The Overuse of Youth

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Young athletes are a big part of my practice.  From sprained ankles to separated shoulders to low back pain, my goal with them, as with all my patients, is to decrease pain and increase function as quickly as possible.  But with young athletes in particular, I want to try to minimize the effect that an injury has on the rest of their body long-term.  Our bodies are masters of compensation you see, so if one area becomes weak or injured or dysfunctional, another area steps up to counterbalance.  And herein lies the problem: where did the injury start?  Can we chase the dysfunction throughout the body to find the initial culprit?

Troubling trends that I’m finding amongst these young athletes are overuse injuries.  Most often, these kids are playing their primary sport nearly year-round.  Summer hockey.  Winter ball.  Indoor soccer.  In 2016, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine released an Early Sport Specialization Consensus Statement, which you can read by clicking HERE.

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This is my favourite part:

“The primary outcome of this think tank was that there is no evidence that young children will benefit from early sport specialization in the majority of sports. They are subject to overuse injury and burnout from concentrated activity. Early multisport participation will not deter young athletes from long-term competitive athletic success.”

Please take a moment to read that again.  “No evidence” of “benefit” from “early sport specialization.”  And a whole lotta downside in the form burnout and overuse injury.

Make no mistake, I love youth sport.  I’m a huge competitor and I was raised playing every sport around, as do my children.  But remember, better movers make better athletes, and your child’s body will not learn to move well if it has only been expected to do the same thing over and over again.  Multi-dimensional.  Multi-sport.  Multi-movement.  That’s the key to a well-balanced athlete, and more importantly, a healthy human body.

If nothing else, I hope this post gives you some food for thought.  Parents have thousands of choices to make throughout their children’s lives, and this one is a big one.

hockey rules

Today is an ask:

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Today is a please-help-us-out sort of post.

readers choice 2018 nomineeBurlington Sports & Spine Clinic has been nominated for EIGHT prestigious awards in the Burlington Post’s annual Reader’s Choice awards.

We’ve been voted the BEST in Burlington for three consecutive years, and would appreciate your votes to make it a four-peat:

*BEST CHIROPRACTIC CLINIC
*BEST PHYSIOTHERAPY OFFICE
*BEST MASSAGE THERAPY CLINIC
*BEST CHIROPRACTOR, Dr. Dave Dorion
*BEST CHIROPRACTOR, Dr. Ashley Worobec
*BEST ACUPUNCTURIST, Dr. Dave Dorion
*BEST ACUPUNCTURIST, Dr. Ashley Worobec
*BEST MASSAGE THERAPIST, Kristy Wiltshire

You have until Sunday, February 11th, to vote on the Reader’s Choice Awards website.  (psssst, click HERE)

If we’ve helped you or someone you love this past year, we truly appreciate your votes of support.

THANK YOU BURLINGTON!

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Our Reader’s Choice awards are proudly displayed in our reception area.

 

NEW CLINIC HOURS

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The week that I’ve been dreading for months has come and gone, and both of my children are now in school full-time, officially closing the a-child-at-home chapter of my life.

My son was born in January 2009, when I was only a few years into my chiropractic career.  My clinic was a brand new baby too, and it soon became apparent that I could not manage being a full-time mom and a full-time business woman effectively.  I chose to sell my clinic and build my practice as a part-time associate rather than a full-time chiropractor, and that’s what I’ve done for the last seven and a half years.  My husband and I have managed to juggle our work hours so that one of us is always at home, thus eliminating the need for daycare, and I’ve gradually increased my clinic hours as my children have gotten older.  The flexibility of my job has been an unexpected quality-of-life bonus for me, and not something that was on my radar as a 20-something embarking upon my chiropractic degree.

Here I am on the other side of that transition away from work.  Taking a conscious step back from my practice in 2009 seemed like a huge undertaking at the time.  The feminist in me felt guilty about taking my foot off the gas of my growing career and the mother in me felt guilty for feeling that way.  But long hours at the clinic were soon traded for long hours of newborns, diapers, and strollers, and my primary hat shifted from clinic to kids.  It’s been that way for a long time, and my “normal” is daytime with my kid(s) and afternoon/evenings with my patients.  That’s about to change.

Effective yesterday, I’ve increased my clinic hours by nearly 50%.  This is the largest change in my professional life to date, second only to the sale of my clinic in 2010.  My daytime availability is skyrocketing, and my afternoon/evening availabity will shift only slightly.  For my current patients, I hope that this opens up more opportunity for you to get an appointment with me at your convenience, and for my new patients, I look forward to having much more time to meet you and help you.

0K0A4007-ExposureIf you’re reading this, you’ve been a part of my professional journey thus far, and I hope that you continue to do so.  I appreciate your support, and I will see you soon.

NEW CLINIC HOURS:

Monday: 11:00am-7:00pm

Tuesday: 9:00am-2:00pm

Wednesday: 9:00am-5:00pm

Friday: 9:00am-6:30pm

Saturday: 9:45am-1:00pm

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