What is a Sports Chiropractor?
Dr. Forrest Allen at Allen Spine and Sport is a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician® (CCSP). Sports chiropractors have done extra training to obtain the CCSP certification, which requires post-graduate education in chiropractic sports medicine. This extra training consists of a minimum of 100 hours in the CCSP program from an accredited chiropractic college, an Athletic Trainer Certification (ATC), a complete Masters of Science program in exercise and sport science or equivalent program from an accredited college, or a completed first year of a sports medicine residency program with an accredited college. Dr. Forrest completed his training in the form of a dual masters degree in sports science and rehabilitation along with his doctorate in chiropractic at Logan University.
The Sports Chiropractic Difference
These well-trained sports chiropractors have a larger knowledge base in treating sports injuries and improving function in athletes. They can use all the tools discussed earlier, such as joint manipulation of the spine and extremities, myofascial release, active trigger point release, Graston technique, kinesiology taping, dry needling and targeted rehabilitative exercises to systematically treat sport-specific athletes.
Dr. Allen’s functional triage approach to evaluation and management of such cases includes observing and feeling movement patterns, joints and soft tissue to determine the best route to take in treatment. In addition to the services listed above, Dr. Allen applies principles of Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) and is fully certified as a practitioner and exercise trainer in the technique. DNS consists of protocols based on the teachings and treatment programs of Dr. Pavel Kolar and Dr. Karel Lewit, the father of manual medicine. The exercises and positions are derived from developmental kinesiology, the way we develop in the first year of life. By using these positions that the body has been in the past, and in fact developed through, we can essentially hit “control-alt-delete” on the brain and re-train movement patterns and joint stabilization. The goal is to put the body back in these developmental positions to optimize joint position and activate all the right muscles around those joints. There is also an emphasis on diaphragmatic respiration (“belly breathing”) and creating intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) for core and pelvic floor stability. Rather, these concepts are actually the building blocks for each of the developmental positions. We want to teach the brain how to activate the proper pattern of movement and stabilization. The addition of DNS exercises to previously described treatments is extremely powerful for the overall function of the nervous, muscular and skeletal systems.
Dr. Forrest Allen is a sports chiropractor and co-owner at Allen Spine and Sport. He has a passion for integrating spinal and extremity joint manipulation, manual therapies like dry needling, fascial manipulation, etc., and rehabilitative exercises founded in Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS). Visit our website and give our office a call!