We recently had the pleasure of working with a great young man who is a local baseball player here in the Saint Johns community! We were very impressed by this patient and he just about does it all on the ball field for the teams he plays on – pitcher, middle infielder, and outfielder!
Unfortunately, he started having pain in his leg a couple weeks ago during a game. It started gradually so he didn’t think much of it. But eventually it was hurting for him to run during practices and games and he couldn’t play without significant pain.
Our exam revealed that he had pulled (strained) a muscle in his leg. Specifically his quadriceps (quad) muscle. This muscle is very important for moving your hip and your knee and plays a significant role when beginning (accelerating) to run or sprint and when slowing down (decelerating) from a sprint.
Out exam also revealed why he might have suffered from the injury in the first place which likely had to do with how his core muscles stabilize his pelvis. We laid out a diagnosis & plan for treatment & got to work right away! This ensured that he would miss as little games & practices as possible!
Treatment
Some of our treatments shown in the video include:
1. Cupping Therapy
2. Dead Bug Exercise
3. Hip Uprighting Exercise
4. Weighted Wall Sit
5. Normatec Compression Therapy
Also included in treatment but not shown was spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustments). The purpose of the above treatments as well as other hands on therapy that we did were to increase blood flow & nutrition to the injured area; build the strength, active mobility, capacity, and resilience of the injured tissue, and to strengthen & stabilize surrounding muscle groups (like the core, pelvis, and hips) to hopefully prevent this injury from happening again!
Between his few appointments with us, he had homework to do! We gave him a few exercises to do at home to increase his core stability and to speed up the healing of the injured leg muscle. We also told him to do these exercises before practice and games to help the leg muscles get warmed up.
Because of his hard work and commitment to doing his exercises, he’s been back to running and playing baseball games pain free!
Many well intended providers often take activities away from their patients. While sometimes this advice is needed, conservative care options including hands on therapy and rehab exercises can accelerate tissue healing timelines and get you back to doing what you love much quicker than just “resting it.”
If you know someone in the Saint Johns area (Durbin Crossing, Aberdeen, Rivertown, Julington Creek Plantation) who has a baseball injury or any sports injury that could benefit from our thorough approach and comprehensive care, please share this post with them or send them our way!
We are conveniently located in between CR 210 and Race Track Road, near where St. Johns Parkway and Longleaf Pine intersect! Right across the street from Patriot Oaks Academy in the 32259 zip code!
