Treating the performing artists requires a delicate combination of:
• Assessing the injury itself locally
• Assessing biomechanics of the athlete/artist- globally
• Evaluation of posturing and body alignment
• Listening carefully to the history of the injury, as well as developmental performance over years, looking for trends
• Communication with coaching staff, teachers, instructors, directors about observations during practice, rehearsals and performances/competitions that the patient may not be aware of
• Video analysis, if available of performances/competitions
• Physical assessment, hands-on, of joint health, ligament integrity, tendon health, muscle flexibility and tone, scar tissue analysis, motion evaluation of the joint, range of motion end-range checking and more
• Balance, proprioception, and stability analysis
• Pain provocation- analyzing trigger through movement, resistance, and touch
• Combining treatment for immediate relief to allow performance, short-term future corrections of strength, stability length-tension relationships, and long-term goals of changing biomechanics and more.
• Consistent feedback from the athlete/performer on progression of pain tolerance, strength, endurance, alignment, fatigue perception and compensation decrease
Manual therapy can include, but is not limited to:
• Soft tissue mobilization
• Myofascial release
• Trigger Point therapy
• Joint mobilization
• Capsular mobility
• Cross-friction massage
• Lymphatic techniques
• Active Release Techniques (ART)
• Graston Technique (GT)
• Trigger Point Dry Needling
• Strain/counterstrain
• Manual stretching
• Acupuncture-globally
• Joint adjustment/cavitation- locally and globally
• Self-rolling with Trigger Point products
• And more!
Biomechanics treatment to include:
• Strength assessment
• Flexibility assessment
• Posture check
• Endurance analysis – muscular and aerobic
• Balance and proprioception training
• Plyometric education, if needed
• Gait evaluation, if needed
• Neuromuscular re-education on specific patterns, co-contractions, and planes of motion
• And more!