Sports Injury Chiropractor in Clarksville TN
Most sports injuries are musculoskeletal injuries, and musculoskeletal conditions are what a chiropractor examines and treats. At Source Chiropractic in Clarksville, Dr. Jeff, Dr. Cindy and Dr. Ali see sports and overuse injuries of the muscles and joints, from a sore shoulder or knee to a back that tightens up every time you train, in adults and in young athletes up to age 18. Care here starts with the activity you want back: we take your history, examine you, and build the plan around what we find and that goal.
A first visit is a detailed history and an exam, with full-spine X-rays when they're clinically appropriate, and you'll hear what we found before we recommend anything. Depending on what the exam finds, care for a sports injury here can include chiropractic adjustments, Class IV laser therapy, dry needling and rehab exercises, and a licensed massage therapist works out of our office.
The new-patient chiropractic offer has its own terms. Book online or contact us. If you were hurt today, read when a sports injury needs a doctor or the ER first before you book.
What does sports chiropractic care involve?
Sports chiropractic care is chiropractic care for the muscles and joints after a sports or overuse injury. For a sports injury, the exam looks for which tissue is hurt and how it got hurt, and care is aimed at the muscle and joint problem it finds. In Tennessee, a chiropractic physician examines patients, makes a differential diagnosis, and diagnoses and treats neuromuscular, musculoskeletal and related conditions. That scope covers adjustment and manipulation, manual and rehabilitative care, physical-agent modalities such as laser, and referral when a problem falls outside it.
For an athlete, that means looking past the sore spot to how it got sore. Shoulder pain can start in the shoulder or in the neck above it, which is why we examine the shoulder and the neck together. Pain, tingling or weakness down an arm or a leg can come from a nerve rather than the joint where you feel it. Numbness, pins and needles or weakness in a limb after an injury is on the medical-first list below. The exam is how we look for those links, and the plan follows what it finds.
What is a sports injury?
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) sorts sports injuries into two groups. Acute injuries happen suddenly, such as a fall, a blow or a twisted joint. Chronic injuries usually come from overuse, the same load repeated until the tissue can't keep up, and they build gradually. Sometimes an overuse injury wears tissue down and sets the stage for an acute one.
Most sports injuries fall into a few types:
- Sprain: a stretched or torn ligament, the band that joins one bone to another at a joint. Ankles, knees and wrists sprain most often.
- Strain: a twisted, pulled or torn muscle or tendon, from a contact hit or from repeating the same motion, as in tennis or golf.
- Tendinitis: an irritated, inflamed tendon, usually from the same motion over and over, often at the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee or ankle.
- Bursitis: inflammation of a bursa, a small fluid-filled cushion between bone and the tissues that move over it, from a blow, a repeated motion like throwing, or pressure such as kneeling.
- Fractures and dislocations: a broken bone, from one hard blow or from repeated impact (a stress fracture, common in running and jumping sports), or a joint whose bones have come apart. These go to a medical doctor first, as the warning signs below explain.
An acute injury tends to show itself with sudden, severe pain, a lot of swelling or bruising, not being able to put weight on a leg, knee, ankle or foot, a joint that won't move normally, marked weakness, or a bone or joint that looks out of place. An overuse injury is quieter: pain when you play or exercise, and swelling with a dull ache at rest. Sports injuries aren't only for athletes, either. NIAMS points out that factory workers get tennis elbow and painters get shoulder injuries, and our work injury guide covers that side of it.
Which sports injuries are common, and where do they hurt?
At our Clarksville office, sports and overuse injuries of the muscles and joints are among the problems we see. These are common ones NIAMS describes, by where they hurt, with a guide where we have one:
- Shoulder. Rotator cuff injuries and impingement, where the tissues under the top of the shoulder blade are pinched as the arm lifts, are common in swimmers, tennis players and anyone who reaches overhead over and over. The shoulder pain guide covers the shoulder exam and care.
- Elbow. Tennis elbow, pain on the outside of the elbow, from racket sports and repeated forearm work, and golfer's elbow on the inside, from repeated gripping and wrist use. See elbow tendinopathy.
- Knee. Runner's knee, pain around or under the kneecap, is common in runners and also turns up in hikers and cyclists. See knee pain.
- Thigh and groin. Hamstring strains come with running, jumping and sudden starts and stops, so basketball, football and soccer players get them often. Groin pulls come with quick side-to-side moves. The hip pain guide covers pain in the groin and around the hip.
- Ankle and heel. A rolled or twisted ankle in sports with a lot of pivoting, such as volleyball and basketball, and Achilles tendinitis, pain and stiffness at the back of the heel that's often worst in the morning. See ankle sprains, and for pain under the heel, plantar heel pain.
- Back and neck. Lifting, swinging, landing and contact all load the spine. See back pain and neck pain, and golfers can read why the swing is hard on the back.
- Pain, tingling or weakness running down an arm or leg can come from a nerve rather than the muscle or joint where you feel it. The arm and leg pain guide explains the difference. Numbness, pins and needles or weakness in a limb after an injury is on the medical-first list below.
Young athletes. Sports injuries are one of the reasons parents bring their children to our office, and we see children from newborns to age 18. Growing athletes get the same strains and overload problems adults do, with one big difference: their growth plates, the cartilage near the ends of the long bones, are still open. NIAMS notes that growth plates are especially vulnerable to injury until they turn to bone, typically by or around age 18, and that a growth plate fracture can follow a single fall or long-term overuse. Our kids chiropractic care page has more.
What happens at a first visit for a sports injury?
Your first visit starts with a detailed history. You'll sit down with Dr. Jeff, Dr. Cindy or Dr. Ali and go over your health history, your symptoms, your concerns and your goals. For an athlete, we'll want to hear about your sport, position, training, recent jumps in load and old injuries, and exactly how this one happened: a single moment, or a pain that crept in with the same movement. NIAMS describes the same starting point for diagnosing any sports injury: how it happened, what you do, and whether you recently changed how hard you train. Tell us the movement you can't do right now.
Then comes a full evaluation, with full-spine X-rays when they're clinically appropriate. The exam looks for joints that aren't moving well, muscle tension, inflammation, swelling in or around a joint, and signs of an irritated or pinched nerve.
After the exam, we go over what we found before recommending anything, hands-on treatment included. The plan is built around your condition and the goal you came in with, whether that's finishing a season, getting through a long run or playing a full round of golf, and it can include short-term care and longer-term options. If our exam shows it isn't a muscle-and-joint problem, we'll tell you and refer you for the right medical evaluation.
What care do we use for sports injuries?
Treatment follows the exam. Here's what the plan can draw on:
- Chiropractic adjustments for joints the exam finds aren't moving well. An adjustment is a controlled force applied to a specific joint, usually by hand. Many people hear a pop, which comes from gas in the joint fluid, not from bone moving against bone.
- Class IV laser therapy with the Summus Horizon, for temporary relief of minor muscle and joint pain, stiffness and muscle spasm. Muscles and joints associated with sports or overuse injuries are one of the places we commonly use it, along with the shoulder and rotator cuff region, the knee and the foot.
- Dry needling: a thin, solid needle placed into a tight band of muscle, with nothing injected, for the muscle and soft-tissue part of an injury when the exam finds one. At our office it's done by Dr. Jeff Morrey, Dr. Cindy Morrey and Dr. Ali Kimbrough.
- Rehab exercises to address weakness, movement problems, stability, mobility and muscle imbalance.
- StemWave, a focused acoustic wave therapy we use alongside our other care for heel pain.
A licensed massage therapist also works out of our office (massage therapy), and we'll put you in touch when soft-tissue work fits. If you already have a sports medicine doctor, physical therapist or athletic trainer, an exam here can fit alongside that care.
What does the research show?
Research on sports injuries tests care for one injury at a time. Two studies cover the exercise and hands-on parts of sports injury care:
- Ankle sprains in athletes. In a trial of 522 athletes aged 12 to 70 with a recent ankle sprain, adding an eight-week home balance training program to usual care meant fewer of them reported another sprain over the next year: 22%, against 33% with usual care alone. The benefit showed up in athletes whose first sprain hadn't been medically treated. Among those who had medical treatment, the difference wasn't significant, and repeat sprains were self-reported.
- Shoulder impingement. A 2017 review of randomized trials in adults with shoulder impingement found exercise reduced pain more than care without exercise, and specific exercises more than generic ones. Manual therapy reduced pain more than placebo, and added to exercise it did better than exercise alone, but only at the shortest follow-up. The authors rated the evidence very low in quality.
These describe groups of people rather than predicting your own result. The laser therapy, dry needling and condition guides above each go through the research for their own treatment or injury.
Is chiropractic care safe for a sports injury, and what are the other options?
Short-lived side effects are common. According to the NCCIH, part of the National Institutes of Health, increased pain or discomfort, stiffness or headache often follow spinal manipulation or mobilization, and most go away within 24 hours. Serious side effects, such as serious spinal or neurological problems or strokes involving arteries in the neck, have been reported. They're very rare, and there are no accurate estimates of how often they happen. The chance of a serious side effect may be greater in people with underlying health problems that raise their risk of injury, which is one reason your history comes before any treatment. Dry needling and laser each carry their own precautions, set out on their pages.
There are other options, and many athletes use more than one. NIAMS notes that many minor sports injuries are first cared for at home with rest, ice, compression and elevation. For a serious injury, a sports medicine doctor or an orthopaedic surgeon can diagnose it and decide on a sling, splint, brace or cast, or surgery in the cases that need it, though most sports injuries don't. A physical therapist or physiatrist can build a rehab program, and NIAMS says such a program can help you return to your previous level of activity and reduce the chance of reinjury. Our guide to chiropractic benefits, risks and alternatives goes into more detail, and at your exam we'll talk through the options that fit you.
When does a sports injury need a doctor or the ER first?
Most sports injuries aren't emergencies. These are the exceptions.
NIAMS says to see a health care provider for the symptoms of a serious injury: severe pain, swelling or bruising; pain and swelling that don't go away after a few days; not being able to put any weight on the area; and an obvious deformity. Severe pain, swelling or bruising, an area that can't take any weight, or a deformity can mean a broken bone or a dislocated joint. NIAMS says that most acute fractures require an immediate visit to a health care provider, and a dislocated joint typically requires immediate medical treatment, so those go to the emergency room, a sports medicine doctor or an orthopaedic doctor before us. Pain and swelling that hang on for a few days are on the same NIAMS list. NIAMS notes that your primary health care provider can manage most injury-related problems and may refer you to an orthopaedic surgeon or a sports medicine specialist. An exam here also looks for swelling in or around a joint, and if what we find points to a fracture or anything else outside muscle and joint care, we'll tell you and refer you.
These belong with a medical doctor first, and some need one urgently:
- Chest pain, breathlessness out of proportion to the effort, palpitations, light-headedness or fainting during exercise. This is a medical emergency and not a musculoskeletal question.
- Confusion, agitation, stumbling or collapse while exercising in heat, with hot skin. Call 911. This is heat stroke and it can kill quickly.
- Severe muscle pain, marked weakness, or dark or cola-coloured urine after unaccustomed intense exercise. Any one of these is enough: they frequently do not appear together and muscle pain is often absent. Seek immediate emergency care, rather than waiting to see how it develops.
- A limb that is cold, pale, or numb below an injury, or a limb swelling rapidly with pain out of proportion to the injury. Both are time-critical and are judged in hours.
- A wound over an injury with visible bone, or bleeding that will not stop.
- A head injury with loss of consciousness, confusion, repeated vomiting, or a worsening headache.
- A joint that is deformed, that will not bear weight, or that gave way at the moment of injury
- A joint that becomes hot, swollen and red, particularly with fever or feeling generally unwell
- Numbness, pins and needles or weakness in a limb
- A sudden severe pain with an audible snap, particularly in the calf or the back of the thigh
If a neck injury in a fall or a tackle leaves you unable to move an arm or hand, have someone call 911, as MedlinePlus advises.
What about a possible concussion?
The CDC's HEADS UP guidance for a sports-related concussion is to remove the athlete from play right away, check for danger signs, and keep them out of sports the day of the injury and until a healthcare provider clears them. The CDC calls the return to sports a medical decision and a step-by-step process that can take a week or more, and athletes who go back too soon, while the brain is still healing, have a greater chance of another concussion.
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department after a bump, blow or jolt to the head with any of the concussion danger signs the CDC lists: seizures, not recognizing people or places, repeated nausea or vomiting, unusual behavior, increasing confusion, restlessness or agitation, loss of consciousness with increasing drowsiness or trouble waking up, slurred speech, weakness, numbness or poor coordination, a headache that gets worse and doesn't go away, or one pupil larger than the other or double vision. In a young child, add crying that can't be consoled and refusing to nurse or eat. Concussion signs may not show up right away: they can take hours or days to appear.
None of these is a reason to panic. Each one is a reason to see the right person first, and if you mention one to us, that's exactly what we'll tell you.
When can you get back to your sport after an injury?
NIAMS describes a rehabilitation program that includes exercise as the usual step before going back to the sport that caused an injury, rebuilding strength and range of motion and easing leftover pain. Depending on the injury, that progression may run from restoring movement to building strength to a gradual return to training. A good plan names who's guiding it and the milestones before the load goes up.
Five questions a sports injury plan should answer:
- What's the working diagnosis, and does it need further evaluation?
- Which activities are fine now, and which should wait?
- What changes in pain, strength or function are being tracked?
- Who makes the return-to-play call?
- What would lead to a referral or a different plan?
Our guide for athletes goes further into planning a return, and fitness tips from a chiropractor covers warm-ups, building up gradually and why strains and sprains happen when they do.
Book a sports injury visit in Clarksville
If a minor sports or training injury hasn't improved, or a pain comes back every time you train, and none of the urgent warning signs above fit, a first visit at our Clarksville office starts with your history and an exam. We'll tell you what we find. If we are not able to help you with your problem or are unable to reduce your pain levels, we will make sure to give you a recommendation to another experienced provider. Book online or contact us.
The knowledge atlas covers shoulder, elbow, hip, knee and ankle problems.
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
Effect of unsupervised home based proprioceptive training on recurrences of ankle sprain: randomised controlled trial
522 athletes aged 12 to 70 with a recent lateral ankle sprain, receiving usual care with or without an eight-week home balance program.
What it foundOver one year, 22% of the training group reported another sprain, compared with 33% of the usual-care group.
What it can't tell usRecurrences were self-reported. It backs rehabilitation after an ankle sprain, but it didn't test manipulation, and it doesn't show immediate pain relief.
Publication details & citation
Hupperets et al. Effect of unsupervised home based proprioceptive training on recurrences of ankle sprain: randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2009. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b2684.
Read the publication recordEffectiveness of conservative interventions including exercise, manual therapy and medical management in adults with shoulder impingement: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs
200 randomized trial reports (177 pooled in meta-analyses) of conservative care for adults with shoulder impingement, searched to January 2017.
What it foundExercise reduced pain more than non-exercise control, and specific exercises more than generic ones. Manual therapy reduced pain more than placebo, and added to exercise it did better than exercise alone at the shortest follow-up. Laser did better than sham laser. Steroid injections did better than no treatment, and anti-inflammatory medicines better than placebo.
What it can't tell usThe authors rated the evidence very low in quality, and it is unclear how injections and medicines compare with exercise.
Publication details & citation
Steuri et al. Effectiveness of conservative interventions including exercise, manual therapy and medical management in adults with shoulder impingement: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2017. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096515.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.