Your next round. Your next workout. Your next reason to move.
You do not have to compete professionally for movement to matter. Whether you enjoy golf, running, strength training, pickleball or recreational sports, discomfort can change how you participate in the activities you love.
At Last Chiropractic provides individualized chiropractic evaluations for athletes and active patients in Lithia, near FishHawk. We consider your activity, symptoms, training demands and examination findings before recommending care.
Tell us what you want to get back to—and what currently gets in the way.
When Your Usual Movement Feels Different
Perhaps turning through your golf swing feels restricted. Your neck becomes uncomfortable during cycling. Or back stiffness keeps returning after workouts. An evaluation can help clarify the concern and identify an appropriate next step.
We assess relevant muscle, joint and spinal findings, including movement-related neck or back discomfort, stiffness and symptoms that interfere with activity. Tell us about recent injuries, changes in training, previous treatment and any movements you have started avoiding.
An Examination Built Around Your Activity
Your first visit includes a health history, consultation, postural and biomechanical assessment, and relevant orthopedic and neurologic testing. We consider how your symptoms relate to movement and the demands of your sport. Imaging is recommended when clinically necessary.
At a separate Report of Findings visit, we explain the results, discuss recommendations and answer your questions. If chiropractic care is appropriate and you agree to proceed, treatment can begin at that visit.
Gentle Techniques. Individual Recommendations.
Our office offers instrument-assisted Torque Release Technique and upper cervical approaches. Technique selection follows your examination, health history, comfort and goals.
Recommendations may include chiropractic care for relevant musculoskeletal findings, discussion of activity modifications, or coordination with a physical therapist, sports-medicine clinician or another healthcare professional. We reassess progress using your symptoms, examination findings and ability to participate in meaningful activities.
What Does the Research Tell Us?
Researchers have investigated neck rehabilitation, chiropractic care, reaction time and visual recovery after concussion. The most useful question is what each study actually measured—and how closely that matches the person seeking care.
Neck and Balance Rehabilitation After Concussion
A randomized trial published in 2014 found that a combined cervical and vestibular rehabilitation program shortened the time to medical clearance in young people with persistent dizziness, neck pain or headaches after a sport-related concussion. This was a combined physiotherapy program, rather than a study of chiropractic adjustments or NeckCare alone.
International concussion guidance also recommends cervicovestibular rehabilitation when dizziness, neck pain or headaches persist beyond 10 days. This supports assessing specific contributors to ongoing symptoms and selecting rehabilitation accordingly.
Read the rehabilitation trial. Read the international concussion consensus statement.
Upper-Cervical Chiropractic and Reaction Time
A 2000 pilot study involving 36 chiropractic students with upper-cervical joint dysfunction examined performance on a computerized mental-rotation task. Reaction time improved by an average of 14.9% after an upper-cervical adjustment, compared with 8.0% in the no-treatment group.
This small study suggests a possible short-term effect on a specific task. It did not study concussion patients, demonstrate better sports performance or test the instrument-assisted techniques used at our office.
A larger 2019 randomized trial involving 120 male special-operations personnel found an immediate improvement in a whole-body response task after chiropractic adjustment. However, it did not find sustained between-group improvements across the reaction and response-time tests over the study period.
Together, these findings justify further research. They do not establish that chiropractic adjustments reliably improve reaction time or accelerate concussion recovery.
Read the upper-cervical pilot study. Read the military randomized trial.
Chiropractic Management of Postconcussion Symptoms
A 2016 case report described a 14-year-old hockey player with persistent symptoms who received chiropractic adjustment, soft-tissue treatment and therapeutic exercises while also receiving medical monitoring. Symptoms and computerized neurocognitive scores improved during five visits over 20 days.
The report illustrates how musculoskeletal care may fit within a broader recovery plan. Because it involved one patient and several treatments without a comparison group, it cannot determine how much improvement came from treatment, natural recovery or other care.
Read the chiropractic concussion case report.
Targeted Therapy for Concussion-Related Vision Problems
The CONCUSS randomized trial studied office-based vergence and accommodative therapy with movement for patients with diagnosed concussion-related convergence insufficiency—a problem coordinating the eyes for near work.
At the first outcome assessment, 88% of the immediate-treatment group were classified as successful or improved on the study’s combined convergence measures, compared with 8% of the delayed-treatment group. These percentages describe specific eye-coordination outcomes, not complete recovery from concussion.
This supports targeted treatment for a diagnosed visual problem. It was not a trial of chiropractic adjustments, NeckCare or generic visual exercises, and it helps explain why some patients benefit from a dedicated vision referral.
Read the CONCUSS randomized trial.
Clinically reviewed by Anthony Taylor, DC. Updated September 2026
Concussion Care: Looking Beyond the Initial Impact
A hit during a game. A fall from a bike. A collision that leaves you feeling unlike yourself. After a concussion, getting back to school, work or exercise can involve more than waiting for a headache to settle.
A concussion is a brain injury, but the same incident can also affect the neck. Headaches, neck discomfort, dizziness and difficulty tolerating movement may have overlapping contributors. Understanding which findings are present helps guide a more individualized recovery plan.
Why Examine the Neck After a Concussion?
Muscles and joints in the neck provide information about where your head is positioned and how it is moving. Your nervous system combines that information with signals from your eyes and inner ears to help coordinate movement and balance.
Following an injury, neck pain, restricted movement or altered position sense may contribute to symptoms alongside the concussion itself. A cervical examination helps identify these findings rather than assuming every lingering symptom has the same cause.
At Last Chiropractic evaluates relevant neck movement, musculoskeletal and neurologic findings, and how symptoms affect your daily activities. When appropriate, assessment may also include balance, reaction-time and coordination measures. These findings help us plan care, monitor change and determine when another specialist should be involved.
Chiropractic care may form part of a coordinated plan addressing associated neck and musculoskeletal problems. Rehabilitation recommendations follow the examination and may involve active exercises, appropriate manual care or collaboration with a concussion clinician, physical therapist or vision professional.
After a suspected concussion: Stop sports participation and obtain prompt medical assessment; do not return to play the same day. A worsening headache, repeated vomiting, seizure, increasing confusion, weakness, slurred speech or difficulty waking requires emergency care. Return to contact sport requires a graduated progression and appropriate medical clearance. Read the CDC’s concussion guidance.
Active Rehabilitation With NeckCare
Care can involve practicing movement as well as receiving treatment. At Last Chiropractic uses NeckCare to assess aspects of neck function and help guide individualized active rehabilitation when appropriate.
The system uses movement measurement and visual feedback to make selected aspects of neck performance easier to understand. Instead of relying only on how movement feels, we can also examine how far, how accurately and how consistently you move.
What Can We Assess and Practice?
Comfortable neck movement: Range-of-motion measurements help document turning, bending and other neck movements. Guided exercises can target appropriate mobility and control.
Head-position awareness: Position-sense testing examines how accurately you return your head to a starting position. Exercises can address this aspect of proprioception—your awareness of body position.
Eye–head–neck coordination: On-screen targets provide feedback while you practice controlled head movements. Selected tasks challenge movement accuracy, coordination and the ability to follow a target.
Progress over time: Repeat measurements help us compare performance alongside symptoms and everyday function. A better test score is useful information, but it is not a stand-alone diagnosis or clearance to return to sport.
Explore the NeckCare Rehabilitation Suite.
When Reading, Screens or Busy Environments Feel Difficult
After a concussion, some people notice eye strain, difficulty shifting focus, dizziness with head movement or discomfort in visually busy places. These concerns deserve an assessment that considers vision, balance and neck function.
Depending on the findings, a rehabilitation plan may include eye–head coordination, gaze-stability or balance exercises delivered by an appropriately trained clinician. Difficulty coordinating the eyes for close work may warrant a dedicated vision examination and targeted treatment.
NeckCare’s visual-feedback exercises focus on neck movement and coordination. Specialized vision therapy addresses different findings and may require referral. We help patients understand which type of evaluation best matches their symptoms.
Exercise selection, duration and difficulty are adjusted to your examination and response. The goal is meaningful progress toward daily activities—not simply completing harder exercises.
Thoughtful Evaluations for Young Athletes
For children and teenagers, we consider age, growth, training demands and the history of the concern. Parents can share what they have noticed, while young athletes describe how symptoms affect practice, school and everyday movement.
We explain the findings and coordinate further evaluation when needed. Decisions about returning to sport after an injury depend on the injury and appropriate clinical clearance.
Learn about our pediatric and family evaluations.
Make Your Next Move an Informed One
You have goals beyond getting through the day. Bring us your questions about discomfort, stiffness or movement, and we will help you understand your options.
Visit At Last Chiropractic at 5611 Skytop Drive in Lithia, near FishHawk West. We welcome athletes and active patients from Lithia, FishHawk, Riverview, Brandon and Valrico.
Explore your new-patient evaluation or call 813-461-6500 to discuss scheduling.