What does a sports chiropractor do?

A sports chiropractor restores movement to restricted joints and treats the soft tissue around them. In practice that means a specific adjustment, Active Release Technique or Graston work through the muscle and fascia, and taping or shockwave where the tissue needs support between visits.

How much is the first appointment?

The New Chiropractic Patient Exam at the Woodbridge clinic is $160 for 60 minutes with any of the three chiropractors. Follow-up appointment lengths and fees are set out on our chiropractor cost page, and Essential Health direct bills most major Ontario extended health insurers.

How many visits will I need?

The number is set at your examination and revised at each reassessment. Your chiropractor retests range of motion and pain response, then changes the plan according to how the tissue is responding to treatment.

Should I see the chiropractor or the physiotherapist?

Start with chiropractic when a joint feels restricted, range is limited, and the tissue around it keeps tightening. Start with physiotherapy when you need graded strength work, post-surgical rehabilitation or return-to-sport clearance. Either practitioner at the Vaughan clinic will redirect you at intake.

Can I train on the same day as an adjustment?

That depends on what was treated, and your chiropractor tells you before you leave. Loading guidance closes every visit: what to train, what to reduce, and for how long. It comes from that day's examination, so it changes as you progress.

What does shockwave therapy feel like?

The handpiece delivers focused acoustic pulses into the tendon, felt as rapid tapping pressure at the treated point. Intensity is set during the session and adjusted as you report what you feel. It suits chronic tendon pain that manual therapy alone has left unchanged.

Is chiropractic care appropriate for teenage athletes?

Your chiropractor screens age, build, bone health and injury history at the examination, then selects technique from what that screening shows. Lower-force options include the Thompson Drop Table and instrument adjusting. Dr. Becky Lancione is certified by the Academy Council of Chiropractic Pediatrics.

Is sports massage useful alongside chiropractic?

Often. Sports massage reduces muscle guarding, improves circulation to healing tissue, and decreases adhesion formation, and our RMTs match technique to the phase of healing. Many athletes at the Vaughan clinic book massage between chiropractic visits.

Sports Chiropractic

Training loads the same joints thousands of times, and when one segment loses its share of movement the tissue around it absorbs the extra work. Sports chiropractic restores motion at that joint and treats the muscle and fascia holding it. It is one branch of the chiropractic care offered at the Woodbridge clinic.

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What Brings You In

Concerns Sports Chiropractic Treats

Recurring tightness and restricted range

A hamstring, hip or shoulder tightens again within days of being stretched, and the range available last season has stayed out of reach.

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A specific adjustment restores movement at the segment. Active Release Technique then takes the shortened tissue through its range under direct tension so the layers can glide again.

Causes+

A restricted joint changes how the surrounding muscles fire. Those muscles hold tension around the segment that has lost motion, and the tension returns while the restriction remains.

Movement at the restricted segment

An adjustment applies a measured force to one joint that has lost motion. Range is retested at follow-up visits, so the change is measured.

Tissue that releases its guard

Active Release Technique, Graston and NIMMO work on the muscle and fascia that shortened around the restriction. Sustained pressure and loaded movement are thought to help break down adhesion between tissue layers, allowing the tissue to lengthen.

Support while you keep training

Kinesiology tape is applied under tension across the treated area, which alters the sensory input from that tissue and how the joint loads during training. Taping works alongside the treatment it follows.

A plan revised as you respond

The number of visits is set at the examination and revised at each reassessment. Your chiropractor retests range and pain response, then changes the plan according to how the tissue is responding.

Sports Chiropractic Process

What happens at a sports chiropractic appointment?

Every step is shaped by your training load, your symptom pattern and what the examination finds.

Step 01 · Training history and injury timeline

Training history and injury timeline

Your chiropractor takes a full history before any hands-on work: when the pain started, which movement provokes it, what a training week actually looks like, and what you have already tried.

Details+

• Sport, weekly volume and any recent change in load are recorded.
• Pain onset, pattern and aggravating movements are mapped.
• Previous injuries to the same region are reviewed.

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Honest Scope

When should you see a physician first?

Suspected fracture or complete rupture

A bone loaded in a fall or collision, a joint that will not bear weight, or a complete ligament rupture needs imaging and a physician's opinion before manual treatment. Your chiropractor screens for these presentations at the exam and refers you on.

Red flags and head impact

Loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness through the saddle area, weakness that is getting worse, and back pain with fever belong with a physician or an emergency department. A head impact followed by confusion, vision change or a worsening headache is a possible concussion and is assessed medically first.

Rehabilitation and return to sport

Graded strength work, post-surgical rehabilitation and clearance to play start with sports injury physiotherapy. Choose that page when the question is programming and return-to-play; read the sports injuries page when you want to see how four disciplines divide a single case.

Your Treatment Practitioners

Who performs sports chiropractic at the clinic?

All three chiropractors at Essential Health are registered with the College of Chiropractors of Ontario. Each one examines independently, and care is coordinated when a case calls for more than one discipline. Full profiles sit on our chiropractors page.

Chiropractor, Co-Founder

Dr. Becky Lancione, DC, CACCP

Co-founded the clinic in 2016. She is a Rock Tape Doctor and Movement Specialist, which is the taping credential behind the kinesiology work described above, and she is trained in PIPS Technique.

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Chiropractor

Dr. Elyse Black, DC

Trained in Functional Integrated Acupuncture, with candidacies in Functional Medicine and Applied Kinesiology. She offers a 30-minute Neuromuscular Performance Session at the Woodbridge clinic for athletes working on movement quality.

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Chiropractor

Dr. Krystle Kreway, DC

Works the soft-tissue side of a joint restriction, using Graston instrument-assisted technique, Active Release Technique and cupping. Her attention falls on recovery from recent injury and on restriction built up across a season.

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Get To Know

Steps to your first consultation.

Your first visit

The first visit is the New Chiropractic Patient Exam, 60 minutes at $160, available with all three chiropractors. Assessment leads, and you leave knowing which structure is involved and what the plan is.

Booking

Book online at essentialchirormt.janeapp.com or call 905-856-2299. Same-day chiropractic appointments are available, and a referral is not required.

Follow-up and billing

Follow-up appointment lengths and fees are listed on our chiropractor cost page. Direct billing is available for most major Ontario extended health insurers.

Essential Health practitioner reviewing spine anatomy

No referral needed

Same-week appointments are typically available.

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Often Booked Together

Treatments our practitioners commonly pair with Sports Chiropractic, and the concerns they are chosen for.

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Pain & Injury

Headaches & Migraines

Pressure behind your eyes every afternoon. The Advil takes the edge off. Recurring headaches are not something to manage with painkillers indefinitely.

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What Patients Tell Us

What patients say about Sports Chiropractic

4.9 stars across 407 Google reviews. The feedback is consistent: thorough assessments, clear communication, and care that addresses the real concern.

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“This was my first time at a chiropractor and Dr. Black was great! I had pain in between my shoulder blades for a few months. Dr. Black diagnosed my issue immediately and explained everything clearly. She came up with a treatment plan and things to work on at the gym. After my first treatment I felt relief from the pain! Looking forward to the rest of my treatments!”
Pino A.
Google review · 5 stars

Ready to book with a sports chiropractor?

The clinic is at 8099 Weston Road, Unit 28 in Woodbridge, inside the City of Vaughan, with evening appointments to 8:30 Monday through Thursday and Saturday hours from 8:00. Bring your training schedule to the first visit.

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Sports Chiropractic