Sports Performance Doctors Maryland
At Shakthi Health and Wellness Center we help athletes train and achieve their performance goals.
Achieve Your Goals
Working closely with athletes from all age groups, sports, and levels, we combine objective testing and holistic medicine to optimize fitness, endurance, and performance goals for the individual.
Our Medical team and experienced trainers use objective data from a series of tests to help develop an integrative plan to help increase performance. Our medical team conducts testing that provides data as a baseline for evaluations.
The medical data is shared with you and our sports training team to develop a plan that will increase athletic performance in a healthy, stable way that is measurable.
Our integrative approach allows us to help you improve and reach your ultimate goals as an athlete.
Our practice believes enhancing your vitality is possible through holistic lifestyle changes. Integrative medicine focuses on the relationship between your mind, body, and soul. We are mindful of this significant union when supporting your path to whole body wellness.
Our healing-oriented therapies combine complementary and conventional medicine to promote whole body health and wellness.
What does Shakthi Mean?
Shakthi (Shuk-thee) means Strength, Empowerment, and Agent of Change.
Frequently Asked Questions
We value the importance of the relationship between the doctor and the patient. That is why Dr. Jyothi Rao has taken the time to answer some of the most commonly asked questions at Shakthi Health & Wellness. View our FAQ page here.
Why Do You Need a Sports Performance Doctor?
Our team at Shakthi Health and Wellness understands that when you're out on the field or the court you want to be the best you can be. It is not something that is disputed by anyone that to have an edge on your opponents you need optimal health and that means finding ways to improve your speed, strength, and endurance.
Many factors go into optimizing those areas of your athletic capabilities period from nutrition to flexibility to stamina it can be quite challenging to address all the issues. But with an integrative outlook, our doctors want to work with you to create a treatment plan that helps elevate your sports performance to new levels.
What Can You Get from Integrative Medicine?
Doesn't training do all of that? A good training routine can help you improve your strength, endurance, and flexibility but with a more integrative technique, you can get a whole-body experience that not only addresses your physical aspects but the mental aspects that go along with improving your sports performance.
Looking at everything from your neuromusculoskeletal physical health to a comprehensive look at your history can help our doctors assess your range of motion, strength, and endurance. That coupled with a bio-mechanical analysis will allow us to create individualized programs that are attuned to your body and needs.
Addressing everything from the physical to the mind will help you become a more focused athlete. After all, sports are not just physical activity, it has a lot to do with your mental and emotional health as well. Optimizing your performance means looking at all of those together and crafting a program that addresses each one individually.
Tests we use for Evaluation
VO2 Max
This test uses oxygen exchange ratios to determine a person's level of fitness. The results can be used to tailor exercise programs and monitor the effects of training.
AT Test (Anaerobic Threshold)
This test measures the level of exercise beyond which lactic acid can accumulate in the muscles and is valuable in developing a nutrition plan that looks at fats and carbohydrate ratios to improve fitness training and raise the anaerobic threshold. It helps the athlete work smarter, not harder.
Heart Rate Variability
This test is used to evaluate stress levels by looking at the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is composed of the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest and digest) systems. Acute or chronic stress can skew the balance of these systems. This test is beneficial to athletes and is used to develop strategies to gain control over the triggers affecting the autonomic nervous system.
Digital Pulse Analysis
This is a non-invasive test that looks at the elasticity of the arteries in the heart and is part of a cardiovascular assessment.
Body Impedance Analysis
This test uses non-invasive methods to look at body fat, body composition, intracellular and extracellular water content, membrane health, and metabolic rate. It is used as a benchmark to monitor nutrition and overall health.
Additional Tests and Treatments
At Shakthi Health & Wellness Center, our comprehensive services and therapies are delivered by experienced physicians and highly trained staff. We specialize in treating illness, neck and back pain, and other chronic pain conditions in need of healing. We can adapt our services to the individualized need of the athlete.
In addition to sports performance testing, we offer other tests and treatments geared towards helping detect nutritional deficiencies, and hormone and neurotransmitter imbalances.
We Offer:
State of-the-Art Reaction Performance Lab
Along with thorough testing and evaluation, we offer training using technology to help athletes reach their goals.
Nexrsys:
Nexersys delivers an ideal workout by combining video training rounds. Workout data is tracked and saved to your profile so that you can track and start progressing from the beginner level to intermediate and advanced workout rounds.
Power Plate:
Power Plate is focused on helping athletes bring optimal physical performance, health and wellness into harmony. This next revolutionary training technique delivers harmonic vibration to the body, stimulating a natural reflex. It is high-efficiency training that effectively burns fat, enhances muscle tone, improves balance, and increases strength.
About Us
We believe in practicing medicine that focuses on whole body health. As integrative medicine doctors we focus our on root cause of your condition with comprehensive treatments that actually heal the body rather than just masking the symptoms of your illness.
Helpful Resources
Digital Guide
A comprehensive guide to our services, providers, and locations.
Contact us
Additional Tests and Treatments
Patient Testimonials
Patient Testimonials
I started by seeing Dr. Sudhir Rao for my Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) Syndrome. I had an accident in July 2010 that caused nerve damage in my ankle. After treatments and surgery, it spread up the entire left side of my body. The only way to describe how you feel is by saying you’re a human pinball machine ? you just never know where the pain is going to be that minute. I had asked about acupuncture because someone had told me that it worked for them. I was at the point of trying anything to lessen the pain because it was getting worse every day.
- Susan Doyle
I am actually a relatively healthy 50-year-old woman. I try to eat well and exercise, but I (like many) felt the creep of age in the form a subtle pounds and decreasing energy. Dr. Rao helped point me in the direction of the correct detox program for me (Core Restore!) as well as the supplements I needed to boost my metabolism and increase my energy! I still need to eat what works for me and avoid the things that don't, and I still have to exercise every day, but my clothes fit better and I have more energy!!
- Shakthi Patients
I came to see Dr. Rao with symptoms of chronic fatigue, abdominal pains, depression, and weight gain. I had seen a couple other doctors and they had found that I had very high inflammation levels and over 15 food allergies/sensitivities. They wanted me to just take prescription drugs, but I wanted more than a quick fix. I wanted my health and my life back! When I scheduled the appointment, I was surprised how by helpful Kelly was on the phone. I didn’t know the details of my insurance coverage and Kelly offered to call my insurance for me. I’ve never had anyone at a doctor’s office do that before.
- Anna Smoot
After visiting the Shakthi website and reading other patient testimonials, I was curious about the wide variety of treatments that were available. I have a very slow metabolism, was fatigued, had insomnia, back pain, and just didn’t feel as well as I wanted to in general. I had more allergic reactions and respiratory issues in the preceding months before coming to see Dr. Jyothi Rao. I had completed three courses of prednisone while under the treatment of my traditional doctor and was fed up with that cycle and was looking for another path.
- Debbie Helman
I was given the gift of Dr. Rao's primary care for Christmas in 2016. I didn?t take advantage of it until March of 2017. My mindset at the time was negative. I had heard about changing eating habits and I felt that I liked the foods I was eating and I was nearly 70, so why change now? After meeting with Dr. Rao and hearing her suggestions, I said I would take it one small step at a time and see what happens.
- Linda J.
I was in the worst shape of my life with depression and anxiety. I had given up. Shakthi provided me with a manageable plan that included supplements, diet, and an exercise program that has transformed my body and given me a new outlook on life. Perhaps the most surprising outcome was learning how to be healthy and have a good relationship with my body. I am now more productive, energetic, and focused. The fog that had been clouding my thoughts has lifted.
- Shakthi Patient
What To Expect
Sports Performance Specialists
Meet Our Doctors
Our team is composed of skilled medical professionals who are highly knowledgeable sports training and performance.
Our Direct Primary Care model provides patients with in depth consults with each appointment without the restrictions of time limits and jumping through insurance hoops. Our sports performance specialists in Maryland, Dr. Jyothi Rao and Dr. Sudhir Rao are board certified with over 40 years of healthcare experience.
Jyothi Rao
MD, ABAAHP, FAARFM
Dr. Jyothi Rao is the founder of Shakthi Health and Wellness Center. She has over 20 years of experience with integrative, holistic, alternative, and complementary approaches to medicine. Dr. Rao believes knowledge is empowerment and focusses her practice on whole body wellness, and disease prevention
Sudhir Rao
MD, ABAAHP
Dr. Sudhir Rao is a board certified doctor over 20 years of experience with traditional medicine and alternative medicines for chronic pain. he developed a strong interest in Functional and Integrative Medicine to treat chronic illness after a personal experience with limitations in traditional medicine.