Move More and Stress Less! At Desert Valley Chiropractic, our mission is simple: help you feel better, move better, and live better. And one of the best ways to do that? Keep moving.The research is clear, regular movement not only supports joint health, balance, and brain function, but it also plays a major role in increasing your lifespan and improving the quality of your years.
But there’s a catch: to stay active long-term, your body needs to be in alignment so it can function. That’s where chiropractic care comes in. The better your joints move, the better you move!
Exercise: It Doesn’t Have to Be Intense to Be Impactful
We often hear patients say they’re intimidated by the idea of “exercise”—but movement doesn’t have to mean running marathons. The best exercise is the one you enjoy and can stick to consistently. Especially during Arizona’s hottest months, consider fun and accessible indoor options like:
Dance or barre classes
Gentle yoga or Pilates (great for flexibility and core strength)
You can go to a studio or check out free videos on you tube.
Mall walking with a friend
Indoor pickleball
Bodyweight workouts at home (yes, squats + Netflix is a thing!)
And don’t forget hydration matters. Summer heat can lead to dehydration, muscle cramps, and joint stiffness. A good rule of thumb? Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily—and adjust based on heat or activity.
Why Chiropractic Care Is the Foundation for Healthy Movement
When you start to feel pain or restriction in your movement, even if it’s subtle that is the time to consult your chiropractor. Committing and sticking to your care plan is essential for progress, but when those sticky joints start to move freely and you’re not having pain your body will be primed to perform.
We constantly see the benefit of continuing with maintenance care after symptoms fades key to keeping your body performing at its best. Regular chiropractic adjustments:
Reduce inflammation
Improve joint mobility
Restore natural movement patterns
Help your nervous system regulate stress
Support recovery from workouts and everyday life
This means you can keep up with the things you love: your workouts, morning walks, pickleball games, hikes, or chasing after grandkids.
Move more and Stress Less!
Movement and alignment don’t just affect your body, they affect your mind, too. Exercise is one of the most effective ways to manage stress, release endorphins, and boost your mood. In fact in studies have shown exercise to be as effective as medication with mild to moderate anxiety and depression.
Movement and exercise are truly one of the most effective ways to manage stress in our lives. When we exercise our bodies release endorphins, and while endorphins naturally help our mood (the runners high), they also reduce the negative effects of cortisol.
When cortisol—the body’s primary stress hormone—stays elevated for too long, it can take a serious toll on your health, including:
Increased inflammation
Suppressed immune function
Anxiety, mood swings, and brain fog
Disrupted sleep patterns
Weight gain, especially around the midsection
Blood sugar imbalances
Slower healing and recovery from injuries
Bonus! When you combine exercise with regular chiropractic care helps it can help regulate your nervous system, especially the parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) side, which can naturally lower cortisol levels, helping you feel calmer, sleep better, and recover faster.
Other helpful stress-busting habits include:
Breathwork or meditation
Regular sleep (and adjusting the neck to support it!)
Walking outdoors during cooler parts of the day
Taking breaks to stretch during work
At Desert Valley Chiropractic, we believe movement is medicine—and chiropractic keeps the prescription going strong. If you would like our help to keep your joints moving so you can keep thriving, please call us today at 602-439-1515 or schedule online.
We are seeing more and more patients with pickleball injuries seeking out chiropractic care. It’s not surprising considering pickleball has taken the world by storm, becoming one of the fastest-growing sports in North America. Roughly 20-40 million people will play this year and it’s easy to see why — it’s fun, social, and suitable for all ages. But like any sport, pickleball has its own set of common injuries, and for those who love to play, staying healthy and active is key. That’s where chiropractic care and advanced therapies like shockwave treatment come into play.
Common Pickleball Injuries
While pickleball is considered a low-impact sport, its quick movements, rapid direction changes, and repetitive motions can lead to a range of injuries. Some of the most common pickleball injuries include:
Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis): Maybe it should be called pickleball elbow, but that really doesn’t have the same ring to it. Either way it presents as pain on the outside of the elbow caused by overuse of the forearm muscles.
Golfer’s Elbow (Medial Epicondylitis): Pain on the inside of the elbow due to repetitive gripping and swinging.
Shoulder Strains and Rotator Cuff Injuries: Caused by overhead serves and aggressive volleys.
Ankle Sprains: Resulting from quick direction changes or unstable surfaces.
Knee Pain or Strains: Often from sudden stops, pivots, or improper footwear.
Plantar Fasciitis: Heel pain caused by repeated stress on the foot arch.
Most injuries are caused from repetitive stress, a word of caution bone fractures while playing pickleball are on the rise . There is nothing wrong with a little competition, but pickleball is meant to be fun, so perhaps let that tough shot go instead of diving for it.
How Chiropractic Care Can Help Pickleball Players
At Desert Valley Chiropractic, we specialize in gentle, effective chiropractic care using the Activator Methods technique. Our approach is ideal for pickleball players because it provides safe, precise adjustments without the twisting, cracking, or popping associated with traditional chiropractic care.
Relieves Pain: Our adjustments help align the joints and reduce stress on the muscles, relieving pain in the elbows, shoulders, knees, and back.
Improves Flexibility and Mobility: Regular chiropractic care helps maintain joint function, keeping you moving well on the court.
Reduces Recovery Time: By improving circulation and reducing inflammation, chiropractic care helps you bounce back faster from minor strains or soreness.
Shockwave Therapy for Fast Injury Recovery
For players dealing with stubborn pain or chronic injuries that may be keeping you off the court Shockwave Therapy is a game-changer. This non-invasive treatment uses high-energy acoustic waves to stimulate healing in damaged tissues. It is particularly effective for:
Tennis and Golfer’s Elbow: Breaking down scar tissue and encouraging healing in the tendons.
Rotator Cuff Injuries: Promoting blood flow and reducing inflammation in the shoulder.
Plantar Fasciitis: Relieving stubborn heel pain by accelerating tissue repair.
Chronic Tendon Injuries: Encouraging faster recovery from overuse injuries common in pickleball.
Prevention of Pickleball Injuries
It is nice to know there are options to help in case of an injury, however it is always wise to focus on prevention first. A great way to avoid an injury while playing pickleball to warm up effectively. Here are 5 effective stretches to perform before playing pickleball to help prevent injuries:
Shoulder Cross-Body Stretch
How to Do It: Stand tall. Bring one arm across your chest and use the opposite hand to gently press it towards your body, feeling a stretch in your shoulder.
Hold for: 15-20 seconds on each side.
Benefits: Helps warm up the shoulder muscles, reducing the risk of shoulder strains.
Arm circles
How to Do It: Stand tall. Bring both arms out to your side. Start and rotate your arms in circles moving forward for 20 repetitions, then repeat moving backwards.
Benefits: Helps warm up the shoulder muscles, and “lubricate” the shoulder joint reducing the risk of shoulder strains.
Hip Circles and leg swing
How to Do It: Use a stationary object for balance and do one leg at a time. Swing the leg back and forth and then side to side. Lifting the foot up and bending at the knee, make circular motions at the hip joint
Benefits: Helps warm up the legs and hip joints
Standing Quad Stretch
How to Do It: Stand tall, grab your ankle, and pull your heel towards your glutes while keeping your knees close together. Use a wall for balance if needed.
Hold for: 15-20 seconds on each side.
Benefits: Loosens the thigh muscles, reducing knee strain.
Torso twists or core warm up
How to Do it: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms outstretched. Twist your torso to the right, then to the left, in a controlled motion.
Repeat: For 30 seconds.
Why Choose Desert Valley Chiropractic for Pickleball Injury Care?
At Desert Valley Chiropractic our Phoenix Top Doctors, we combine our expertise in gentle chiropractic care with the latest in technology, including Shockwave Therapy. Our personalized approach helps you stay active, recover faster, and play your best game — without pain holding you back.
If you’re an avid pickleball player or just getting started, don’t let injuries keep you off the court. Contact us today at (602) 439-1515 or visit our website at desertvalleychiropractic.com to schedule your appointment and keep your game strong.
Golf is an activity enjoyed by millions and in recent years the popularity has skyrocketed. Regardless of your level of play, anyone can enjoy a day outside on the course, plus it comes with many health benefits. It might be surprising for some, but if you walk or use a push cart you can burn anywhere from 1400 to 2000 calories over 18 holes. That’s a lot!
According to Dr. Tom LaFountain, Director of Chiropractic Services for the PGA Tour, most golfer will experience pain. Statistics show that 80 percent of injuries suffered through golfing are back related. This is most likely due to the repetitive nature of golf. When a golfer swings repetitively, they are making themselves more likely to experience muscle strains.
More than a Monkey on Your Back:
While golf is considered a low impact sport, to swing a golf club can be quite violent. Every golf swing puts a significant amount of compression load on the spine. Studies have found that each swing can place up to eight times a person’s body weight on the spine. Imagine if you are 180 pounds, that can be upwards of 1400 pounds of compression on the spine.
Over time this can compromise the spine, leading to misalignments of the vertebrae, joint dysfunction and pain.
Chiropractic Care and Golf:
Chiropractic care promotes optimum function of the whole body including the spine. We established a golf swing can be violent, and it absolutely requires coordination between several body parts. Chiropractic care can help with that. It is an effective way to improve the function and mobility of the body by reducing the misalignments of the joints most compromised by repetitive motion.
However, it is not always about treating the injury after it happens. Many people who participate in sport, not just golfers, enter the game already compromised. They’re suffering from joint dysfunction or misalignment. Playing any sport with a poor spine can lead to poor posture and poor joint mechanics which lead to injury. Perhaps you have been playing Look Out Mountain golf club in Phoenix Arizona, and felt your back seize up after a routine swing. Chiropractors can adjust the spine to reduce misalignments and improve joint mechanics of the spine in order to prevent injury. Regular chiropractic care is the best way to assure that you can not only prevent injury but also spend less time away from the course.
Why Tiger Woods Uses Chiropractic Care:
Tiger Woods is an incredible athlete and arguably the greatest golfer of all time. He worked tirelessly from a very young age to be the best and chiropractic care has helped him do that. He has said “I’ve been going to a chiropractor for as long as I can remember, it is as important as the practice of my swing.” He is not alone, Woods and many other professional golfers rely on regular Chiropractic care. It helps them to maximize mobility and prevent injury.
We may not be on the same level as a professional golfer such as Tiger Woods, but all golfers want to play without the worry of injury or pain. Consider visiting a Chiropractor near you to discuss how treatment can help you stay healthy and enjoy a day on the course.
