 While occasionally watching his teenage patients run on the high school track, Dr. Santiago also has installed a treadmill with video cameras in his clinic. “Videos help pick up biomechanical faults—pelvic disorder, pronated feet, sacroiliac issues,” he says.
At hearing that his teenage patients practice weight-lifting without proper supervision, Dr. Kurtz placed a power track in the rehab room of his practice and started teaching them proper lifting techniques. “We are preventing disc and knee injuries, and coaches are realizing that they can send athletes to us for training, as well as treatment. That’s a great thing for any practice,” he adds.
DCs looking to educate themselves should “go out and work with a track coach locally,” suggests Dr. Horwitz. “Learn what the proper mechanics are and how athletes are supposed to move. If you work with weightlifters, learn weightlifting so you can demonstrate the movements yourself.” He adds that Pilates and yoga are great adjuncts for athletic conditioning.
Patient Education
While taking care of patients’ biomechanical issues, DCs should also keep an eye on the psychological component. “Athletes need some time to get away from the sport physically and mentally—and they often don’t get that break,” says Dr. Santiago. “Explain to them that the chances of making it to the pros are very slim, but they are giving up their childhood for the dream of making it to the pros,” he says.
Sometimes the problem lies with the pressure parents put on their children. Dr. Horwitz recalls working with a patient from a private high school whose father would stay during their rehab and training sessions and yell at the son. “I had to tell the father to leave because [his intervention] was counterproductive—and you should have seen the relief on the kid’s face,” he says.
In other cases, coaches pressure the child to choose one sport over another, says Dr. Doyle, recalling a teenage girl who was in tears because she wanted to play basketball without giving up softball. “It’s too bad they have to choose at such an early age, [instead of playing a variety of sports for fun,]” she says.
But, primarily, of course, athletes come to chiropractors for relief of their pain and improvement of their performance. “Continue your education—get certified, increase your toolbox. Learn better taping skills, soft-tissue skills, ART, myofascial release, so you can offer them more,” says Dr. Santiago. “The goal is to get them back to training fast—that’s what they care about.”
REFERENCES
- www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=sportsmanship
- Brenner JS. Overuse Injuries, Overtraining, and Burnout in Child and Adolescent Athletes. Pediatrics 2007 June;119(6):1242-1245. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/119/6/124.
- www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/sportsinjury.htm
Reprinted with permission from ACA News, the monthly magazine of the American Chiropractic Association. |
