Preventing Summer Injuries in Colorado Springs: How Chiropractic and Massage Therapy Can Help
Congratulations Colorado Springs, we’re almost to our summer months! Summer in Colorado Springs means more time out doors, anywhere from hiking, biking, gardening, travel, golf, long walks, playing at the pickleball courts, and weekends spent enjoying the outside. After a long-winded winter of sitting more, working at a desk, or staying indoors just to stay warm, your body may not be as ready as your mind is to jump into the outdoors.
That is why so many people end up dealing with low back pain, sciatica, neck stiffness, headaches, shoulder tension, or muscle strains after their first few weeks of launching head first into the summer activities.
The good news? You do not have to wait until you are hurting to take care of your body! Getting a head start could be exactly what you need to launch your self-care journey.
At Innately Yours Chiropractic and Inspire Movements Massage Therapy, we believe the best time to treat an injury is before it happens. Combining chiropractic care with therapeutic ashiatsu massage helps your body move better, recover faster, and stay active all summer long.
Why Summer Activities Cause More Pain and Injuries
While not everyone gets the flare ups and physically feels the repercussions, the body does feel it even when we don’t physically feel it. This is how injuries start. Even healthy, active people often jump too quickly into summer activities. The change of seasons does cause a shift. Your muscles, joints, and nervous system may not be ready for the sudden increases in movement that aren’t a part of your day-to-day patterns.
Common summer activities that can trigger pain including:
- Hiking and trail walking
- Gardening and yard work
- Road trips and long flights
- Golf, tennis, and pickleball
- Running, biking, and outdoor workouts
- Lifting heavy coolers, luggage, or sports equipment
- Spending long hours at the pool or lounging in the lawn chairs
These activities often create:
- Tight hips and hamstrings
- Low back pain and sciatica
- Neck and shoulder tension
- Headaches and migraines
- Knee pain and foot pain
- Limited mobility and stiffness
- Aching knees
When the nasal passages and surrounding structures are constricted,, the body may compensate with more tension through the skull which includes the neck, jaw, and shoulders. These changes could be the perfect storms that cause your headaches, migraines, poor sleep, mouth breathing, increased snoring, and add to your already existing neck tension. If you already have an old injury, previous surgery, desk job posture, or chronic pre-existing tension, summer activities can make those problems flare up even faster.
How Chiropractic Care Helps Prepare Your Body for Summer
Chiropractic care focuses on how your spine, joints, extremities, and nervous system are functioning. When your body is aligned and moving in cohesion, you are less likely to compensate, strain muscles, or create new or more pain patterns.
Dr. Codi at Innately Yours Chiropractic helps identify your muscle restrictions before they become injuries. Chiropractic care can help:
- Improve spinal alignment and posture
- Increase mobility in the hips, shoulders, extremities, and neck
- Reduce tension that contributes to headaches, migraines, and low back pain
- Improve balance and body mechanics
- Support faster recovery after physical activity
- Help your body move more efficiently and comfortable
- Improve nasal breathing
- Enhance airflow
- Reduce sinus pressure and congestion
- Reduce headache and migraine frequency
- Help relieve facial, skull, jaw, and TMJ tension
- Reduce pressure through the forehead, cheeks, behind the eyes, the skull overall
- Improve sleep quality patterns and reduce mouth breathing
- Help your nervous system feel calmer and more regulatedFor many people, improved breathing and reduced pressure through the head and neck can make summer activities, travel, hiking, and exercise feel much easier and more comfortable.
This is especially helpful if you are planning to:
- Hike in Garden of the Gods or Red Rock Canyon
- Travel this summer and spend hours in the car or on a plane
- Start running, golfing, or working out again
- Spend more time gardening or doing yard work
- Stay active with kids, grandkids, or summer events
- Even sedentary activities can cause some changes
How Therapeutic Ashiatsu Massage Helps Prevent Summer Injuries
Massage therapy is not just for after you are hurting. Therapeutic massage can help prepare your muscles and connective tissues before activity so your body is less likely to tighten up, compensate, or strain during the influx of summer activities.
At Inspire Movements Massage Therapy, Jessica uses therapeutic ashiatsu massage and cupping therapy to address the areas most likely to become irritated during summer activities.
Therapeutic massage can help:
- Reduce tightness in the low back, hips, glutes, and hamstrings
- Improve flexibility and range of motion
- Decrease muscle tension that contributes to headaches and neck pain
- Improve circulation and recovery
- Help reduce sciatic nerve irritation
- Bring tension closer to the surface with cupping therapy for a more thorough release
Many people notice that their hips, low back, and shoulders feel significantly better after one session, but those who commit to an every 2-week care plan often experience the most long-lasting progress.
Why Chiropractic Care and Massage Therapy Work Better Together
While therapeutic massage helps reduce tension through the neck, shoulders, jaw, and upper back, Nasal Release Technique helps treat restrictions inside the nasal passages and surrounding tissues that may be contributing to those same reoccurring symptoms. Massage and chiropractic care are the perfect therapeutic care when used in conjunction. If the muscles are too tight, the adjustment won’t hold, and the results won’t maintain the therapeutic benefits for longer periods of time. Each help the body differently, but when used in combination, they often deliver even better results.
Massage helps release tight muscles and fascia so the body is more receptive to an adjustment. Chiropractic care then helps improve alignment and movement patterns so the muscles are less likely to tighten back up. If you want to read on our blog for receiving a massage before or after an adjust, check out the post here!
Think of it this way:
- Chiropractic care improves how your body moves
- Therapeutic massage improves how your muscles support movement
When combined, they may help:
- Prevent summer injuries before they start
- Improve posture and mobility
- Reduce low back pain and sciatica
- Decrease tension headaches and migraines
- Help you recover faster from hiking, travel, sports, desk-work and outdoor activities
- Keep you active longer without experiencing the same flare-ups
The Best Summer Activities to Prepare For
Hiking and Walking
Long hikes can place extra strain on your low back, hips, knees, and feet particularly. A combination of chiropractic care and therapeutic ashiatsu massage can improve alignment and mobility before you even hit the trail.
Gardening and Yard Work
Hours of bending, kneeling, twisting, and lifting can trigger low back pain, joint discomfort, and neck tension. Preparing your body ahead of scheduled outdoor work can help you avoid that familiar “I overdid it” sensation.
Travel and Road Trips
Long hours in the car or on a plane often lead to stiff hips, headaches, sciatica, and neck pain. Booking an appointment before and after travel can help reduce some of those issues.
Golf, Pickleball, and Recreational Sports
Rotational sports require flexibility through the spine, hips, and shoulders. When one area is restricted, another area is compensating for the weakness, which is how our pain accumulates or even reoccurs.
How Often Should You Schedule Care?
If you already experience low back pain, sciatica, headaches, migraines, or general tension, waiting until you are in severe pain often means a longer recovery is in order. It is solvable, but it will take longer.
For the best summer results:
- Scheduling chiropractic care before starting new activities
- Book a therapeutic massage every 2-weeks during the summer months
- Consider a massage after travel, hiking, yard work, or sports tournaments
- Stay consistent instead of waiting for pain to build up
People who keep a regular schedule often notice fewer flare-ups, faster recovery, and better overall movement being established.
Local Colorado Springs Care That Works Together
Innately Yours Chiropractic is conveniently located on Galley Road near Auburn Drive and Citadel Crossing in East Colorado Springs.
Inspire Movements Massage Therapy is located off North Academy Blvd and Kelly Johnson Blvd in Briargate near Chapel Hills Mall, I-25, Briargate Parkway, Research Parkway, and near UCHealth Memorial Hospital.
Whether you are preparing for hiking season, summer travel, weekend sports, maintaining work schedules, or simply want to enjoy the season without pain, combining chiropractic care and therapeutic massage can help you stay stronger, more functional, and more at ease with your nervous system.
Don’t know what to do next?
Do not wait until summer activities leave you hurting! Stay ahead of the pain with your adjustments and massage schedule. Combining chiropractic care, Nasal Release Technique, and therapeutic ashiatsu massage and cupping therapy can help support better movement, improved breathing, less tension, and more long-lasting results throughout the duration of the summer.
Schedule with Dr. Codi at Innately Yours Chiropractic if you are dealing with stiffness, poor posture, headaches, or limited mobility.
Schedule with Inspire Movements Massage Therapy if you are experiencing low back pain, sciatica, muscle tightness, migraines, or need deeper therapeutic work with ashiatsu massage and cupping therapy.
Together, we can help you enjoy your summer with less pain and more movement.