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Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis San Diego

Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis | San Diego

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Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis | San Diego

Plantar fasciitis is a frustrating condition that can linger for weeks, months, or even years. It is characterized by pain on the bottom of the heel and even into the arch of the foot. Usually the symptoms are worse when you take your first few steps out of bed. As you move around, symptoms lessen but do not go away. Treatment  is multifactorial, meaning several different approaches usually help fix the issue.

In our sports injury clinic in Mission Valley, San Diego we primarily use Active Release Technique, and Graston Technique treatment for plantar fasciitis. These treatments combined with treatment for plantar fasciitis at home, we see excellent outcomes.

Common Causes of Plantar Fasciitis

There are many causative factors for developing plantar fasciitis. Successful treatment of plantar fasciitis involves discovering the root cause of the injury. Here are the main factors that lead to plantar fasciitis:

  • Standing and walking on hard surfaces for long periods of time
  • Over training, especially with running
  • Excessive forceful jumping or pushing (basketball, football)
  • Ill fitting footwear or shoes without proper support
  • Excessive body weight
  • Congenital foot and lower extremity issues (flat arches, tibial torsion)

    Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis San Diego

 Conservative Treatment in San Diego

At our Mission Valley office, we have treated countless plantar fasciitis cases. Watch the video below to get a full understanding of how we treat plantar fasciitis.

After treatment we work with each and every patient to develop custom exercise programs for patients to perform at home. If a patient is diligent with their home care, patients often see great results.

Check out our blog post Top 7 Ways to Treat Plantar Fasciitis at Home. Usually we recommend a combination of those 7 recommendations to help with continued improvement.

If you have been experiencing heel pain and looking to get it resolved, please do not hesitate to schedule. Our  Sports Chiropractors are trained to properly diagnose plantar fasciitis and other conditions that may be affecting the heel. Our office is conveniently located in Mission Valley near Normal Heights, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, and Hillcrest.

Chiropractic Treatment for headaches

Chiropractic Care for Headaches

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Chiropractic Care for Headaches | San Diego Chiropractic

Summary

  • Chiropractors are trained to diagnose the type of headache you are experiencing
  • They are trained in manual therapies designed to treat muscles and joints that are causing or worsening the headaches
  • They will work with you to identify reasons to why the muscles and joints are causing headache symptoms
  • If there is a need for a referral, chiropractors can make sure you are sent to the right physician
  • Our chiropractic office for treating headaches is located near La Mesa, Mission Gorge, Kensington, Serra Mesa, Bay Park, and Clairemont Mesa
  • The types of headaches we treat are migraines, tension headaches, cervicogenic headaches, posture related headaches, trigger point referral headaches

Does Chiropractic Care Help Headaches?

Does chiropractic care help headaches? Chiropractic care can help reduce and even fully eliminate headache symptoms. Many headaches are due to muscle imbalances, and/or joint injury to the upper back, neck, and head region.

What Are Common Causes of Headaches?

Headaches are often experienced after trauma to the head and neck. They can also begin the develop over time as a result of poor posture or repetitive strain (same movements during sport, sitting at a desk 40 hours a week). As repetitive stress continues, the muscles and joints become irritated and start referring pain to the head region.

Pain referral patterns of muscles?

Chiropractic Care treats headaches

Upper Trapezius Trigger Point Referral

Acutely or chronically strained muscles can develop trigger points. Trigger points are hyper irritable fibers within a muscle unit that can cause local and referred pain. An active trigger point, actively causes pain. Example: pain in the muscles at the base of the skull with headache symptoms at eyeball area.

In this example, the muscle itself is sore and painful and is referring pain to the eyeball/forehead area. Another example is the upper trapezius muscle which connects the top of the shoulder to the neck. When that muscle develops a trigger point (often due to postural strain), headache symptoms can begin from the neck area up the side of the head, around the ear and to the temples. It looks like a question mark and headache symptoms can be felt anywhere along that path.

Ever tried rubbing your temples to get your headache to go away? Didn’t work? Try addressing the upper trapezius muscle which refers pain to the temples!

Pain Referral Patterns of the Joints

An inflamed and painful joint in the neck may also refer pain to various points of the neck, upper back, and head. Joints are normally injured through whiplash type injuries or quick movements without proper stabilization. Degenerative joints can also be a source of headache symptoms. As the joints wear down from past trauma and age, the degenerative joints compress the local tissues which then can refer pain.

There are plenty of referral patterns that result in headache symptoms. A chiropractor will evaluate the muscles and joints of the neck, shoulder, and upper back to identify the likely culprits. A proper referral will be made if the presenting symptoms are found to be outside of the musculoskeletal system.

Chiropractic Care for Common Headache Symptoms

In our San Diego based chiropractic office, we use a handful of therapies to treat common headache symptoms. Chiropractic adjustments or joint mobilization to the neck and upper back help restore motion to stiff, achy joints and relax local muscle tissues. Active Release Technique, and Graston Technique break down trigger points and tight muscles to eliminate muscular causes of headaches. Home exercises are then given to help combat headache symptoms and decrease the likelihood of the headaches returning.

Here is an example of how we treat a patient with neck and headache symptoms.

Why do the joints and muscles keep causing pain after treatment?

Many chiropractors, physical therapists, and other physical rehabilitation specialists claim they treat the “root cause” of your conditions. Many will treat the muscles and joints that cause the headaches as the “root cause”. Yes, that is treating what is causing the symptoms, but what is causing those muscles and joints to become irritated? Proper chiropractic care for headaches will also look at the entire picture. Here are a few likely causes for recurring headaches:

  • Poor Posture
  • Poor movement mechanics
  • Diet
  • Hydration
  • Stress
  • Sleep

Working working those categories, starting the most likely first, will identify the true cause of the headaches and eliminate them from returning!

Get Your Headaches Treated Today!

Our San Diego chiropractic team is trained to evaluate and treat your headaches. We are confident our chiropractic care for headaches will help reduce and even eliminate the frequency, intensity, and duration of the headaches you are experiencing. We are conveniently located in Mission Valley, San Diego near Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Normal Heights, and Hillcrest! Call or schedule online today!

Treat Plantar Fasciitis at home

Top 7 Ways to Treat Plantar Fasciitis at Home

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Top 7 Ways to Treat Plantar Fasciitis at Home

Plantar Fasciitis can be a frustrating condition to treat. It can take weeks, months, or even years to fully resolve. Our sports injury clinic in Mission Valley, San Diego specializes in treating chronic injuries, plantar fasciitis included. Check out our other blog post on how we treat plantar fasciitis in our office Plantar Fasciitis: Resolving Foot Pain with Active Release Technique (ART) and Graston. Along with treatment, here are the top 7 ways to treat plantar fasciitis at home.

Trigger Point Release Ball

Using a trigger point release ball and roller to help massage tight muscles of the foot and calf can help ease the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. We recommend the TriggerPoint Foundation Starter Kit  for self massage of the lower legs and feet. It has a durable and firm roller to address the calves and trigger point balls to use on specific points of the calves and bottom of the feet. Using them daily will help improve the quality of the tissues and help treat plantar fasciitis at home.

Calf Stretcher

If you have tight calves, and many of us do, daily stretching of the lower leg will help improve function of the foot and ankle. We recommend a dedicated Calf Stretcher & Foot Rocker  it allows for a really good stretch to the lower leg and foot.  Using it to stretch multiple times throughout the day will help keep the muscles and tendons loose.

YogaToes

Stretching the toes out where the muscles, tendons, and fascia insert can help ease the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. We like YogaToes because they are thick, strong, and durable. Other devices we have found to break easy, or do not offer a good enough stretch in most cases. Where YogaToes when sitting at home, move your toes in a stretched position. They can be very valuable to treat plantar fasciitis at home especially if you have other signs of toe deformity such as bunions.

Heel Cups

One of the ways to ease the symptoms of plantar fasciitis is to stay off of your feet when it hurts. For most people, that is nearly impossible! Tuli’s Heavy Duty Gel Heel Cups are designed to placed in you shoes and absorb shock transmitted to the heel from walking and standing. We also like heel cups as they squeeze your heel together from the sides. This reinforces the heels fat pad to help bolster your natural heel cushion.

Night Splint

Classic plantar Fasciitis symptoms include sharp, dagger like pain in the bottom of the heel. These symptoms are worse during the first steps out of bed in the morning. This is due to the tissues tightening up over night and then getting rapidly/forcefully stretched when you stand up and put weight on the plantar fascia. A Plantar Fasciitis Night Splint helps keep the fascia and lower leg muscles in a stretched position over night to reduce the pain in the morning. It can be highly effective to treat plantar fasciitis at home.

The one complaint we hear from patients is that it is difficult to sleep through the night with it on as it is bulky and awkward. If sleeping is a challenge, then where the brace when you are stationary for extended periods of time to maintain flexibility to the fascia. The next item on the list is a similar device but tends to offer a bit more comfort for sleeping.

Strassburg Sock

The Strassburg Sock is another device to be used when sleeping to help maintain flexibility to the foot and lower leg muscles. One reason we like it better than a splint is that it pulls the toes back to get a better stretch. The two complaints we hear are difficult to sleep with and the sock can compress the calf too much. If sleeping with the sock is too difficult, wear it when you are stationary for long periods of time.

Arch Support

The final recommendation is arch support to help support the plantar fascia. In cases of low arches, extra support to the arch and heel can help ease the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. We recommend Superfeet GREEN Full Length Insole for a couple of reasons. If the goal is arch support, you need something firm enough to actually support the arch. Too many insoles are too soft and do not offer any support whatsoever. Superfeet insoles are made form hard plastic or carbon (depending on models). They support the arch sufficiently. Another reason we prefer Superfeet, is that they have deep heel cups in the insole. This can help bolster the padding around the heel to offer symptom relief.

These are the top 7 ways to treat plantar fasciitis at home. Please keep in mind that these are general recommendations. We always recommend getting a proper evaluation by a health care provider. If you are in San Diego, our injury treatment clinic is conveniently located in Mission Valley. We are located near Hillcrest, Normal Heights, University Heights, North Park, South Park, and Downtown. Our Sports Chiropractors are trained to diagnose, manage, and treat plantar fasciitis. We also offer Acupuncture, Personal Training, and Massage. Please schedule using our online scheduling application or call our office at 619-818-4306 today!

San Diego Running Gait Analysis

Running Gait Analysis San Diego

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Running Gait Analysis San Diego

A running gait analysis helps identify common running form inefficiencies that may result in injury or at the very least decrease running performance. Our running gait analysis program in San Diego California takes a runner through multiple trials of treadmill running with video feedback. Based on the video analysis and other measurements during the running gait analysis, we can make recommendations for the runner to begin working on. We then do more rounds of video analysis to note the changes that occur with those initial running modifications. This step by step approach gives runners significant feedback to begin working on improving their running gait! Check out our brief video below to see our running gait analysis in action!

Running Gait Analysis Goals

With every runner, we have several goals in mind when performing the gait analysis. We aim to:

  • Identify major running form inefficiencies
  • Give patients running cues to start changing their running form
  • Show patients before and after videos so they can visualize the changes
  • Recommend drills and workouts to begin reinforcing those changes

With dedication from the runner, the running form changes will take permanent effect. These changes do not happen over night! Consistently performing the drills and running workouts will slowly make the changes over time. We recommend 6-8 weeks, working on the recommended changes before we do a follow up running gait analysis. This allows enough time to see how they effects have taken place.

A running gait analysis is the only tool that can identify and CORRECT running related inefficiencies. A common misconception is that if a runner works on strength training for certain muscle groups, they will improve their technique. While there are benefits to performing strength training, working on the recommended corrections DURING running is the only intervention that will improve running gait.

Our team of sports chiropractors are trained in using running gait analysis to help prevent and return from running related injury. We are certified by The Running Clinic as experts in running related injuries. Schedule today at www.peakformhealthcenter.com and come see us at our running clinic in Mission Valley, San Diego.

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Drs. Kevin and Travis Rose are chiropractors trained in managing sport related injuries. Both are avid runners and triathletes, having competed in numerous races from 5ks to the Ironman World Championships in Kona Hawaii.

 

San Diego Marathon Running

Get Ready for the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon

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The San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon is coming up! You are likely finishing your build phases of training and are headed into a much needed taper to help rebuild your body before the big day. Now that training volume has decreased, you have more time to address your body to get it into tip top shape before race day. Beyond foam rolling, stretching, and mobility work, the following are services that can help decrease tightness, soreness, aches, and pains before your big day. Our office accepts most major insurances and offers affordable cash rates. Our San Diego Chiropractors treat runners and running injuries on a daily basis using the following techniques:

Active Release Technique– Our staff is trained in Active Release Technique which is a state of the art soft tissue injury management system. Our chiropractors utilize ART to help reduce tightness and soreness at isolated parts of the body. For example, many runners feel tight in their hips and quadriceps following long runs. One or two ART sessions before the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon can help rid the muscles of that tightness.

Active Release Technique Marathon Running San Diego

Graston Technique– While training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, if any injury is long standing, particularly in a tendon, Graston is excellent to get ample blood supply to that area. Our San Diego Chiropractor will sometimes have runners perform movements while using the Graston tools to help facilitate movement between the fascia and muscles. Bascially, your muscles move better so you do not feel tight and sore before your race!

graston technique in san diego Marathon running

Spinal Manipulation– If your back is stiff and lacks proper range of motion, spinal adjustments may be the right treatment for you. Spinal manipulation is an excellent treatment to help restore proper joint mobility. Spine stiffness is a common complaint in runners especially when training for a marathon due to the long hours of training and consistent bouncing motion into the spine.

Massage Therapy– Our massage therapist is an avid runner and endurance athlete. If you have numerous areas of tightness and soreness, schedule a massage to have a nice once over to all of those complaints.

Head into your race feeling as healthy as you can and you will see great results. After the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, we recommend our runners to receive treatment about once every 4 weeks to help reduce tightness in the common running muscles and joints. Our office is conveniently located in Mission Valley, San Diego near the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon course!

Good luck in the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon!

running with IT band syndrome San Diego

IT Band Syndrome: 5 Training Tips

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Trying to run with IT band syndrome is very frustrating. Often times, a runner can run with IT band syndrome for a certain amount of time until the pain comes back or becomes so unbearable that they have to limp home from their run. Our chiropractors treat runners who run with IT band syndrome as well as other running related injuries.

Top 5 training tips for IT Band Syndrome

Decrease volume– IT band syndrome is worse with a high number of repetitions. When you run with IT band syndrome, try reducing your volume by 50% to start off.

Avoid down hill running– Down hill running causes more force into the quadriceps and less activation from the glutes. The glutes play a very important role in knee stability. Without proper glute activation, a run with IT band syndrome through hills will make things worse. Stick to flat surfaces.

Increase intensity– Volume is the main issue when dealing with It band syndrome. With the decreased run volume, it is ok to get more out of those shorter workouts. Adding some intensity will help keep fitness levels high for training.

Run/Walk- This technique will help you keep the repetitions low. If you have tried to run with IT band syndrome for a long time without success, this option may be a good way to start back into running.

Uneven Surface running– Running on concrete or other flat surfaces hits the same muscles in the same direction over and over. If you run on a trail that has varying terrain (and limited ups and downs) this will cause the hip muscles to work more in different orientations. This will help build overall strength to support the hip and the knee.

These tips can help manage and allow you to run until the symptoms improve and you are pain free. These training modifications combined with manual therapy and exercise like our running chiropractors in San Diego perform, can help get you out of pain even faster. Our office is conveniently located in Mission Valley, San Diego.

Both Dr. Travis Rose, DC CCSP and Dr. Kevin Rose DC DACBSP are avid triathletes and runners. As experienced triathletes, Dr. Travis and Kevin Rose understand the frustrations of running injuries and try their absolute best to get you better, faster!

IT Band Syndrome treatment San Diego

New Methods in Treating IT Band Syndrome

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IT  band syndrome remains a stubborn condition that our chiropractors treat at our office in Mission Valley, San Diego. Runners, triathletes, and cyclists are the main groups of people who we treat for this condition. We previously posted treatment recommendations for IT band syndrome (found Iliotibial Band Syndrome) but wanted to update the information regarding treatment. The previous post still highlights relevant treatment advice in terms of research based treatment. Continue below to see the most recent types of treatment our San Diego chiropractors utilizes to best treat IT band syndrome.

Do you truly have IT band syndrome?

Many patients self diagnose their knee pain as IT band syndrome. They may be correct but true IT band syndrome is characterized by outside (lateral) knee pain right at the bony attachment of the IT band. It is often worse with repetitive movements such as running, walking, hiking, and cycling.

There are many cases that we have seen where the patient is experiencing general knee pain and were diagnosed with IT band syndrome. After our chiropractor evaluates the knee pain, it is often found that the person is experiencing knee pain due to muscle imbalances between the front of the thigh and back of the thigh. The pain and discomfort is often due to very tight and sore quadricep muscles. IT band syndrome is diagnosed because the IT band itself is found superficial to the outside quadricep muscle.

These patients are categorized as “quad dominant” and our San Diego Chiropractor works on the tight/sore quadricep muscles while strengthening the back thigh muscles, namely the gluteus maximus and hamstrings. Along with general strengthening and stretching, the patient must be taught how to use the glute muscles and hamstrings more during their activity.

New Treatment Approaches

We have had a lot of success using various types of myofascial release. Our San Diego Chiropractors have been trained in Active Release Technique and Graston Technique. Cupping is another therapy that has been used to help increase mobility between muscle fibers. Using motion with different types of myofascial techniques is especially helpful for treating IT band syndrome in runners, cyclists, and triathletes. The movement with myofascial work helps create mobility between layers of muscle/fascial tissue that often gets “bound up” with the constant repetitive stress from the sports mentioned previously. Take a look at the videos demonstrating IT band syndrome treatment:

Cupping used during athletic movements to decrease tissue compression and increase blood flow

Active Release Techique applied to the quadricep and IT Band

Strengthening the Hips for IT Band Syndrome

The previous article (found Here Iliotibial Band Syndrome) we wrote discussed several exercises that are still beneficial for IT band syndrome. We are finding even more success with more aggressive glute and hamstring exercises to help stabilize the hip and knee. Below is one of our favorite hip extension exercises. You can perform it one side at a time to make sure you are getting the most out of each hip. Our San Diego chiropractor treats many running injuries and will also assess different muscles groups to help establish proper running form. 

If you are experiencing IT band syndrome, it is important to get evaluated by a sports chiropractor. Our San Diego Chiropractors work with all types of athletes. Each treatment is unique to the individual but likely includes some form of myofascial release, stretching, and strength training. Our office is conveniently located in Mission Valley, San Diego.

Big toe pain treatment San Diego

Functional Hallux Limitus

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Proper motion through the big toe is important for walking and running. When running, as the leg moves backwards, the hip, knee, ankle (dorsiflexion), and big toe extend to propel the body forward. Loss of range of motion at one or multiple of these areas will decrease efficiency and can lead to potential injury. Functional hallux limitus is a condition that limits the amount of big toe extension. When running with this condition, a runner will avoid pushing off the big toe or will not extend fully through the hip due to the poor range of motion at the big toe. Both cases lead to poor biomechanics and potential injury.

Identifying Functional Hallux Limitus

Many times patients report that they had imaging from their previous provider and we told their big toe joint is “normal”. Generally what that means is that there are no fracture and there is no arthritis but no diagnosis is made. Functional hallux limitus means that the big toe has limited extension during gait. In other words when that joint tries to function, range of motion is limited. If you do a test non-weight bearing, the toe will have great range of motion. So is a provider is not familiar with this condition, they will say everything seems normal, stop running until it calms down.

Let’s do a quick test to see if you may be dealing with functional hallux limitus. Sit down and cross one leg ,over the top of the other leg’s thigh. Now reach down and pull back the big toe. It should move back very easily (unless you have hallux rigidus). Now, repeat the process but this time, press your thumb firmly into the bottom of the big toe joint and hold. Try and pull the big toe back. If there is very little motion, you may be dealing with functional hallux limitus. The force from your hand pressing up into the joint mimics weight bearing. So if you have poor extension with just your hand, with full body weight through the joint, motion will be more poor.

functional hallux limitus running doctor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evaluation

Assessing the big toe is relatively straight forward. The test found above is a “go to” test for our sports chiropractors and running doctors. Overall foot  and ankle range of motion will be assessed. Structural limitations will be evaluated as well, such as presence of:

  • Plantarflexed first ray
  • Forefoot valgus
  • Forefoot varus
  • Rearfoot valgus
  • Rearfoot varus
  • Pes Planus
  • Pes Cavus
  • Bunions

Treatment

Some cases respond well to aggressive soft tissue work to the restricted tissues. Active Release Technique and Graston technique with exercises can help breakdown tight tissues that may be causing functional hallux limitus. Other cases will need shoe insert modifications to allow for the proper range of motion at the big toe. General recommendations can’t be made as it is strictly a case by case basis; some patients need one modification while others need a different one.

Our running doctors and sports chiropractors will thoroughly evaluate your specific complaint. We are conveniently located in Mission Valley, San Diego!

Big toe pain treatment San Diego

Big Toe Pain and Conservative Treatment

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Many sports and activities of daily living require movement through the foot and big toe. When you are experiencing big toe pain, sports and certain activities can become quite difficult to perform. If your big toe pain is extreme, simple tasks such as standing, or walking can become very difficult. You may have heard of professional athletes missing months from their sport due to “turf toe” or other big toe conditions. The first thought (and I used to be guilty of this!) is, “It’s only your toe! Get out there and play!”. Well, if you are a 300 pound lineman in football and yue pressing through your big toe to try and stop an equally sized person, then there is tremendous load though a very small joint! When thinking of it from that perspective, it’s amazing that more athletes do not succumb to big toe pain and dysfunction.

Causes of Big Toe Pain

Acute Causes

Most commonly, a big toe joint can become sprained when it is bent backward or forward forcefully. This over stretches the joint and tendons in of the big toe. The following two acute conditions are commonly seen in our sports injury clinic:
Turf toe-Using a football lineman as an example again, when he is pressing forward and is met with equal or greater force by the opposing lineman, the big toe can get over stretched. Pain is generally felt on the bottom of the big toe and is difficult to walk due to the inability to push off.
Sand toe- A soccer player is playing barefoot on the beach and goes to kick the ball. She misreads the position of the ball on the sand and kicks the sand more than the ball. This forces the big toe joint downward, overstretching the top of the
joint and attached tendons.

Chronic Causes

We more commonly treat big toe pain due to chronic reasons. These conditions generally develop over time and are seen in middle aged and older patients (although these can affect younger populations in some cases). The following are common big toe conditions we treat:

  • Hallux valgus
  • Bunion deformity
  • Sesamoiditis
  • Functional hallux limitus
  • Hallux rigidus

Structural issues

In many cases, especially associated with chronic conditions, foot structure may cause pain and dysfunction at the big toe. Most commonly, we see the following:

  • Forefoot valgus
  • Forefoot varus
  • Plantarflexed first ray
  • Subtle cavus foot
  • Pes planus
  • Pes cavus

Inflammatory conditions

Some patients deal with recurring inflammation of the big toe joint. There are a few inflammatory arthritides that can affect the big toe. The most common cause of big toe joint pain and inflammation is Gout. A referral to a rheumatologist is warranted if an inflammatory arthritis is suspected.

Evaluation

Our Sports Doctor of Chiropractic will evaluate the big toe, foot, ankle, lower leg, and possibly continue up the body into the lower back. Some conditions can be affected by muscle/joint dysfunction above where the pain is actually occuring.

Treatment

When it comes to big toe pain, Active Release Technique and Graston technique can help restore normal tissue function around the big toe. Chiropractic adjustments to the ankle, and midfoot can help with proper foot function to de-load the painful big toe joint. Exercises are also prescribed to strengthen/stretch the small muscles of the foot to improve big toe mobility. If there are structural issues present and a patient has recurring symptoms or does not improve with care, orthotics may be prescribed to accommodate the structural issue.

Preventing Shoulder injuries

Shoulder Impingement and Shoulder Pain

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Shoulder impingement is a common condition that we treat at our sports injury clinic in Mission Valley, San Diego. Not only do we see shoulder impingement in the athletes we treat but we see it in many different professions that require repetitive use of the shoulder. Our conservative, non invasive shoulder treatments help provide pain relief quickly and prevent shoulder impingement from reoccurring in the future.

What is shoulder impingement

Shoulder impingement syndrome is a condition where the space between the head of the humerus (upper arm bone) and the acromion process (portion of the shoulder blade) narrows due to structural or functional causes. Structural narrowing of the space is due to arthritis, or bone spurring where the bone spur presses into the tissues in that space. Functional narrowing is due to poor shoulder stabilization from the rotator cuff, scapular dyskinesis (shoulder blade not moving well), and/or muscular imbalances between the front and back of the shoulder.When the space is narrowed, several structures are at risk to become irritated: rotator cuff, bursa, and biceps tendon.

Shoulder pain anatomy San Diego Sports Doctor

What are the symptoms of shoulder impingement? 

Classic signs and symptoms are pain in the shoulder while lifting the arm overhead, turning a steering wheel, pressing/reaching in front of body. Sport specific signs and symptoms include, pain with overhead activities (throwing baseball, volleyball spiking), swimming,Crossfit (thrusters, snatches), weightlifting, bodybuilding.

As impingement syndrome progresses and shoulder structures become more irritated, pain at night, pain and stiffness in the morning is a common complaint.

Evaluation

Our sports doctors will take a thorough history of the shoulder pain and perform an exam to the shoulder, upper back, and neck as there are many structures that overlap between those areas. The exam will help identify shoulder impingement and which structures are causing pain. The most common conditions that are diagnosed with impingement syndrome are:

  • Rotator cuff strain
  • Rotator cuff tear
  • Biceps tendonitis
  • Biceps tendinosis
  • Subacromial bursitis
  • Labral tear (SLAP tear, degenerative tear)

In certain cases, advanced imaging may be necessary to determine the extent of the impingement syndrome and subsequent injury to the und. An MRI can identify rotator cuff tears and Labral tears.

Noninvasive Shoulder Treatment in San Diego

At our Mission Valley office, we utilize the latest techniques to treat shoulder impingement including: Active Release Technique (ART), Graston Technique, joint mobilization/manipulation, and targeted rehabilitative exercise.

Initial stages of care usually involve working on the flexibility and mobility of the tissues around the shoulder. This helps by improving functional limitations at the shoulder joint. After mobility has improved, targeted strength and control exercises for the shoulder are prescribed. This helps avoid re-injury to the shoulder in the future and can help improve performance.

In some cases, if the impingement is due to bone spurring or labral tear, an orthopedic referral may be warranted.

Shoulder pain treatment sports doctor

Schedule today to get a proper assessment and treatment for your shoulder pain. Our sports chiropractors are trained to treat your shoulder pain and other sports injuries effectively, and efficiently.