General Chiropractic

As we get older, our bodies become less flexible and require more stretching to help compensate for the increased stiffness. This is not just the case for our muscles, but for other soft tissue, including our tendons. Chronic pain at one or more tendons is referred to as tendinopathy.

Tendinopathies can be quite painful. Fortunately, treatments like the Graston Technique® can help people recover faster.

What Is Tendinopathy?

Tendinopathy refers to chronic or recurring tendon pain and dysfunction. It typically falls into one of two categories:

• Tendinitis: Inflammation caused by overuse or repetitive strain, leading to swelling and tenderness.
• Tendinosis: A more degenerative condition where collagen in the tendon breaks down, causing stiffness and reduced elasticity.

In many cases, patients may experience both conditions at once, especially if the issue has developed gradually over time.

How Do You Fix Tendinopathy?

This will depend on multiple factors, including the severity and length of time the individual in question has been experiencing tendinopathy. At first, you will often find rest, icing the affected area, and anti-inflammatory medication are recommended in treating tendinopathy in addition to chiropractic care.

Is Muscle Scraping Good for Tendinitis?

In addition to more commonly administered chiropractic care, the Graston Technique® is highly recommended for treating tendinopathies such as tendinitis. This technique requires specialized training and certification, which means it is not offered through most chiropractic offices.

By utilizing specialized stainless steel tools, the administering chiropractor is able to locate the deeply buried scar tissue and adhesions over your affected tendon that are invisible to the naked eye. After it’s located, the tools are then used to break up the adhesions to relieve your pain and restore your range of motion.

The Graston Technique® to treat tendinitis typically requires twice-weekly sessions over the course of about a month. Many patients begin to experience relief within just three to four treatments, depending on the condition’s severity.

East Bay Chiropractic Wellness Can Expedite Your Recovery from Injuries & Tendinitis

At East Bay Chiropractic Wellness P.C., we take a comprehensive approach to treating tendinopathy and chronic tendon pain. Our team provides chiropractic adjustments, massage therapy, stretching and strengthening exercises, and certified Graston Technique® treatments to target the source of your discomfort. Whether you’re dealing with pain in your elbows, shoulders, knees, hips, neck, or back, we’ll work closely with you to improve mobility, reduce inflammation, and accelerate healing. Schedule your appointment today for a full evaluation and let us help you restore comfort and quality of life.

Baseball has remained America’s favorite pastime, going as far back as the 19th century. Many of us spend countless hours playing softball as kids in school or with our friends.

As we get older, a few go on to play baseball in the major or minor leagues, while many others continue to play softball or baseball with our co-workers, neighbors, and friends as a way to stay both active and social. This is very beneficial to both our mental and physical health, but there are always risks, including injury.

Despite our best efforts, doing all the proper stretches, warm-ups, warm-downs, and wearing all the right equipment, we can still find ourselves with an injury. If we have past injuries, sports-related or not, they can also be aggravated. While chiropractic care is an option, what can the Graston Technique® do specifically for those suffering sports-related injuries?

What Is the Graston Technique® for Athletes?

In a way, the Graston Technique® was always for athletes, as it was developed as a result of a sports injury. The technique’s namesake, David Graston, developed the technique out of frustration with his slow recovery from a sports injury. This led to the creation of specialized tools used to perform a specific, specialized, “scraping” type movement over the affected area that improves mobility when performed by a trained practitioner.

What Does Athletic Scraping Do?

For centuries, traditional Chinese medicine incorporated techniques designed to stimulate blood flow to areas of the body that needed healing to expedite the recovery process. This varies from acupuncture, which stimulates the nerve endings.

The tools designed to perform the “scraping” movement with the Graston Technique® not only stimulate blood flow, but they break up the adhesions built up deep under your skin that affect the injured soft tissues, which could be on your muscles, tendons, and ligaments. By doing so, your mobility in the affected area will increase sooner and with less pain as the restrictive adhesions will be broken up and absorbed back into your body.

The Graston Technique® has been considered so effective by sports professionals that MLB, NBA, and NFL teams utilize it with their players to speed up and improve recovery. Baseball pitchers often use the Graston Technique® to help improve the range of motion in their shoulders.

Athletes Make an Appointment Today

The Graston Technique® can be a life-changing experience for athletes, addressing chronic pain due to overuse injuries and other adjacent sports-related injuries. That said, Graston® can help manage pain for a wide range of people regardless of their involvement in athletics.

For more than 35 years, East Bay Chiropractic Wellness P.C. has been providing a wide range of chiropractic services, including the Graston Technique®, to best fit your needs. We can work with you on pain management and restoring the range of motion through massage, stretching exercises, spinal adjustments, and more. Schedule your appointment today and let us help you find the best holistic treatment for your particular needs.

When it comes to soft tissue injuries, the two most commonly invoked are sprains and strains. However, the vast majority of people are not informed about the difference between these two similar injuries.

• A sprain injures your ligaments, the bands of tissue that connect one bone to another. Sprains occur when you overextend or tear a ligament while severely stressing a joint.
• A strain, or pulled muscle, involves an injury to a muscle or tendon (the band of tissue that attaches a muscle to a bone).

How Can I Tell If It’s a Sprain or Strain?

While both can cause swelling and pain, each has its own symptoms. Both sprains and strains often exhibit limited mobility in the affected joint, as well as muscle weakness, tenderness, and swelling.

In addition, hearing or feeling a “pop” in your joint at the time of injury indicates a sprain.

These similarities make them hard to distinguish. One major difference is that sprains often involve bruising, while strains can lead to muscle spasms.

Is a Sprain Worse Than a Strain?

Both can be equally bad, and both affect connective tissue, so it depends on the severity of the particular injury. Of the two, strains generally have the faster recovery time since tendons heal faster than ligaments.

Can Graston Be Applied for Ankle Sprains?

The Graston Technique® is a procedure for treating soft tissue injuries, injuries that affect the fascia, adhesions, knots, muscle spasms, and anything that causes a restricted range of motion that prevents you from doing what you love. It involves the use of a surgical stainless steel instrument with rounded edges (it’s not sharp), allowing the clinician to identify problem areas and provide precision treatment to deep tissue.

When treating ankle sprains, the Graston Technique® is effective in helping to reduce swelling as well as in the later stages of the healing process, it assists in the breakdown of adhesions and dysfunctional scar tissue that occurs as a result of the initial injury.

Can Graston Help with Muscle Strains?

When treating muscle strains or tissue tightness, the Graston Technique® can promote faster rehabilitation and facilitate a return to normal function. The technique can help support your recovery process, allowing it to stay smooth and relatively brief.

East Bay Chiropractic Wellness Is the Expert in Soft Tissue Injuries

At East Bay Chiropractic Wellness, we’ve been at the cutting edge of chiropractic care since the mid-1980s, and have been certified to practice the Graston Technique® for decades. With almost four decades of experience, you know you’ll be in good hands. Our expert team understands that each case is unique and develops individualized treatment plans for each patient. Contact us at East Bay Chiropractic today. You deserve a life free from pain!