Vision Quest Expert Series: Injury Prevention Presentation

Dr. Timothy Marando and Dr. Paul Marando had the opportunity to speak to the members of Vision Quest Coaching about chronic persistent pain and various treatment options on Wednesday May 11th.  Since not everyone in the public could attend we thought we would give a brief overview of our presentation.

We can group injuries into two major classes, acute and chronic.  As a basic description, acute injury involves inflammation and pain along with the initial tissue repair and adhesion formation to strengthen the area of injury.  Chronic injury can briefly be described as an injury that is long-lasting or recurrent.  We will look at the chronic injury as repeated low grade injuries that can be called the cumulative trauma disorder.  What this involves is a cycle of improper tissue healing involving adhesion formation due to repeated tearing and inflammation.  The adhesion formation creates discontinuous and disorganized connective tissue that results in altered function of the tissue including pain, weakness, reduced range of motion and possible numbness and tingling.

A simple way to help understand the cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) is by looking at a mathematical equation:

Greater the # of repetitions

  x Force of the repetitions

↑ tissue pressure leading to CTD

So for all the athletes that are wondering why that nagging iliotibial band syndrome or Achilles tendinosis won't go away, or why it occurs 5-10 minutes into the run.  Think, possible adhesion formation and cumulative trauma disorder as your answer.

It can be said that not every acute injury or chronic injury fits this model, but it definitely fits the profile for many of the injuries athletes tend to endure.

Treatment should be aimed at breaking up the adhesions and repairing the insulted tissues rather then masking the symptoms.  Three treatment options that we have found success with are Active Release Techniques (ART), Graston Technique and Kinesio Taping.

Active Release Techniques (ART):

• Diagnostic and therapeutic technique the doctor uses to determine the adhesions locations
• Muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, fascia and blood vessels build up adhesions within and between them over time and use
• Works to lengthen and break up adhesions with a combination of over 300 specific protocols that are directed at the area of dysfunction
• Functionally directed at specific tissues to abolish pain and increase range of motion rapidly

Graston Technique:

• Soft tissue tools engineered to break up fascial adhesions and reconstruct the fascial alignment
• Used diagnostically to locate adhesions, chronic inflammation and scar tissue
• Fascial trains are found throughout the body, lining muscles, tissues, ligaments, nerves and skin
• Used to reduce pain, increase range of motion and improve tissue function

Kinesio Tape:

• Functional taping technique using hundreds of specifically designed protocol for almost every condition
• Due to it's elastic nature, the tape supports structures during the healing process which does not restrict the range of motion of daily activities and sporting activities.
• Facilitates the healing process by lifting the skin above the inflamed tissue to reduce inflammation and swelling
• Provides treatment even after a visit to the office

As one of the few clinics that offer all three of these treatment options, we have found that having the potential to combine the three techniques yields the best results.  If you have any questions about the techniques we offer and if they might be the answer you are looking for please give us a call at 773-348-0033 or contact us through our website www.TheSportDocs.com.