Chiropractic and Crossfit
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Dr. Endriss is equipped to diagnosis and treat Crossfit injuries better than your average physician because he has been doing Crossfit recreationally and competively for the past 7 years. Additionally, Dr. Endriss is a Level 1 certificated Crossfit Coach and has been regularly coaching Crossfit classes at several gyms in the Denver metro area.
Like any sport or fitness paradigm there are inherent risks. If you have sustained an injury to an area or you have pain in a specific region of your body. It does not mean you need to stop training or working out but it may mean we have to change how you work out.
Some of the common injuries seen in the Crossfit space are:
- Shoulder rotator cuff tendinitis/tendenosis
- Shoulder impingement syndrome
- Patello-femoral pain syndrome / knee pain
- Low back pain
- Hip labral impingement
- Elbow pain
- and various overuse injuries
If you are experiencing in any of these injuries or symptoms call our office. These are very common and easily treatable.
Dr. Endriss believes that Crossfit is one of the best ways to stay active, healthy and in shape. However, it is extremely important to find a good gym with exceptional coaching. One of the faults of the small gym setting is that there is very little to no formal educational requirements for gym owners or coaches, which can result in improper movement which will inevitably cause an injury.
If you are thinking about starting Crossfit or any other fitness program, feel free to ask Dr. Endriss for a gym referral as he works closely with multiple gyms in the area and can refer you to one that works the best for your goals and expectations.
Below are some of the most common injuries that we treat associated with the Crossfit athlete.
Shoulder Pain
Shoulder pain can be caused by a wide variety of different conditions and events, but the vast majority fall into these categories:
- Shoulder impingement
- Shoulder instability
- Improper Shoulder motion/functional imbalance
- Overuse
- Fracture
Often shoulder pain is caused by an imbalance within the shoulder muscles. When we train and workout we are constantly using the big prime movers of the shoulder joint like the bicep, triceps and deltoid. This causes the rotator cuff to become relatively weak in relation to the very strong bicep, triceps and deltoid muscles. The purpose of the rotator cuff is to give the shoulder stability and tell the brain where your shoulder is in relation to the rest of your body. When the rotator cuff muscles become weak they do not stabilize the shoulder properly and this will cause damage and inflammation to the joint resulting in pain.
Low Back Pain
In Crossfit and weightlifting; assuming there is full range of motion in the low back, hips, knees, and ankles; low back pain is commonly caused by a strength imbalance in the hips and legs. The more common muscle imbalances that we see in our office are the discrepancy between the deadlift and the squat. To show balance an athlete’s back squat should be 80% of his/hers deadlift. If these numbers are skewed in one direction or another the probability of having low back pain or an injury is greater.
Low back pain can be caused by a wide variety of different conditions. Very commonly the cause of low back pain is a functional imbalance between the hips, low back, and the core. When the hips stop moving properly an uneven torque is applied through the low back which may cause inflammation and pain. Think of your hips as two wheels on a car. What would happen if one wheel on your car went flat and you keep driving your car? We all know that you would start developing other problems that are caused by the wheel but may show up in other places. The same thing happens with our hips and low back.
Knee Pain
In Crossfit and weightlifting knee pain is most commonly at the fault of the program that you are following. Too much of one thing and not enough of another is very commonly the culprit. In Crossfit and weightlifting we utilize a lot of highly dynamic movements like the clean, box jumps and double unders to name just a few. All of these movements put tremendous force through the knee and surrounding tissues. Changing up your program and doing more body building style exercises or incorporating more eccentric movements may be just the thing you need in order to build better strength and improve stability.
