Have you ever been told that you have an overuse injury? I have always wondered why only some people who athletically train get injured while they train with email injury-free. Overuse is a medical meme often used with a healthcare provider who does not have a better explanation. This is no better than assuming all older people are in pain due to arthritis; they’re not. Overuse is overused in healthcare. In treating many athletes, soreness, and pain are often part of conditioning, but at some point, the pain reduces strength and power and leads to failure of function. To understand an injury, we must first understand the person, their body style, mechanics, movement patterns, and how they function against gravity forces while exercising. Recently, I met a college-age baseball pitcher who had developed shoulder pain with neck pain and was going to a college that had a physical therapy student clinic. Three years of therapy failed to improve his shoulder or his neck. Before our visit, he visited a podiatrist who examined his foot pain and cast custom foot orthotics blaming his foot pain on flat feet. During his chiropractic history and evaluation in our office, I evaluated his pitching style, symmetry, feet, shoe sizing, and shoulder mobility in the affected shoulder. What I found was The patient had flat feet and was asymmetrical in build. His shoes were at least a half-size small, something the podiatrist never looked at. His pelvis was torqued or distorted, as well as his upper body in compensation, a common finding in patients with shoulder, neck, and foot pain. Upon squatting he lost his balance and shifted to the side. His trunk rotation on his pitching side was different than his opposite side. His legs were very tight and stiff. He had tightened fascia in the legs, hips, and core reducing his power and affecting the movement of his shoulder. He was given off-the-shelf foot orthotics to level his hips and improve how he moved. He did not require custom insoles which are costly and may have errors in how they are cast which is a common finding. Simple and uncomplicated insoles often get great results without waiting for a custom product to arrive three weeks later. My conclusions were based on a holistic approach to how the patient moved and functioned. He was not throwing an inappropriate amount of pitches. After his first treatment which included myofascial release to the legs, hips, and pelvis to improve function and spinal manipulations to the lower and mid back, his movement as he demonstrated in my office his pitching style became more smooth, and his ability to rotate his body improved. His pitching coach said his ball speed increased significantly when he practiced this past weekend. He also noticed a marked improvement in the shoulder and neck even though those areas were not yet treated. Diagnostically, his shoulder problem was a hip, foot, gait, and pelvis problem first, and a neck and shoulder problem was the compensation which was aggravated by pitching. This was not overuse but poor mechanics resulting in his symptoms. Why consider chiropractic first for athletic injuries? A holistic approach to evaluation and treatment is what you should expect from a sports-certified chiropractor. Athletes have visited chiropractors for years for relief of pain and injuries related to their sports. Recently, as the chiropractor at the Nitro Circus at Cure Arena in Trenton, I helped several athletes get off the injured list to compete that day. Chiropractors understand that movement reduces pain and improves function. Overuse, while it may occur usually is a function of poor mechanics or movement patterns during exercise that eventually damages an area. Sports chiropractors have additional training to evaluate and treat extremities and evaluate why pain is occurring. Sometimes, a treadmill can help evaluate back pain or leg and knee pain when an evaluation is not enough. Sometimes your chiropractor may need to think outside the box to understand the problem and often, the painful area is not the cause of the injury. This can only be diagnosed by looking at the person rather than the part. A generalist approach is always better than a specialist for-everything approach as this patient experienced. Chiropractors are highly trained to understand the musculoskeletal system and sports chiropractors take a primary care approach to movement and the joints that hurt as a result of it. Rather than protocoled treatment, the treatment and exercises are tailored to the patient for the best outcomes. Our offices also use treat-test-treat to evaluate the effectiveness of the visit rather than a protocol of sessions that hope things improve. Need help resolving an overuse injury. Think chiropractic sports medicine first. Book online today.