JANNEN BELBECK 2020-02-05 16:45:17
Performance framework
in this issue for our sports-centric cover story, we’re featuring frequent contributor Erik Klein, as well as a colleague from Town Health Solutions and their experience at ALTIS in Arizona. ALTIS offers internship and performance programs for therapists and coaches, and both practitioners attended. As an organization, the centre places a strong emphasis on education around sport performance, including “performance therapy.” This performance therapy framework enables both private practitioners and multi-disciplinary clinic owners to realize a new thought process of how to treat patients. Despite the fact that ALTIS focuses on track and field, the overall approach makes sense for any athlete, as well as “weekend warriors” or amateurs alike.
“Performance therapy involves bringing brief manual and therapeutic interventions directly into the practice setting, allowing for the opportunity to make immediate improvements to movement patterns. It requires collaboration between the coach, therapist, and athlete, otherwise known as the ‘performance trinity,’” the authors say.
With the 2020 Olympics here, this idea of a “performance trinity” was an “aha!” moment for me. As a figure skater, I didn’t realize until I read this article that this idea is what allowed me to really excel at the sport I was (once) in. At 14, my first experience of manual therapy opened my eyes to the “performance trinity.” It amazed me that just one chiropractic appointment could reinvigorate me – make me feel immediately better and therefore, more excited to get back on the ice...because I could. No longer did I have to sit out a practice session due to knee issues or sore shoulders.
The Olympic games is a time when sideline specialists – athletic trainers, massage therapists, and chiropractors – are highlighted as necessary for the success of a professsional athlete. When I had first started competing, I wasn’t aware of the real impact an injury could have – until I got one. The amount of times I fell, the bruises I had, the warm-ups, the practices and the performances – I could always count on my chiropractor or massage therapist to get me back where I needed to be. Whether it’s track, swimming, basketball or figure skating, coaches are there to guide, watch, react and fix or tweak. But the coaches and athletes need the healthcare practitioners--they need YOU.
Use the hashtag #canadianchiropractor (or tag us) for a chance to be featured in a future issue!
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