You already know something is wrong. You are just hoping it is not as bad as you think it is.
One season of pushing through the wrong injury can follow an athlete for a decade
The scholarship is within reach. The season is already in progress. The showcase is next month. And the body that everything is riding on is telling you it needs something nobody has figured out yet.
We have been working with athletes at every level since 2008. Youth and travel ball. College athletes. CrossFitters, runners, and weekend warriors who are not ready to stop doing what they love.
If something is getting in the way of what you're working toward, that is the conversation we want to have.
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The Georgia Tech Story
A Georgia Tech pitcher came in before his season started with a dead arm.
Velocity was down. Movement on his pitches was off. Everything he had built toward was sitting right in front of him and the thing that made him dangerous on the mound was not where it needed to be.
When we evaluated him, the arm was only part of the story.
His movement patterns were significantly asymmetrical. One side of his body was compensating for what the other side was not doing properly. Every single pitch was transferring load to his throwing arm in ways it was never designed to absorb. Over hundreds of pitches across a long training cycle that adds up fast.
We addressed the whole pattern. Not just the shoulder. The full kinetic chain from the ground up. Soft tissue work, spinal and extremity chiropractic, and movement correction to address the asymmetries driving the whole problem.
He responded well. Arm came back. Velocity returned. Movement cleaned up.
That season he was drafted in the eighth round of the MLB draft.
I am not going to tell you we made that happen. He was already talented. He already had years of work behind him. But he came in with a dead arm and left with his body working the way it needed to work at the moment it mattered most.
He had already done the hard work. We simply helped make sure his body was ready when opportunity arrived.
What Parents of Athletes Need to Understand
Most athletic injuries do not happen in one dramatic moment.
They build.
A movement pattern that is slightly off. A previous injury that healed well enough but was never fully addressed. A muscle group compensating for another one that stopped doing its job properly somewhere along the way. Training volume that increased faster than the body could adapt.
None of these things announce themselves. They accumulate quietly over hundreds of repetitions until the body finally says enough. And almost always that moment comes at the worst possible time. Midseason. Before a showcase. During the stretch of games that matter most.
By the time most athletes sit down across from us the problem has been building for longer than anyone realized. The injury that brought them in is rarely where the story started.
This is why we do not just treat where it hurts. We find where the breakdown actually started and address the full pattern. Because if we only address the loudest complaint and send the athlete back to the same movement patterns that caused it the same thing happens again. Usually faster the second time.
What Mark Kovacs Says
Mark Kovacs is the CEO of the Kovacs Institute and one of the most respected names in athlete development. He has sent athletes to our clinic and watched what happens firsthand.
He put it this way.
"He is a skilled chiropractor that understands sports and athletes. He utilizes a series of various techniques to help the athlete recover and keeps them functioning at a high level and has had very successful results with hundreds of athletes."
Keeps them functioning at a high level.
Not just gets them out of pain. Keeps them performing. That is a different standard. And it requires a different relationship with care than showing up only when something breaks.
He's not the only healthcare professional who sends people our way.
"I've been seeing Dr. Addison as needed for the last 4 years and he's always produced excellent results for the many issues I've sought care for. I work in an area with plenty of chiropractors, but I always make the drive to see him instead. As a physical therapist, I've referred many of my own patients to him, especially for sports-related injuries."
— Danielle Beatty, PT
The Athletes We See Most Often
Since 2008 we have worked with athletes at every level and across virtually every sport and injury presentation.
The East Cobb and Travel Baseball Player
Pitching arms, rotator cuff strains, shoulder instability, asymmetrical movement patterns, the dead arm that shows up during a long training cycle. We understand the specific demands of the overhead throwing athlete and what goes wrong when volume outpaces recovery.
The CrossFitter
Shoulder breakdowns from high volume overhead work, lower back strains from heavy lifting under fatigue, knee pain from repetitive squatting patterns, elbow issues from gymnastics movements. We understand the culture, we respect the commitment, and we find the actual driver of the problem instead of just telling athletes to rest.
The Runner
IT band syndrome, plantar fasciitis, knee pain, calf and Achilles issues, hip problems that trace back to an old ankle sprain nobody ever fully addressed. We do a full kinetic chain assessment because running injuries almost never start where they show up.
The Weekend Warrior
The ALTA tennis player, the recreational golfer, the adult who is not ready to stop doing what they love but whose body is giving them more feedback than it used to. We meet you where you are and build a plan around what you are actually trying to get back to.
The Post Surgical Athlete
FSM for faster cellular recovery, movement retraining to address the compensation patterns that developed during the injury and recovery period, a return to sport plan built around what your body can actually handle right now.
How We Actually Work with Athletes
The evaluation comes first. Always.
We watch how you move. How your hips load. Whether your shoulder blade is doing its job or your rotator cuff is doing it for the blade. Whether the lower back pain that brought you in is actually coming from your lower back or from a hip that stopped moving well and made everything above it compensate.
We do not go straight to the table. We look at the full kinetic chain because that is where the real story is.
From there we build an individualized plan. Not a standard protocol applied to everyone with your diagnosis. Something built around what is actually happening in your specific body right now.
FSM
For tissue level inflammation and nervous system irritation that standard care misses. Particularly powerful for injuries that are not healing on the expected timeline, for the nervous system component of performance decline, and for post-surgical recovery where early application dramatically accelerates the healing process.
Shockwave Therapy
For the chronic tissue problems that have stopped responding to other approaches. Tendinopathies, calcifications, the stubborn injuries that have been there long enough to stop responding to rest and standard treatment.
Cold Laser
For acute and chronic tissue inflammation. Layered in based on what the tissue actually needs.
Soft Tissue Work
To address the compensation patterns, scar tissue, and muscle dysfunction that build up around injury sites and change movement patterns over time.
Chiropractic Care
Applied to restore proper joint mobility through the spine and extremities. When joints are moving well and communicating properly the whole kinetic chain functions better.
Movement Retraining
Because getting a joint moving better means nothing if the pattern that broke it down is still intact.
And if the case requires something beyond what we offer we refer. We have strong relationships with orthopedists, imaging centers, and other specialists. Knowing when to refer is part of the job and we take that seriously.
The Proactive Athlete vs The Reactive Athlete
Here is something worth saying directly to the parents reading this page.
Most athletes come in reactive. Something is already wrong. The showcase is next month. The season is already in progress. Now we are working against the clock instead of ahead of it.
I understand why. Life is busy, schedules are packed, and when an athlete is healthy and performing well the last thing anyone wants to add is another appointment.
But think about what you are already investing. The private coaching. The travel ball fees. The showcases. The equipment. The years of early mornings and long weekends at fields across the region.
All of that investment is riding on a body that nobody is systematically monitoring for the problems that are quietly building.
The Georgia Tech pitcher came in before his season started. Not because he was in crisis. Because he knew something was not right and he addressed it before it became a crisis. That decision changed the trajectory of his season.
Watch for these warning signs in your athlete:
- Velocity or output that has dropped without an obvious explanation.
- Pain or discomfort that shows up during or after activity and is not resolving with rest.
- A movement pattern that looks different than it used to — something that just seems off.
- Fatigue or soreness that is disproportionate to the training load.
- A previous injury that healed well enough but never felt quite right again.
If any of these sound familiar, that is not something to wait on. The athletes who stay ahead of these patterns are the ones who rarely have the crisis moment in the first place.
What Our Athletes Say
"In 2022, I used Dr. Addison regularly during my training for the USA National Team Bobsled team. His integrative approach of chiropractic and soft tissue treatment greatly reduced my aches and pain and improved my ability to perform at a high level. I highly recommend Addison Chiropractic and Sports to any athlete at all playing levels."
— Macy Tarlton, USA National Team Bobsled
"My son had been dealing with a dead arm for weeks going into travel ball season. We had already seen two other providers and nobody could tell us why it kept coming back. Dr. Addison watched him move for about ten minutes and started explaining things nobody had ever mentioned to us. Turns out the arm was the last part of the problem, not the first. Three weeks later he was back on the mound throwing like himself again. I wish we had found this place two years ago."
— Parent of a 16-year-old travel ball pitcher, East Cobb
"I had been dealing with shoulder pain for almost a year. I had taken time off, done the PT, tried everything my gym recommended. It would get better for a little while and then come right back the second I started training hard again. A friend told me about Dr. Addison and honestly I was not expecting much at that point. He figured out in the first visit that my shoulder was not even the actual problem. Six weeks later I was back to full training, and the pain has not come back. I genuinely did not think that was possible anymore."
— James, CrossFit athlete, Marietta
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. We work with athletes from high school through adult recreational levels. Youth and travel ball athletes make up a significant portion of our sports practice.
Not necessarily. We work with athletes to modify training rather than stop completely whenever possible. The goal is to keep you in your sport while we address what is causing the problem.
It depends entirely on the injury, how long it has been present, and how the body responds. We give honest timelines based on what we actually find, not what you want to hear.
Yes. We are happy to communicate with your athlete's coaching staff about return to play timelines and activity modifications when that serves the athlete's recovery.
We refer promptly when the case requires it. We have strong relationships with orthopedic surgeons and imaging centers in the area and coordinate care rather than trying to manage everything in our office.
Yes. The demands of a pitcher are different from a runner which are different from a CrossFitter. We evaluate based on the specific demands of your sport and build care around what your body needs to do to perform in it.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no — it depends entirely on what is driving the problem. If the issue is movement pattern breakdown, tissue inflammation, and kinetic chain dysfunction, that is exactly what we address and we see strong results. If there is structural damage that requires surgical intervention we will tell you that directly and refer you to the right person. We do not string athletes along. If we cannot help you we will tell you and point you somewhere that can.
Because most providers treat where it hurts. We look for where the breakdown actually started. The shoulder that is failing a pitcher is almost never the origin of the problem. If your athlete has been treated for the symptom without anyone addressing the full kinetic chain and the patterns driving it, that is likely why nothing has held.
What Does Treatment Actually Cost?
We believe you deserve a straight answer on cost before you walk in the door.
Some of our services are covered by most major insurance plans. Chiropractic adjustments, electrical stimulation, and soft tissue work are typically billable to insurance. We will verify your benefits before your first visit, so you know exactly what to expect.
The following services are not covered by insurance but are often the most powerful tools we have for complex athletic injuries:
These services are HSA and FSA eligible. If cost is a concern, tell us. We would rather have that conversation upfront than have it be the reason you did not get the care you needed. We will build a plan around what your athlete actually needs and be straight with you about what it will cost.
Whether your athlete is already dealing with pain or you simply want to prevent the next injury, we've been helping athletes in this community stay healthy and perform at their best since 2008.
Every practice. Every lesson. Every tournament. Every early morning and late night.
Your athlete has invested too much to let an injury define the season.
Schedule an AppointmentOr call us directly: 678.809.5773
1275 Shiloh Road NW, Suite 2150, Kennesaw, GA 30144