Sports Injury Therapy- Upland, CA
Sports Injury Therapy
Recovery from a sports injury requires three main components to heal. The amount of time for each step will be different depending on the severity of the injury & stability of the joint.
Step 1- Sports Nutrition Therapy
Step 2- Muscle Dysfunction Rehabilitation, Joint Support, & Pain Reduction
Step 3- Muscle strengthening & Rehabilitation Exercises
Step 1- Sports Nutrition Therapy
After an injury your body will move resources into the area to removed damaged tissue and make repairs and rebuild damaged tissue. This can involve bone, ligament, cartilage, and/or muscle. The availability of nutrients is dependent upon your diet and your habits before the injury. Nutrient availability is altered when you are already injured, sore, fatigued, stressed out, or haven’t eaten. This is due to the adaptive processes necessary to manage these stresses. These adaptive processes require high amounts of minerals, vitamins, and fats to maintain your health. These same factors are needed to support healthy bone, joint and muscle function as well as to help them heal once they have been injured. Management of these resources is the metabolic component to healing and why Sports Nutrition Therapy is recommended for all athletes (whether they are injured or not). If you have injured a joint or any part of your body. Supporting the metabolic processes that promote body repair is the first step. This should involve blood work to see where long standing problems may be negatively affecting your health. This can be ordered through my office or through another primary care doctor. However, if your doctor is not trained in evaluating lab work for functional deficiencies on lab work, I would recommend working with my office directly even though our lab tests may not be covered by your insurance.
Step 2- Muscle Dysfunction Rehabilitation, Joint Support, & Pain Reduction
The majority of sports injury doctors wait and watch before referring patients to physical therapy. There are many patients who do well with this type of care, but there are many others who want to recover: faster, healthier, stronger, and reduce the risk of re-injury. The care we provide in our office allows for athletes to put their focus into recovery and puts them in the driver’s seat of their healing. Your recovery can be improved by, first, focusing on the nutritional aspect (as I mentioned above), as well as the neurological and response rate issues that occur during injury. Although strength is one aspect of function, response rate is a better measure of muscle performance in athletes. Rehabilitation and strengthening of an injured joint is an important step (see Step 3), however, it is not in the best interest of the athlete to ignore the response rate and patterns of dysfunction in their muscles. Dysfunction in the body, both at the site of injury and in some cases in areas unrelated to the injury will have a direct influence on recovery time, as well as your ability to return to athletic activities sooner. Patterns of muscle dysfunction in the joints above and below (part of the kinetic chain of movement) may impact function of the injured joint. Therefore, evaluation of the response rate of muscles involved in the movement patterns for strength building exercises should occur prior to increasing intensity of those exercises. In some cases, often when the injury is severe, it should occur before any exercise programs begin. This will help limit the potential of doing the exercises inappropriately and injuring other parts of your body which may delay healing. Natural pain reduction therapies are also an important part of your recovery. When pain is present it alters the nervous system’s coordination of muscle and joint movement. Pain medication comes with side effects and can often times increase the time it takes to recover. They can also be habit forming. The drug free solutions for pain reduction that we offer are a great solution. We have many options, such as laser therapy, acupressure, energetic reflex points, and autonomic reflex points which are extremely effective and often times can eliminate pain in just a few visits (depending upon the severity of the injury).
Recovery In Action
Watch this video of Dr. Robles working with a patient who sprained her pinky finger to learn more and see how quickly function can change…even when injured.
Step 3- Muscle strengthening & Rehabilitation
This is where your typical healing journey begins with most physicians, chiropractors, physical therapists, and trainers. In some cases, this is a step that can be managed and supported at home with an at-home exercise program. Your ability to successfully build strength without damaging your body or predisposing it to further injury is often dependent upon your success in Steps 1 & 2. That being said, even if you have already began to perform strength building exercises, it is not too late to re-evaluate Steps 1 & 2 to ensure that your likelihood of re-injury decreases further and your ability to recover improves. My goal is to support your recovery process, not take it over if you already have help. During Step 3 exercises, it is important to pay attention to your performance. If you are not able to recover quicker in between exercises as you proceed with a program, or you are not able to consistently improve without set-backs you need to evaluate Steps 1 & 2 to find out why.
Sports Injury Therapy Fees
Please note that nutritional supplement recommendations & costs vary and are not included in the service fees.
Other Services
Please note that nutritional supplements recommendation & costs vary and are not included in the service fees.
Sports Injury Office Hours
Monday: 3:30PM – 5:30PM
Wednesday: 3:30PM – 5:30PM
Friday: 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Tel: 909-949-0155 (Text Messaging Welcome)
Services provided by appointment only. Walk-Ins are booked for a later date. Please call with any questions regarding time, services, or fee schedule. Insurance is not accepted by this office for these services, however, you may submit your receipt for any reimbursements directly to your insurer according to your policy.
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