Post-Surgical Rehab

After surgery, most orthopedic patients are usually given a few weeks of post-surgical rehabilitation. This helps make sure that the joint, muscle, and tendon are stable and strong enough to work as well as they did before the injury. This is especially important after procedures like ACJ repair or shoulder surgery.

Sports chiropractic care as an adjunct therapy to traditional rehab can take your healing potential to the next level. While traditional physical therapy (PT) focuses on restoring normal movement, flexibility, and functionality, a sports chiropractic multimodal approach aims to achieve optimal ranges of high-quality body movement. This approach allows patients not only to feel better but also to resume activities such as running, training, and competing, often with improved performance compared to before the injury.

Just like in regular athletic training programs, post-operative sports chiropractic care improves blood flow to healing tissues and reduces pain throughout the body. This makes physical therapy (PT) easier and more effective. Manual therapy and soft tissue therapy help reduce inflammation and break up scar tissue, which can cause discomfort and limit the range of motion during rehabilitation.

Chiropractic adjustments and joint mobilization address spinal alignment issues and optimize scapular kinematics. Sports chiropractic rehab also helps with muscle imbalances and biomechanical issues that may have caused or resulted from injury. This includes areas like the deltoid, rotator cuff, trapezius, and glenohumeral joint.

Months or even years of training or competing in pain can cause athletes to change their form or alter their body mechanics to protect painful joints, muscles, or tendons. This can lead to certain muscles and connective tissues becoming weaker, shorter, and tighter from lack of use, and compensation habits becoming ingrained in technique. A sports chiropractic approach to post-surgical rehabilitation aims to improve overall body function and restore mobility to meet the specific demands of athletes.

To achieve full mobility, flexibility, and strength in the affected area, your personalized therapeutic treatment plan may include:

• Posture and gait analysis

• Coordination and balance assessment and training

• Range of motion exercises and strength training

• Range-of-motion assessments

• Soft tissue massage therapy, PEMF, or electrical stimulation to improve blood flow and increase the range of motion

• Kinetisense Movement Technology or other biomechanics assessment to determine the quality of movement and provide proprioceptive stimulation

• At-home exercises and solutions to maintain progress.

At DTX Sports Medicine, we use a variety of non-invasive techniques for injury recovery and performance enhancement. Kinetisense movement technology is an advanced addition to post-op rehabilitation plans or athletic training programs.

If you've recently had orthopedic surgery, find out how sports chiropractic care from DTX Sports Medicine can help manage pain and speed up healing, so you can make the most of your time in physical therapy. If you're going to have surgery in the future, talk to us about how sports chiropractic pre-op care can help you recover faster.