cold weather climate players. This is likely attributed to adaptation from the number of months spent participating in pitching activities during the calendar year.
  • 64% of asymptomatic people that underwent an MRI of their lumbar region had abnormal findings. Keep in mind these are individuals with evidence of lumbar disc pathology (i.e. bulge or herniation) who have NO symptoms and NO pain.
  • 93% of youth hockey players age 16-19 have evidence of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and hip labral tears. FAI is the result of bony overgrowth found at the femoral head and/or acetabulum of the pelvis. FAI has been linked to increased risk of injury for osteitis pubis and sports hernias.
  • 77% NCAA D1 and professional hockey players evaluated in one study had abnormal hip/groin MRI despite being asymptomatic. Hockey players are also more likely to have a structural change known in the hip known as hip retroversion, which allows for greater hip external rotation and reduces the degree of hip internal rotation.
  • 87% of 125 NFL prospects had findings consistent with FAI on MRI. The only independent predictor of groin pain was the degree of bony overgrowth.
  • Evidence suggests that roughly 25% of men in the general population have some degree of FAI despite being asymptomatic.
Conclusion
Structural adaptations are clearly a common occurrence both in athletes as well as the general population. The impact these adaptations have on movement cannot and should not be ignored. For example, individuals with FAI will experience varying degrees of limited hip flexion range of motion. This limitation in hip flexion will impact exercises such as squats, lunges, and other considerations in lower body training methods. If this limitation is ignored or missed, it can have potentially serious implications such as the development of labral tears or lumbar disc injury due to compensations in movement through the hips, pelvis and lumbar spine.

The key point to recognize is the presence of such adaptations have their own unique impacts on posture and movement that influence the design and outcomes of both training and treatment plans. Training programs need to take these issues into account, making considerations for differences in gender, age, level of physical preparation, primary sport(s) participation, and injury history. While some structural adaptations can be impacted by corrective strategies, others simply need to be accounted for in exercise selection and movement education in order to avoid causing them to reach symptom threshold.

References
  1. Miniaci et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the shoulder in asymptomatic professional baseball pitchers. Am J Sports Med. 2002 Jan-Feb;30(1):66-73.
  2. Connor et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the asymptomatic shoulder of overhead athletes: a 5-year follow-up study. Am J Sports Med. 2003 Sep-Oct;31(5):724-7. 
  3. Sher et al. Abnormal findings on magnetic resonance images of asymptomatic shoulders. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1995 Jan;77(1):10-15.
  4. Jensen et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain. N Engl J Med. 1994 Jul 14;331(2):69-73.
  5. Kaplan et al. Comparison of shoulder range of motion, strength, and playing time in uninjured high school baseball pitchers who reside in warm- and cold-weather climates. Am J Sports Med. 2011 Feb;39(2):320-328. 
  6. Birmingham et al. The effect of dynamic femoroacetabular impingement on pubic symphysis motion: a cadaveric study. Am J Sports Med. 2012, 40(5), 1113-1118.
  7. Philippon et al. Prevalence of increased alpha angles as a measure of cam-type femoroacetabular impingement in youth ice hockey players. Am J Sports Med. 2013, 41(6), 1357-1362.
  8. Silvis et al. High Prevalence of pelvic and hip magnetic resonance imaging findings in asymptomatic collegiate and professional hockey players. Am J Sports Med. 2011, 39(4), 715-721.
  9. Larson et al. Increasing alpha angle is predictive of athletic-related “hip” and “groin” pain in collegiate national football league prospects. Arthroscopy. 2013, 29(3), 405-410. 
  10. Hack et al. Prevalence of cam-type femoracetabular impingement morphology in asymptomatic volunteers. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2010, 92(14), 2436-2444.
 
 
 

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assessment athlete athletics coach corrective exercise exercise femoroacetabular impingment hips labral tear low back performance program research rotator cuff tear shoulders sports strength structural adaptation therapy

The Site of Pain Is Rarely The Source of Pain

A testimonial worth sharing:

When I first visited Gallagher Performance 6 months ago, I went for a nagging discomfort around my shoulder on the right side of my back that had stuck with me for the past 7 years. Not only was this uncomfortable, but it was also a major limiting factor in my physical performance. For years on my own, I tried various types of stretches, mobility exercises, and strengthening exercises, all to no avail. Due to its chronic nature, I continued to research the potential issue, and was convinced it was fascial adhesions in that area causing the discomfort and limited mobility. From there, I went to a number of deep tissue massages from various professionals, but those only resulted in short-term relief, not the long-term fix I was looking for. I continued my journey by going to various physical therapists in the area. I would tell them I thought facial adhesions were causing this issue. They would listen, target that area with facial release methods, give me various stretches and mobility exercises, but still no results.

Finally, I found Gallagher Performance one day as I searched for a fix for my shoulder and decided to give them a shot. Since I was still convinced that fascial adhesions were my issue, I went for a deep tissue massage for my first session with Ryan. Ryan listened attentively as I told him about my symptoms and the fascial adhesions that I believed were causing my discomfort and limited mobility in that area. Once the session started, he went to work on those fascial adhesions that I so strongly believed were the culprit. But this is where Gallagher Performance separated themselves from all of the other practitioners that I visited. Even though Ryan started on the facial adhesions, through his extensive knowledge and expertise, he quickly identified that fascial adhesions were not the issue. In fact, I unknowingly had issues in other areas in my body that were the root causes of my discomfort in that area. From there, through Ryan’s genuine desire to help his clients, he introduced me to Sean in order to work through the multitude of issues that caused this chronic discomfort and limited mobility for the past 7 years. Since that first visit, I’ve continuously worked with Sean and have practically eliminated the issue that had limited me for so many years.

Ryan and Sean were the first professionals to take an honest and objective approach to my issue. Instead of allowing my unprofessional diagnosis of my issue dictate their actions and approach, they independently applied their experience and knowledge to diagnose my issue and set me on the correct path for a long-term fix. Sean’s expertise in his field, specifically his knowledge of DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization), gave me the tools I needed to fix the root causes of my issue. His unique knowledge of DNS was imperative to my early success, but as we continued to work together on my path to maximizing functionality and physical performance, his experience and expertise in every area physical therapy allowed him to effectively diagnosis and treat any issue that would arise. Even though my discomfort has subsided greatly, I continue to work with Sean on correcting other problem areas that are limiting the full functionality of my body that I require to perform at a high level as an ice hockey goaltender. Only when I began my work with Sean was I not only able correct a lingering issue, but was also able to (and continue to) maximize my physical performance and functionality in ways I’ve never experienced before.

In addition to my periodic visits with Sean, I have been working with Ryan on the nutrition and training side for three months now, and as with my work with Sean, experiencing results that I have never experienced in those areas. For years, I have tried various exercise and nutrition programs, but the results that I experienced (if any) were short-term. I was never able to stick to a nutrition plan for very long or have a training program that was designed specifically to my needs. Ryan met those needs by developing a nutrition and training program built on a very simple yet powerful concept – sustainability. No longer was I burning out of my nutrition program because it was to strict and unsustainable, nor was I giving up on my training program because I wasn’t seeing any progress. Through the scope of sustainability, Ryan develops programs that not only brings incredible results, but also have the ability to be adhered to for the long-term. In addition, since Ryan and Sean work closely together, Ryan is able to take the feedback from my work with Sean and adjust my nutrition and training plans accordingly. I never had success in the past using various cookie-cutter nutrition and training programs. But once I started working with Ryan, I began to see great results on a consistent basic through the plans that he developed specifically for me.

My experience with Ryan and Sean has been, and continues to be, exceptional. Not only is their knowledge and expertise high-level, but they are truly tremendous people. They genuinely want their clients to succeed and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. The level of support and professional expertise that I have received from both Sean and Ryan is unparalleled, and I can’t thank them enough for success they helped bring into my life.

I would not hesitate to recommend anyone to see Sean and Ryan. Whether you are an athlete or non-athlete, young or old, I have no doubt in my mind that Ryan and Sean will be able to provide the level of support you are looking for. Gallagher Performance is much more than just a chiropractor, a personal trainer, or a massage therapist – they offer a multitude of services that restore health, functionality, and maximize physical performance. If you are looking for a high level of expertise and support in any of these areas, I urge you to give Gallagher Performance a try. They are hand-down some of the best in the business.

-Zaid Alzaid

 
For more related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/dns-solves-pain-improves-performance/

https://gallagherperformance.com/powerful-innovative-approach-improving-body-functions/

https://gallagherperformance.com/before-you-go-to-a-chiropractor-read-this-first/

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chiropractic DNS functional nutrition pain rehab testimonial training

Pain Indicates A Health Problem, Not A Fitness Problem




As Gray Cook says, pain indicates a health problem not a fitness problem. In rehab, we deal with pain and dysfunction. In exercise and training, we deal with dysfunction. Pain and health problems should be managed by a licensed professional with appropriate training.

Exercising in pain is not the solution and you should seek proper guidance on how to get out of pain and correct dysfunctions before resuming your regular exercise or training program. Otherwise you may just get stuck in the perpetual pain cycle. The plan is to reduce pain, improve the tolerance to exercise through graded exposure, dose exercise and train to correct dysfunctions.
The management of pain should not be left to unqualified individuals in the exercise/fitness industry. With the rise of continuing education programs and certifications intended to help fitness professionals identify, through screening, an individual's level of training readiness.

Movement screens are generally performed to assess for mechanical sensitivity (aka pain with movement) and/or abnormal motor control (aka movement dysfunction). The screens are usually graded on a scale to reflect a score indicative of that individual's current performance.

A sample scoring system would look something like this:

0 = pain

1 = can't perform movement or has loss of greater than 50% range of motion

2 = performs movement with compensation

3 = performs movement without compensation

Screening provides valuable information and obviously it is ideal to work one towards a higher movement score.

The issue I have taken up with screening is the tendency for some fitness professionals to act as a pseudo-therapist when a client is experiencing pain. In my opinion, unless you have a professional license to work with the human body (i.e. chiropractor, physical therapist, massage therapist, medical doctor, etc.) you have no business providing 'rehab' or 'advice' to a client. The best advice you can provide is to have them seek a professional medical opinion from a trusted source.

Again pain is a health problem, not a fitness problem. Most people within the fitness industry simply have a personal training certification. Managing a client's pain is not within your scope. Pain is a referral to a medical professional. Once pain is managed properly, then exercise is reintroduced.


Got pain?

Give our office a call and let us help you get out of pain by providing you the tools to understand your pain, how to prevent it, and how to improve the way your body functions. The model at Gallagher Performance was developed to bring excellence in both pain management and exercise/fitness education.

 
For more related reading:

 
https://gallagherperformance.com/solution-long-term-improvement-back-pain/

https://gallagherperformance.com/receiving-value-treatment-training/

https://gallagherperformance.com/a-movement-screen-will-never-show-movement-habits/



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chiropractic fitness Gallagher Performance massage therapy pain rehab

The Beginner's Guide to Injury Recovery

Although we’ve worked with a broad spectrum of athletes - high school, collegiate, professional, former World’s Strongest Man, and elite triathletes - we work with just as many weekend warriors and those who simply love to be active. Whether it’s improving your running distance, increasing strength in the gym, or swinging a golf club without pain, we want to help you achieve your goals.

We also successfully treat those with overuse injuries, enabling them to return to the highly active lifestyle they enjoy.

Being active is an essential part to a healthy lifestyle. The many benefits of movement and exercise are well documented. Unfortunately, injury can become a reality for those that live an active lifestyle. When injury occurs, the effects are not only physical, but psychological as well. It is easy to become frustrated when your active lifestyle has been interrupted and concerned when you aren’t healing or turning around as quickly as you had hoped. Recovery from injury is a process that must be understood, appreciated and respected.

To help you better understand how to manage your own recovery from injury, here is a short list of items to be aware of so that you can respect the healing process and set yourself up for a timely and safe return to sport or activity.

Avoid Complete Rest

When injury occurs, it is often advocated to rest. Rest is a critical part of healing and the amount of rest one needs will be determined by the severity of the injury. Injury is a balance of load and capacity of tissues within the body. Once we exceed the capacity of a tissue (bone, ligament, muscle, tendon, disc, etc.) with a certain load, injury occurs. Rest helps restore the capacity of tissues by minimizing or removing load and thus allowing healing to occur.

As critical as rest is to the healing process, movement is equally, if not more, critical. In the absence of severe injury and conditions where movement would be contraindicated (i.e. fracture, dislocation), movement serves to facilitate healing. The majority of musculoskeletal injuries heal best when we don’t avoid activity, but rather when we modify activity. The important factor here being that one finds activities they can perform without pain and that will facilitate healing through movement. This may be as simple as walking or gentle range of motion exercises. However knowing exactly what you should do for your specific injury can be a complicated answer. This brings me to my next point.

Don’t Rely on Social Media Gurus to Solve Your Injury

When injury occurs, people want a definitive answer when it comes to what they injured and how to manage it. And there are growing numbers that are seeking this information out online without ever consulting a licensed healthcare specialist. This could be due to frustrations with the medical model, a growing consciousness to seek out “non-traditional” or “alternative” therapies, or simply wanting to avoid paying out of pocket when there is free information available online. There can be the mentality of, “Why pay someone to fix me when I can learn to fix myself?” Not that this is wrong, but please understand that there are limitations when it comes to purely trying to self-manage your injury.

Let me illustrate this point with an example of someone who may go onto an internet forum or social media page and state, “If have an L4-L5 disc bulge with sciatica, what exercises should I do to help me get out of pain?”

If you are seeking an answer out online, keep in mind the most appropriate answer you should receive is, “It depends”.

Any advice you receive from someone who hasn’t evaluated you is truly just throwing darts in the dark and hoping something sticks. Most people on the internet and social media who are offering up advice when it comes to injury rehabilitation are not licensed to do so, thus you should be skeptical. Many of these same people try to position themselves as an expert for one reason or another, but reality remains they are not a licensed professional and thus you should be skeptical. Skeptical because how can someone tell you what to do when they haven’t evaluated you – in person.

When it comes to injury rehabilitation, the evaluation process is the most critical step to ensure no time is wasted in the early phases of rehab and to minimize complications. Evaluations should consist of orthopedic and neurological testing as well as biomechanical/functional testing to evaluate for structural pathology, movement sensitivities and functional deficits.

The sharing of symptoms through some online medium is extremely limited in its value and it inherently creates bias. It will bias the feedback and direction you receive from who you are seeking advice from since all they have to operate off of is what you tell them. But when you are evaluated live, in person, by a licensed professional, bias can fall by the wayside when things are discovered that you may not feel are all that important or relevant to your present injury. Yes, history and understanding your problem is important, but it’s only a part of the puzzle.

This is because as professionals, we are trained to evaluate with our eyes and hands to assist in the diagnosis of your condition.

Seek Out Professional Evaluation and Treatment

There are numerous products and programs currently online that essentially attempt to remove the need for someone to see a licensed professional for an injury or ailment. These products or programs will draw people in as they hope to learn what they can do to fix themselves. There is nothing wrong with that, as self-management strategies are important for anyone to learn. People who are dealing with pain or injury must learn why their pain or injury developed in the first place and what they can do to help prevent it from returning.

However the limitation to these products or programs is that they are mass marketed, attempting to appeal to a large audience and, therefore, are very general in nature. They are incapable of being highly specific to the individual. These programs or products may work for some, but when someone needs more individualized solutions they need to turn to a licensed professional such as a chiropractic rehabilitation specialist or physical therapist who approaches injuries and ailments from a functional perspective, not solely based on structural pathology.

Specialists exist for a reason. When your in-home or self-management strategies fail or if you are having persistent or worsening symptoms, you should seek out professional consultation. Specialist such as sports medicine physicians, rehabilitation chiropractors and physical therapists are capable of providing solutions to pain and injury through either diagnosing your condition, devising a rehab plan, and providing treatment. Massage therapists are another specialist to consider as many ailments and injuries have soft-tissue components that respond favorably to massage therapy by reducing pain and restoring muscle function.

Recognize the Gift of Injury

The recovery from injury is as much mental as it is physical. Believe it or not, there is a gift of injury – forced discipline.

What do I mean by forced discipline?

Injury often times forces us to confront the very reasons why we got injured in the first place. The reason could be faulty mechanics, sharp increases in workout or training volume, or ignoring warning signs our brain was sending us.

Professional specialists mentioned above should assist in the process of helping you recognize the reason(s) for your injury and given you the direction needed in your recovery. But it's upon you to be disciplined and mindful during your recovery process and beyond. This new sense of discipline can apply to making better decisions when it comes to your rehab program, your posture, your movement, and the amount of stress or work you place upon your body.

Failure to do so can often lead to someone rushing his or her own recovery, returning too soon to sport or activity or frequent relapses. Be disciplined and regain control of your body.

Understand the Science of Pain

Failure to apply discipline in your recovery can also result in the feeling that your injury will never heal. The reality is all injuries heal. But long after the site of injury has healed, pain can still persist. Pain becomes a reminder to some that they aren’t healed. They will believe they are still injured.

“So if my injury is healed, then why am I still in pain?”

Pain is a message from our brain that is meant to protect us.  Even though pain is meant to protect us, pain is not a reliable source of indicating the extent of an injury or even where the injury is located. The classic example here is phantom limb pain. Amputees regularly will experience this phenomenon. One may experience left leg pain, yet they do not have a left leg. If pain is purely related to damage or injury, how would one experience pain in a limb that doesn’t exist?

The reality of pain perception can be a difficult education point as this is typically a new concept for the majority of patients and one they may need some time to understand. But it’s critical as their beliefs about pain can complicate the recovery process. It’s extremely beneficial for patients to learn about pain and address fear-avoidance behaviors and other factors that will interfere with reactivation into normal movement, activities of daily living and sport.

Gradual exposure to correct movement which takes stress of tissues can help to desensitize the brain to pain signals. Movement re-education serves to reduce pain signaling in the brain. As one learns to move better, pain goes down. You need to break your pain cycle with a better movement solution. It’s that simple.

Wrapping Up

Thanks for reading. We hope this post was helpful. Please leave any comments or questions you may have. Share this post with those who you feel can benefit from understanding how to better approach recovering from injury or pain.

 
More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/resetting-bodys-function-post-injury/

https://gallagherperformance.com/the-hidden-causes-of-sports-injury/

https://gallagherperformance.com/technique_and_performance/

https://gallagherperformance.com/nutrition-for-faster-recovery-from-injury/

https://gallagherperformance.com/improved-approach-chronic-pain-management/

https://gallagherperformance.com/effective-treatment-shoulder-pain/

 

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athlete chiropractic exercise functional injury massage therapy movement pain performance recovery treatment

A Solution to Headaches

Headaches are among the most frustrating and debilitating conditions seen by healthcare practitioners, from primary care physicians to chiropractors. When severe enough, headaches may interfere or prevent even the most basic daily activities that we take for granted, such as thinking, talking, and reading.

While a logical assumption would be that the origin of headaches is in the head itself, science suggests many of the most common headaches are generated from the joints, muscles, and nerves of the neck.

The head and neck is an inherently unstable system that requires a complex neuromuscular system to surround the spinal column for control of movement and protection from injury. 

Many daily activities, such as prolonged sitting and poor posture, can affect the function and health of the joints, muscles, and nerves of the neck. Poor posture or prolonged postures common to students and the majority of the working class can lead to muscular imbalances, restricted joint motion, and unnecessary strain on the neck and upper back often responsible for headaches.

Referred pain and micro-trauma explain how this strain often results in headaches. Referred pain is a neurological phenomenon which is responsible for the perception of pain at a location other than where the problem exists. Using the headache as our example, the problem exists in your neck or upper back, yet your symptoms and perception of pain exists in your head. Micro-trauma is cumulative, small scale damage that occurs in and between soft tissues (muscles, tendons, joint capsules, ligaments and nerves) in response to strain. The bodies response to this strain is to lay down small amounts of repair tissue. Over time, a build up of repair tissue can form adhesions or scar within the soft tissue altering function. Left untreated, these adhesions often lead to pain, tightness, stiffness, restricted motion, and diminished blood flow. The result is a negative feedback cycle, the cumulative injury cycle.



So how do we stop the cycle?

Massage therapy, myofascial release, and IASTM (instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization) techniques are just some of the tools utilized at Gallagher Performance to address scar tissue adhesions and neurological dysfunction in soft tissue. Along with these tools, we often utilize chiropractic manipulative therapy (adjustments), sensory motor stimulation, and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) to improve posture, positional awareness, and help restore muscular balance. The combination of these therapies have helped numerous patients find a solution to chronic headaches or migraines.

The next time your dealing with a headache, consider Gallagher Performance. There is a solution to headaches that doesn't involve taking medication. Call our office at (724) 519-2833 to schedule your appointment.

More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/fascia_muscular-adhesions_how_they_relate-_to_pain_and_overuse_injuries/

https://gallagherperformance.com/powerful-innovative-approach-improving-body-functions/

https://gallagherperformance.com/why-stretching-wont-solve-your-tight-muscles/

Tags:
chiropractic chronic Gallagher Performance headache massage neck posture