What are some approaches others take with injury prevention and recovery through heavy training blocks? I’m in the USA. As people start to feel the strain, soreness etc., how do you all handle engaging with professionals for advice, guidance, treatment for preventing injuries? I have had a couple of injuries that started out small then blew up and caused significant time away from training. I believe the injuries could have been prevented if the proper treatment or strategy started earlier. My current approach is to engage with the Sports medicine MD first but the time to get an appointment is now in the 2-3 week or longer stage. GP route for me is an utter waste of time. Physio / PT route is good but they typically won’t do the diagnosis and without proper films or official diagnosis from an MD are very conservative. Also gets expensive to not have insurance cover some portion of the visits.
I have a soft tissue specialist / chiro that specializes in treatments like ART, Graston, and other assisted mobilization that has worked wonders on certain things, and they do PT as well. I almost always wait too long to go see him and always end up regretting waiting.
Now granted, that’s not going to help for a real injury like a tear or anything that needs X-Rays or imaging, but there’s a lot soft tissue and muscular stuff that I would have sworn is something else. (I’ve had tight hip flexors exhibit as severe knee pain I would have sworn was a tear).
I’d say a good 95% plus of my issues could be solved by a better total body PT/Exercise routine that I stick to, combined with foam rolling, mobilization exercises, adequate rest / recovery, and then going to see him when necessary.
Makes so much sense. I’ve grown very frustrated with the options available for those who are active active but aren’t dealing with the things you mentioned. The solution that seems to work for you is kind of what I was thinking my adjusted approach should be and it is good to know it is working.
I’d love to see one academic study showing a Chiro makes any difference when it comes to injury prevention. Or even injury treatment
My read of the post was that the chiro or pt / osteo was familiar with ART, graston etc., not necessarily the spinal adjustments.
agree with @walterwhite comment above. ART, Graston, etc - Myofascial Release techniques to help loosen up adhesions and scar tissue that develops in muscle and soft tissue. Not talking whatsoever about chiro adjustments, etc. I can say for certain things, they obviously don’t work at all where others, they definitely do. I am specifically talking about range of motion and pain, similar to foam rolling I don’t know of anything that objectively shows increased recovery or performance.
Notice that I also commented that a well rounded permanent exercise / PT program is necessary. ART / Graston and similar treats symptoms, the right exercise routines treat the cause.