Sports Chiropractic & Strength Rehabilitation in Walnut Creek

When pain starts deciding what you can and cannot do

Maybe it hurts to get through the workday. Maybe you have stopped sleeping comfortably, lifting the way you want to lift, playing golf, gardening, running, traveling, or training without having to work around the same problem.

Sometimes the limitation matters even more than the pain.

My goal is to help you hurt less, move more comfortably, regain strength and confidence, and get back to the activities that matter to you.

You do not need to be an athlete to be cared for like one.

At Performance Sport Care, that means taking your problem seriously, understanding what your body needs to be able to do, and building care around getting you there.

Relief matters. So does what you can do afterward.

There is an important difference between feeling better for a while and being better prepared for the demands of your life.

Hands-on treatment can help reduce pain and improve comfortable movement. But if the problem has also left you weaker, less mobile, less confident, or unable to tolerate the activity you want to return to, symptom relief may only be the beginning.

That is why I combine chiropractic and manual care with supervised progressive strength rehabilitation in the same practice, under one plan.

Not everyone needs every step, and the sequence is not identical for every person. The plan changes as you change.

Treatment and rehabilitation belong together

If hands-on care helps you move more comfortably, I want to use that improvement.

If rehabilitation shows that a certain movement is still painful, weak, restricted, or poorly tolerated, I want that information influencing what we do next.

That is difficult to accomplish when treatment happens in one place, rehabilitation somewhere else, and nobody is watching the whole process.

At Performance Sport Care, the treatment table and the strength-rehabilitation floor are part of the same practice.

Depending on what your examination shows, care can include chiropractic adjustments, manual treatment, assisted stretching, specific exercise, and progressive strength work. I establish the plan and direct its progression.

The point is not to fit you into a treatment protocol.

The point is to keep asking: What are you trying to get back to, what is keeping you from doing it, and what needs to change next?

A practice built for more than a quick treatment

I have been licensed in California since 1983 and practicing in Walnut Creek since 1985.

I am also a former National-level competitive bodybuilder and a lifelong strength athlete who still trains.

That background has shaped the way I think about rehabilitation. In high-level professional athletics, evaluation, treatment, rehabilitation, and return to performance are treated as connected parts of the same process.

You do not need to be a professional athlete to benefit from that philosophy.

Your version of “performance” might be a heavy squat or a tennis match. It might also be getting through a long workday, carrying luggage through an airport, walking hills, gardening, playing with your grandchildren, or getting back to the gym without constantly protecting one painful area.

Performance is personal.

What matters is what you need your body to do.

Strength rehabilitation that starts where you are

Strength rehabilitation does not mean everybody needs to train heavily.

For one person, the right starting point may be a two-pound dumbbell and a precise shoulder movement. For another, it may eventually be a loaded barbell.

The exercise has to fit the person.

I develop the rehabilitation plan from my examination findings and direct its progression. Most supervised exercise sessions are conducted by Dana K. McDaniel Cancel, Lead Supervised Exercise Trainer, under my planning, direction, and on-site supervision.

During a supervised session, we can see how you move and how you respond while the work is actually happening.

We can change the exercise. Change the load. Change the repetitions. Change the range of motion. Change the way the movement is performed.

Every supervised session is recorded, including the exercises, loads, sets, and repetitions, so progression is based on what you actually did.

Home exercise has its place. But when technique, loading, and progression need closer attention, there is real value in working in a purpose-built strength-rehabilitation facility, with the equipment to match the exercise to the person and progress it as their ability improves, while someone is there to watch, coach, and adjust the work as it happens.

The goal is more capability, not more appointments

I do not believe the purpose of care is to keep you coming indefinitely.

We should know what we are trying to accomplish.

That might mean being able to sleep without being awakened by pain. Sit through a workday. Walk farther. Press overhead. Return to golf. Start lifting again. Run. Squat. Work in the yard. Travel. Train hard.

There is no preset number of visits.

We look at whether pain is becoming less limiting, whether movement and strength are improving, whether you can tolerate more of what matters to you, and whether you are becoming less dependent on this office.

End the current episode of care when the job is done. We will be here when you need us again.

Your first visit should move you forward

Before your appointment, I personally call you to discuss what is going on. Every new appointment request receives that call within 24 hours.

We schedule one hour for the initial visit so there is time to hear the history, examine the problem, review relevant records or imaging, understand what you are trying to get back to, and explain what I find.

You will know what I think is going on and what I recommend doing about it.

You also receive a written Clinical Evaluation Report within 24 hours, at no additional charge. It records the important history, examination findings, diagnostic impressions, and recommendations. It is yours to keep and share with your physician, surgeon, or anyone else you choose.

When the findings support beginning treatment, treatment can begin.

When imaging would help clarify the problem or change the plan, I can order it. And when another specialist needs to be part of the solution, I can help you make that connection.

The examination matters because it gives us a reason for what we do next.

What if you have already tried treatment?

Start fresh.

Previous treatment not producing the result you hoped for does not tell us why the problem remains.

Bring any relevant records or imaging you have. Tell me what has been tried, what helped, what did not, and what you still cannot do.

Then we work from what the current findings show.

You do not have to arrive with the right diagnosis.

You just have to tell me what is hurting, what is not working, and what you want to get back to.

Who comes to Performance Sport Care?

People from Walnut Creek and throughout Contra Costa County come here for musculoskeletal pain and injuries that are interfering with the way they want to live.

Some are competitive athletes or lifters.

Some exercise because they love it.

Some want to remain active as they get older.

Some simply want their back to stop interfering with work, their shoulder to let them sleep, their knee to tolerate stairs, or their body to feel dependable again.

You do not need to be an athlete to be cared for like one.