Find the right TEAM of experts to work together to fix you!
Your School provides the very best they know but sometimes we need more!
Here I hope to provide you with the insight that there are professionals out there who have studied the latest in therapies, body mechanics and evaluation procedures that your school might not know about. My hope is to educate you on some of these options and how to find them.
So many times I have a patient who comes home from college on a break and they want to be evaluated for their injury that isn’t quite getting better fast enough. They’ve received the best of care by the team medical staff but still feel less than 100%. Some have returned to play but feel as though they can’t perform as well or maybe have a fear of reinjury so they hold back. Some are fearless and play hard but get hurt soon after their return and now they are frustrated. Once in a while you get that really bad one that needed surgery but just can’t seem to get back in the game.
No matter the situation they all have a similar issue; they need help. In some cases they have to wait until they get home, talk with their parents and hope to see a Specialist that can fix them. Oh, and get that all figured out in the three weeks that they are off from school! Or better yet, in the fours days they are off because they have to get back for practice.
As a parent you want what’s best for your child. You helped them find their sport, watched them excel and finally support and admire them while they play at a University level.
If they are injured you trust that the physicians and trainers and therapists at the University are taking the best care of them. After all, it IS a Top school in a major city surrounded by teaching hospitals and the world’s best research programs. Clearly they are in good hands and wouldn’t possibly need anything more!
As an athlete you would do anything to stay in the game, work through the pain, seek a second opinion, do all of the exercises, ice, heat whatever it takes just tell me what to do!! Right?
Why is it that even our professional level athletes who have access to the best of the best sometimes go out on their own to find the latest in therapies and travel out of the country for it?
Do we need to travel far and wide to find the right expert? Or is it that we just don’t know what or who we are looking for? My point is there are great people everywhere. Maybe the problem isn’t where to go to find them but WHO exactly do we need? We need a team!
“The Whole is Greater than the Sum of all its Parts” – Aristotle
Remember that when you are trying to solve a dilemma you might need more than one expert for the solution. I like to start with these three priorities when searching for WHO might be able to help:
- Identify the problem (What is injured? What type of specialist do we need?)
- How do you Fix it? (What are our options??? Corrective Exercise, Muscle Release, rehab, Therapy? Aren’t they all the same??)
- How do we prevent it from happening again? (Get to the source, the cause. Who can do that?)
There are so many professions out there, so many experts in many different fields. It can be difficult to sort out if you are not familiar. It is best to go to someone that specializes in the type of problem you have. If all we know is Orthopedics and Physical Therapy then we are living in a very narrow minded small world. Remember that there is no one person who can know all and do all for every type of injury. A good physician, trainer or therapist will know when they need help. In many cases you’ll need to work with several different types of providers in order to get back in the game. My hope here is to simply educate you on just some of the other type of professionals or credentials/certifications you can search for should you need some expert opinion. If you are a parent and your child is away and is not responding well enough to their treatment you should have this information handy to guide you in the right direction for help.
KNOW YOUR OPTIONS!
I would like to provide you with a short list of Specialists out there and websites with search engines that can help you find someone in the area you need. These recommendations are based on my nearly 20 years of experience and education and what I personally have found helpful in my practice. There are many others that are just as good so please understand that this list is not all inclusive.
I advise parents and athletes too to start NOW and assemble a team of professionals in your area that you might need to find at a moment’s notice. Sometimes you can find one Professional that has multiple credentials so you may be able to combine therapies. Many Chiropractors and Physical Therapists and British Osteopaths will study the same areas so be sure to check out the full list of what they’ve certified in.
Types of Health Professionals to have on your call list:
- Orthopedic Surgeon – for broken bones or torn parts (Specialist in area injured)
- Physical Therapist – rehabilitation with at LEAST these certifications (SFMA, FAFS)
- Chiropractor – biomechanical correction with at LEAST 1-2 of these certifications (DACRB, SFMA, FAFS, ART)
- British Osteopath – biomechanical correction with at LEAST 1-2 of these certifications (MOst, SFMA, FAFS, ART)
- Massage Therapist – scar and adhesions in muscle (ART, Scarworks)
- Acupuncturist – pain control
- Nutritionist – metabolic efficiency testing
- Sport Psychologist – Better Mind. Better Performance
Here are some sites to reference when searching for these types of professionals.
- SFMA: Selective Functional Movement Assessment – helpful in finding the right diagnosis whether soft tissue tension or neurological weakness.
www.functionalmovement.com Click on Find a Certified Member and select SFMA in your search
- ART: Active Release Technique – useful for tight muscles, strains, pinched nerves, inflexibility
www.activerelease.com Click on Find a Provider and search by Location/Zip code. Try to find the provider with the most certifications under their name
- FAFS: Fellow of Applied Functional Science – these experts are the TOP in their field who understand body function in 3 dimensions. You can find many types of movement specialists here including Strength Coaches, Athletic Trainers, Physical Therapists, Chiropractors and Osteopaths.
www.grayinstitute.com Scroll to bottom of page and Click on Fellow Locator and search by location. Be sure to switch your miles radius to the lowest area. GIFT is the program with the highest level of education.
- ScarWorks
http://www.wheelerfascialwork.com This search is for Scar tissue release. Go to Contact Us and send a message to find a certified provider in your area
5. DACRB: (Diplomate of the American Board of Chiropractic) – These are Chiropractors who continued their post doctoral education in the physical therapy arena.
There are so many other techniques that are out there that can be very effective in the treatment of injuries both old and new. Some of my colleagues are certified in Graston technique, Class IV Laser therapy, Gait Analysis using Optogait system or RunScribe technology. If you take away any message from this post I hope it is at least to search for more than what is traditional or commonly recommended. Find your team of experts in a variety of fields who work together for you!
Coming soon……..Video of Soccer Specific Flexibility Training!
Back in Action 
Nice article. Not all are created equal and just because some one claims to be an expert does not make them one. Marketing can make us believe anything. I have spent time in D1 and D2 athletics, high school and 4 years with the USOC. The one thing I have learned is understand who is in your area, who is good and who you can trust to look at the whole. None of us can fix everyone but having a list of resources is great to collaborate for the better of the patient/athlete. The university medical staff is typically overworked and under pressure to keep the athletes on the playing field with whatever it takes. I call it shotgun treatment. Through what ever at them and hope it works. I hope that more in my profession can experience what we got at the Gray Institute. And can recognize how much more there is to learn.
LikeLike