Be Well: Minnesota’s Best-Kept Integrative Sports Care Secret

For decades, the solution to most sports-related medical problems was a pill or a procedure. Aching back? Pop some ibuprofen. Torn ACL? See a surgeon.

But health experts have begun to reevaluate those approaches in recent years, and sports medicine—like much of traditional western medicine—has undergone an astonishing transformation as approaches like massage, Chinese medicine, physiotherapy, mental performance coaching, and nutrition have proven their efficacy again and again in research studies. The toolbox available to health care providers treating injured athletes has grown substantially—and a Minnesota-based lab is leading the way in wielding those tools: Northwestern Health Sciences University Human Performance Center has been serving pro athletes since 2014—and this winter, some of its services will become available to the public.

“Until now, we’ve only worked with high-performance teams,” says NWHSU Human Performance Center director Dr. Timothy Stark. That roster of athletes served by the center ranges from soccer pros to retired NFL players, Ultimate Frisbee athletes to Jui Jitsu practitioners. These elite athletes have access not only to chiropractic services, but also to specialists in acupuncture, sports nutrition, Chinese medicine, and more. “We truly are integrative,” says Stark. “Athletes pay a single fee and can get access to all these disciplines.”

Read the full article from Minneapolis.St.Paul Magazine online here!