We see a wide variety of sports injuries at Skare Spine & Performance in Rochester, MN.

Most of our active patients have yet to learn how an injury occurred, which can leave them frustrated and not performing at their desired level.

Athletes routinely experience hopelessness, deconditioning, and fear of missing their season if told to rest for 6-8 weeks after seeing their primary care physician or orthopedist. Our goal at Skare Spine and Sport is to give you conservative options to keep you playing and competing in your events. 

Different Sports Injuries We Treat

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Testimonials

"The service at Skare Spine and Performance is fantastic. Dr. Skare spent a lot of time with me making sure that I was comfortable and making a plan that’ll get my knee back to 100%!"

Austin B., Goodhue

"Dr. Skare has helped me with my chronic, on and off, low back pain. His in depth examination gave me confidence that I was in the right chiropractic office. His approach to treatment with adjustments and rehabilitation has allowed me to continue running and playing golf. Highly recommend to anyone dealing with pain and discomfort or those who are looking to improve their performance in daily life."

Dylan A., Rochester

Why Should I See A Sports Chiropractor?

We will do a thorough evaluation to properly diagnose your sports injury and proceed to treat your condition with effective non-surgical, conservative methods. Of course, if needed, we will always order the proper imaging, such as an X-ray or MRI.

Too often, athletes have been prescribed pain medications or rest, leaving them without answers. In our office, you are examined and treated on the first day. We have the tools and techniques to treat sports injuries, and our treatment will consist of muscle work, sports rehab exercises, other therapeutic modalities, and nutritional advice.

Chiropractic care will help relieve your injury by providing individualized treatment to get you back to your sport. The dysfunction or damage may be caused by trauma, weaknesses, or faulty biomechanics which can cause an overuse sports injury.

On top of that, we will look globally throughout the body to identify the cause of this injury and correct that to help prevent further injuries from occurring.

When Should I See A Sports Chiropractor?

Whether its to help prevent injury, recover for your next competition, or heal from a previous injury, we will put together a plan that works for you. 

A chiropractor can be the first line of defense in the conservative management of your injury. We will start treatment immediately to help you avoid missing even more time.

The next option is to see a chiropractor before you get hurt. After various movement screens and a whole-body assessment, we can establish what an athlete needs to be more resilient in their sport.

Our Goals Are Simple:

1. Fix and heal your current injury

2. Prevent further injuries 

3. Enhance Performance

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Sports Chiropractic Care for Performance

Athletes have short windows to showcase their talents in-season. Don't let that get cut short.

It is impossible to prevent all injuries, but with sports chiropractic care, athletes can go into their sport much more resilient and prepared for a demanding season. With our treatment modalities and functional rehabilitation, we screen the musculoskeletal system for weaknesses and vulnerabilities and work to correct them before an injury occurs. One of the best performance enhancers an athlete can have is staying healthy throughout the season.

Muscle Strain

AKA "Pulled Muscle"

A muscle strain, commonly known as a pulled muscle, is one of the most common injuries to the musculoskeletal system. 

A muscle strain can occur from being overstretched or from overuse injuries. 

Symptoms of a muscle strain include:

  • Swelling and bruising 
  • A feeling of a "pop" 
  • Pain that increases with movement 

There are three different types of strains:

  • Grade 1: some fibers of the muscle are torn
  • Grade 2: A greater number of fibers are torn with swelling and bruising
  • Grade 3: Full muscle rupture, often accompanied by a "pop." This strain is the most severe. 

An evaluation is important to determine the extent of strain and if further intervention is needed. 

Treatment of a muscle strain includes joint mobilization, dry needling, soft-tissue work, and slowly progressing with rehabilitation and strengthening. Grade 1 and 2 strains typically respond well to care, allowing you to return to sports or activities in a few days to 2-3 weeks. Grade 3 strains will require a longer recovery time. 

Jumper's Knee

Also known as Osgood Schlatters

Youth athletes who spend a lot of time running, jumping, and playing sports are most susceptible to Jumper's Knee. This condition is a stress reaction of the tibial tuberosity and causes pain and inflammation on the front side of the knee. Usually, this condition will occur when the athlete has growth spurts. Muscles, tendons, and ligaments struggle to keep up during boney growth spurts.

The patella tendon attaches to a growth center on the front of the lower leg, called the tibial tuberosity. When the quadricep muscles are overly tight, this will create tension through the patella tendon and onto the growth center causing pain and inflammation.

If severe enough, sometimes rest is advised, but it is commonly a condition that an athlete can play with most of the time.

Our goal will be to reduce tension and tightness in the quadricep musculature to take stress and pressure off the injury site. With muscle work and dry needling, we can effectively do this. The athlete will also be taught specific stretches for home care to speed up the healing process.

Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the plantar fascia and is one of the most common causes of heel pain, especially in runners. Patients will often feel a stabbing pain in the heel and bottom of the foot that will get stiffer after periods of rest and sleep.

Different causes of plantar fasciitis include:

  1. Overly tight calf musculature (gastrocnemius and soleus) causes excess strain on the plantar facia.
  2. Either too much or too little movement of the joints in your foot. (Depending on factors like flat feet or high-arched feet)
  3. Improper intrinsic foot muscle activation

Our goal will be to determine the cause, reduce calf tightness, and get the inflammation out of the heel and foot. We will also work towards strengthening the intrinsic foot muscles with Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization, the Toe Pro, and other functional exercises.

IT Band Pain

IT Band pain can present with pain on the outside of the lower leg and knee and often affects runners who are putting on high mileage. This dysfunction is usually due to tight and weak hip musculature. Improper gait biomechanics can also contribute to this condition.

With soft-tissue work and proper hip strengthening and muscle activation, we have great results with this condition.

Shoulder Pain

The shoulder can be susceptible to many different injuries

 Some of the more common shoulder injuries include:

  • Rotator cuff strain or tendinitis
  • Labral tear or instability
  • Shoulder Impingement
  • AC Joint sprain
  • Bicep injuries
  • Scapular dyskinesis (scapular instability)

Because the shoulder has extensive ranges of motion, it sacrifices stability leaving it more vulnerable to injuries. A thorough history and evaluation will highlight the leading cause of dysfunction and its root cause. One of the most effective tools for any shoulder condition is Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS). With DNS, we reconnect the brain to its muscles to regain stability and control. With many shoulder conditions, muscles tighten because they try to stabilize the shoulder complex leading to injuries.

Our treatments include chiropractic manipulation and mobilizations, dry needling for trigger points, myofascial release, and McKenzie therapy. Dr. Skare will also give at-home care to speed up the recovery process.

 

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Disc Herniation/Bulge/Pinched Nerve

Intervertebral discs in our spine have strong outer fibers called the annulus fibrosis with an inner "jelly" like material called the nucleus pulposus.

Due to trauma, repetitive motion, improper heavy lifting, genetics, and other risk factors, the annulus fibrosis can break down, letting the jelly-like nucleus pulposus create a bulge or breakthrough, causing disc herniation.

Herniations can cause inflammation and irritation around the nerve resulting in severe pain. When our spinal nerves are "pinched" or irritated, this can cause pain directly in the back or sciatic nerve symptoms, with pain shooting down the leg. This pain may also get worse when we sit and sleep. It can make life and day-to-day activity difficult.

We have many tools to diagnose and treat disc pain, including the McKenzie method, chiropractic adjustments, and dry needling. After we get you out of the severe pain phase, we will transition more to rehabilitation to help prevent this from occurring again.

One of the leading causes of people herniating a disc in their back is that they utilize an improper stabilization pattern of their core. Improper stabilization puts extra force on discs and can cause injury over time. Our initial phase of care typically will be to get you out of pain. After that, we will teach you how to use the correct patterns to heal and protect your back.

Learn More About Disc Injuries

Knee Pain

Knee injuries can come in many forms and can be traumatic or atraumatic, coming on randomly.

Different Sports injuries include:

  • Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
  • Osgood Schlatter’s
  • Patella Tendinitis
  • Ligament Damage (ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL)
  • Meniscus Damage 

While ligament and meniscus injuries usually are traumatic and come on suddenly, the other knee injuries typically happen over time and can be treated conservatively. Most conditions occur when hip musculature is weak, causing overactivation of specific muscles that attach to the knee. Our goal with therapy will be to turn on and strengthen the right muscles to take pressure off the knee and allow the athlete to get back to their sport.

A proper evaluation, including orthopedic tests, is done in the office with any new knee condition. If necessary, Dr. Skare will send the athlete for further imaging.

Learn More About Knee Injuries

Ankle Sprains

Ankle sprains are among the most common sports injuries that occur with over 2 million athletes spraining an ankle per year.

Almost everyone knows the RICE method, which stands for rest, ice, compress, and elevate, and has been the standard protocol for decades. However, this is changing, and research advocates for rehabilitation immediately following a sprain. Ankle sprains loaded from day one have better outcomes and show that the athlete gets back on the field quicker.  

Our method: Right away, we will start therapy for ankle sprains. Treatment includes balance training, proper foot activation and loading, and range of motion exercises, and will continue progressing to activities to prepare the athlete for competition. 

We will also utilize the following:

  • Dry needling to promote healing and get the inflammation to start moving out of the joint.
  • Ankle/Foot adjustments to free up range of motion and get the foot moving correctly.
  • Soft Tissue work to reduce excess scar tissue and speed up the healing process. 

With this protocol, we have excellent success treating ankle sprains and getting athletes back on the field sooner.

Read Our Blog, "3 Things You Need To Know About Ankle Sprains Today"

More About Ankle Sprains

Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome

Also known as Shin Splints

Shin splints are among the most common running injuries, with over 15% of runners complaining of this condition. 

This condition has many different forms, primarily due to increased mileage and stress over too short of a period. Sometimes shin splints are just pain on the front portion of your lower leg, known as your tibialis anterior. Other times there can be a periosteal reaction resulting in minor stress fractures, which is why proper therapy is essential.

Like most running conditions, this occurs because the calf musculature becomes overly tight and causes strain. 

Goals with treatment:

  1. Reducing tightness of muscles in the calf while working to help muscle balance.
  2. Co-activation to distribute the forces evenly is a goal of therapy. 
  3. We will also form a plan to avoid "too much, too soon, too long" when training. 

Get Back In The Game

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