Services & Techniques

If you are reading this, most likely, you or a child of yours has injured themselves in a sporting event. Also likely, there is a concern for getting that athlete back on the court as quickly as possible. So – why should you consider chiropractic?

Why resolving an injury is not likely to happen quickly, who you can get in to see is a matter in which almost always, you can find a chiropractor here in Rapid City to evaluate within 24 hours – if not that same day.

To be clear, significant head trauma, internal bleeding, broken bones may need to be treated by a medical doctor or even the ER.

In my decade plus of treating athletes, they often present for a few different reasons.

1) Did I break something? Do you think I need further assessment, like Xrays or a specialist? 

2) I was cleared to return to the field, but my issue still isn’t resolving. 

3) What I am doing is helping – I just want to heal faster! 

4) I am doing great – but I want to continue performing at my best!

At our office, if this is a new injury or if the athlete has never been to us before, we do a complete and comprehensive exam. To be fair, we assess every patient, not just athletes, to see if this is the right place for them. If a fracture or other red flag is suspected, the patient will be referred accordingly.

Regarding an athlete with a chronic condition or simply something that is not resolving, again we have a conversation to review what happened and what the athlete has tried. No different than any other patient in a similar condition.

When the athlete is improving – but wants to heal faster. We discuss what happened, what they are doing, and in most cases, adjust accordingly. Typically, the tx plan for these patients is very short.

Lastly, every single NFL football team has a chiropractor on staff. Is it because chiropractors are the best at fixing acute low back pain? Not likely – especially if they want to get back into the same game. What Olympians and other world class athletes have found is that by getting adjusted on a regular basis, they simply perform better. Period. All chiropractors work by affecting the nervous system in a positive way. Curious how – just give our office a call anytime or thumb back through previous blogs on chiropractic and the nervous system.

Specific to South Dakota, chiropractors have fought very hard to treat high school athletes. In fact, most chiropractors in out state perform high school physicals. This concept had to be fought at a legislative level. Why? So chiropractors can return an athlete back to activity. Chiropractors in South Dakota have the education and legal ability to treat athletes, evaluate athletes, with hold them from their activity, or release them to return to play.

Of note, one of the most difficult situations for us in an athlete that has a significant injury but does not want to take time off from their sport. Healing takes time. We aren’t the bad guy – we WANT you playing, but we know healing takes time! You’ll be better off in the end with a little more rest!