

Salt Lake City | Chiropractor
Overuse & Repetitive Movement Injuries
Active Release Techniques

Trigger Point
Dry Needling

Focused & Radial Shockwave

Class IV Laser
(High-Intensity)

Our Office:
633 E 3300 S Ste B, SLC UT
Located Inside Ute CrossFit

VAST Chiropractic, Inc.
Our Salt Lake City office specializes in soft tissue treatment of overuse and repetitive movement injuries, faulty biomechanics and cumulative trauma utilizing Active Release Techniques, dry needling, Class IV laser, shockwave therapy and chiropractic manipulation.
VAST Chiropractic, Inc. strives to achieve optimal, long lasting results as quickly as possible in order to decrease patient discomfort and improve musculoskeletal performance. More often than not, patients that suffer from cumulative trauma injuries from overuse and repetitive movements will experience a significant improvement in both their pain and range of motion within their first few visits. Thus, individuals who have not shown improvement within three treatments will typically be referred to another provider for further evaluation and/or additional imaging.

Nate Bernatz, DC
Active Release Techniques
Level 1 Spine
Level 1 Lower Extremity​
Level 1 Upper Extremity
Level 2 Spine
Level 2 Upper Extremity
Long Nerve Entrapments
Complex Protocols
Ironman Provider
Biomechanics
Masters
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Dry Needling
Level 1
Level 2 (Advanced)
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Life Happens...
No Charge For Same-Day Cancellations
Affordable Treatment Options
Flat Rate: Fixed Out-of-Pocket Cost - No Hidden Charges

Shockwave therapy and high intensity laser treatments are now included in soft tissue treatments, but these modalities will require longer appointments when in combination with other modalities, such as: Active Release Techniques and dry needling.
When scheduling a follow-up appointment, we recommend allowing for 15 minutes per treatment area and an additional 15 minutes per treatment area when including shockwave and/or laser treatments.
Our office does not bill insurance directly; however, we're happy to provide an itemized receipt upon request that patients can submit to their insurance for possible reimbursement.
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Same day payment in full qualifies for fixed-cost pricing.
Break The Cycle...
Overuse and Repetitive Movement Injury
How tissue becomes injured
Most soft tissue injuries don't come from a single dramatic event. While an acute injury — a fall, a sudden wrong step — can absolutely start the process, far more often it's repetitive movement or constant pressure that does the damage: the same motion repeated thousands of times, or sustained tension held in one area day after day. Over time, this creates friction, pressure, and tension in the tissue that it wasn't designed to absorb indefinitely. The tissue responds by becoming weak and tight, which paradoxically makes it more vulnerable to the very friction and tension that caused the problem in the first place — the starting point for a cycle that, left alone, tends to feed itself.

What happens at a cellular level
Under normal conditions, injured tissue moves through a coordinated healing sequence. Blood vessels seal the area, immune cells clear out damaged tissue, new collagen fibers are laid down to rebuild the structure, and over time that new tissue is reorganized and strengthened along the lines of normal movement and stress. It's a sequence, not a switch — each stage blends into the next, and given the right conditions, the tissue comes out the other side functional again.
The problem is that this sequence depends on the body actually being able to complete it. Continued overuse, unmanaged tension, or ongoing mechanical stress can interrupt the process partway through — often right around the stage where the body is supposed to transition from clearing out damage to rebuilding. When that transition doesn't happen cleanly, the tissue is left with a mix of poor circulation, lingering low-grade inflammation, and collagen that's disorganized rather than properly aligned.
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Why tissue injury becomes chronic
This is where chronic tendinopathy comes from. Rather than a more severe version of a normal injury, it's really a different pattern altogether — one where the tissue gets caught in an incomplete healing loop instead of moving through it. The area develops adhesions and fibrosis: bands of restrictive scar tissue that further limit movement and blood flow, which in turn perpetuates the friction and tension that started the cycle in the first place. The tissue often thickens, but it doesn't get stronger — it becomes structurally disorganized and mechanically weaker than healthy tissue, even though it may look and feel "built up."
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This is also why chronic injuries are frequently more stubborn than people expect. Rest alone often isn't enough, because rest removes the ongoing irritation but doesn't necessarily restart a stalled healing process. Tissue that's been stuck in this pattern for months usually needs something that specifically re-engages the repair process — which is the role treatments like Active Release Technique, dry needling, shockwave therapy, and laser therapy each play in different ways, breaking up restrictive tissue, calming inflammation, and helping the body pick back up a healing sequence it wasn't able to complete on its own.
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By Appointment Only
Schedule Appointments Online
VAST Chiropractic, Inc.
633 E 3300 S Suite B
Salt Lake City, UT 84106
801.566.5864
vastchiropractic@gmail.com