Meet San Francisco’s ‘Rave Doctor’
Dr. Veronica Jow helping a patient get their groove back.
Dr. Jow is Fixing your rave-related injuries so you can get back on the dance floor!
While it might be difficult (but not impossible) to literally rave your face off, there are lots of other ways you can actually injure yourself dancing.
• You can get sprains or strains from a misstep or overextension caused by that move you did with that cute redhead on the dance floor.
• You can get plantar fasciitis in your feet from jumping up and down too hard when the DJ finally dropped the beat.
• You can get tendonitis in your elbow from repeatedly pumping your arm to the music all night long.
• You can get low back pain from partying till the sun comes up at that underground warehouse in Oakland.
Luckily, there’s a San Francisco doctor who loves to dance as much as you do and can help you heal from whatever mayhem you did to your body in the basement of Monarch.
Meet Veronica Jow, San Francisco’s rave doctor
Dr. Veronica Jow (in the cowboy hat) getting down on the dance floor
Music festivals and dancing have been an integral part of Dr. Jow’s life since high school. As she puts it:
“The collective energy of dancing with others gives me a sense of joy, release and connection. It’s the perfect counterbalance to the intensity of my job. You can find me dancing everywhere from Reparations at Oasis to Breakfast of Champions to Portola. It’s not just a hobby, it’s a lifestyle.”
In recent years though, she started to wake up to a body hang-over of back and knee pain after a night of dancing. She explains, “As a lifelong exercise enthusiast, I knew it wasn’t just being out of shape, but maybe years of high-impact dancing was starting to take its toll.”
So she did what any dancing doctor would do: she integrated healing dance related injuries and helping people prep their bodies before dancing into her sports medicine practice at Avid Sports MedicineAvid Sports Medicine.
Preventative Training for Dancers
Considering that she introduced dancing into her work during COVID, it all began as an online dance partnership with her dance teacher after COVID shut down the teacher’s studio. Avid provided online classes for everyone stuck at home, and the spirit of collective dancing was reborn in living rooms around the country. Dr. Jow expounds, “As our classes grew, we began incorporating warm ups and injury prevention techniques that usually aren’t found in dance classes. Eventually, we created a separate class that encompasses mobility, strength and balance for cross training.” I bet you’ve never thought about taking a class on how not to hurt yourself dancing, have you?
Interested in injury prevention? Avid Sports Medicine ClassesTake a Class or Avid Sports Medicine Performance ClubJoin the Avid Performance Club
A dance party at Avid Sports Medicine.
Since then Dr. Jow and her team have offered a number of group fitness classes that are ideal for dancer cross training like Circuit Burner, Pilates, and Yoga. They’ve also started hosting open house dance parties where folks can take a free sports medicine class, experience interactive demos on cutting-edge techniques and treatments, and get drop in massages. And the event is topped off with a dance party! At the April 17th event they had DJ Umami, the official DJ of the San Francisco Giants! Besides founding Avid, Dr. Jow is also one of the team doctors for the Giants.
Dr. Jow says that dancing without a balance of cross training is often at the basis of injury. So besides fitness classes, Avid also offers:
– Movement Analysis: Powered by Kinotek 3D software, their athletic trainers assess your movement patterns and uncover underlying weaknesses and imbalances that lead to injury
– Performance Training: With either 1:1 or group sessions, they create customized exercise programs encompassing strength, mobility and balance work.
Dr. Jow at Breakfast of Champions
Healing Injured Dancers
If you’re learning about the preventative stuff too late though, Dr. Jow still has your (soon to be pain free) back. She explains:
“Our sports medicine appointment pairs each patient with a team consisting of a sports medicine physician and athletic trainer. Together we provide diagnosis and treatment on the same day. We not only treat the injured area, but zoom out for a full body assessment to uncover underlying reasons that the injury occurred”
The treatments include:
• Physical Therapy: Therapeutic exercises designed to rehabilitate.
• Regenerative Medicine: Cutting-edge treatments that harness the body’s own healing mechanisms to promote recovery and long-term resolution like:
– Shockwave Therapy
– Platelet Rich Plasma
– Stem Cell Therapy
• Return to Dance: Your athletic trainer creates a customized “return to dance” program that helps you reduce recurrence of injury when you return to the dance floor.
You can Book a Free Consultation Call to Get Started
Dr. Jow administering some shockwave therapy to someone who shook what their mama gave them a little too hard.
So if you’re like me and just realizing you’ve been dancing the wrong way all these years, reach out to Dr. Jow and Avid Sports Medicine. They are your one-stop shop for dance enthusiasts/raver recovery. See you out on the dance floor!
For Injury Recovery: Book a Free Consultation Call to Get Started
For Injury Prevention:
• Avid Sports Medicine ClassesTake a Class for Injury Prevention
• Avid Sports Medicine Performance ClubJoin the Avid Performance Club
Rad upcoming events at Avid:
• Next Avid Open House– Pre-Party before DFT- Thursday June 5
• Wellness Rave– Thursday June 12
This article was sponsored by the fine folks at Avid Sports Medicine.
Howdy! My name is Katy Atchison and I'm an Associate Editor for Broke-Ass Stuart.
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