Athletes Recurrent Sports Injury

Several athletes experience repeated injuries and ongoing muscle and joint pain. As manual therapists, we understand that a significant portion of this is linked to structural misalignment. While we possess a variety of techniques to treat muscles and joints for our athletic clients, if they keep coming back with the same alignment issues we previously dealt with, it may lead us to question, "What could we be missing?"

The answer to that question might lie in the organs (viscera). French osteopath John Pierre Barral suggests that 90% of musculoskeletal issues involve a visceral aspect. The viscera are closely connected to the musculoskeletal system through connective tissue. The nervous system prioritizes minimizing stress on the viscera, sometimes leading to strain on muscles and joints. To address organ-related issues, Visceral Manipulation, often considered the key missing element in manual therapies, is the solution.

Similar to the ebb and flow of ocean waves, the heartbeat and craniosacral rhythm work together to maintain a continuous motion within the body. The key to good health lies in the harmonious interaction of the body's tissues, allowing organs to move smoothly against each other and the surrounding muscles and bones. Various factors such as physical injury, repetitive actions, illnesses, infections, poor posture, and surgeries can lead to organs sticking together or to nearby structures. This restricted tissue creates tension points that the body must navigate around, resulting in compensatory movements that create abnormal lines of tension with every breath, step, and stretch. These abnormal tensions can lead to symptoms either at the site of the initial injury or in other parts of the body. This can cause structural and functional changes that manifest as pain, weakness, balance issues, coordination problems, reduced lung capacity, suboptimal organ function, digestive disturbances, and more.

At Pure Wellness, our osteopathic treatment combines addressing structural misalignment (including bones, ligaments, muscles, and joints) with addressing visceral tension and promoting mobility. We have observed this pattern across a variety of sports-related pain and injuries. For instance, sciatic pain in the left leg may be linked to issues with the sigmoid colon, while low back pain could be associated with the small and large intestine. Similarly, right sciatic pain may be connected to problems with the cecum or liver, and left shoulder pain could be related to stomach issues.

During a treatment session, a hockey player came to our office with complaints of pain in the right neck and shoulder following a fall on the right rib cage. Upon assessment, we found restrictions in his liver, as well as stiffness and misalignment in the rib cage. It was noted that specific internal visceral ligaments had shortened due to the injury, leading to misalignment of the rib cage and abnormal movement of the shoulder blade, which subsequently affected the delicate shoulder joint. Furthermore, we observed rotation and mild swelling in the 3rd to 5th cervical vertebrae. Since the misalignment was in the cervical spine, it had the potential to affect the phrenic nerve that innervates the diaphragm and visceral peritoneum of the liver, potentially causing pain that radiates to the brachial plexus and manifests as symptoms in the right arm, neck, or shoulder.

By utilizing Osteopathic techniques, we successfully alleviated these restrictions, enhancing structural alignment, joint and muscle mobility, organ function, and overall movement. This led to reduced pain and a restoration of the body's capacity to adapt and heal itself.

Pure Wellness @Calgary,Canada