Patient-Focused Chiropractic Care for Sports Injuries
The most common sports injuries affect the limbs, particularly joints like the knees, shoulders, and ankles.
The body needs rest to repair muscles and joints. Without rest, tendons can become inflamed from overuse, also called tendinitis. Tendinitis is most commonly seen in the tendons of the shoulder, elbows and wrists.
Stress fractures are the result of training too vigorously too quickly. The body puts stress on bones instead of muscles, causing the bones to break. Shin splints are a type of stress fracture that occur as tiny fractures on the shinbones, typically appearing in runners who train too frequently.
While most sports injuries affect the extremities, around 20 percent of sports injuries affect the lower back and neck. Contact sports like football or rugby increase the chances of neck injury, while sports requiring repetitive motion like golfing or weightlifting can cause lower back injury.
Different types of injuries require different treatments, and many sports injuries can reoccur. Your doctor of chiropractic can help you create a treatment plan to provide guidance on when you should return to physical activity, the type of physical activity that is safe while healing, and how often to exercise until you are healed.
Preventing Sports Injuries
While it can be difficult to avoid injuries caused by a slip or trip, there are a few ways athletes can prepare for and defend against injury.
Proper conditioning is key. Neglecting to stretch or gently warm up muscles before vigorous physical activity leaves the muscles more vulnerable to strain or tears. It also is important to cool down after exercise to avoid building muscle tension.
In addition to warming up and cooling down, athletes should be aware of proper technique and posture. Exercise that requires throwing, running, or other repetitive movements can quickly damage muscles and joints if conducted improperly. Learning the correct way to align muscles and joints during repetitive motions like this can help prevent sports injuries.
Hydration is a fundamental part of avoiding injury. Dehydration prevents the body from having enough fluid to sweat. Since sweating is our body’s natural cooling mechanism, dehydration can cause heat stroke or other heat-related injury.
At Plato Chiropractic Health Clinics, our experienced chiropractors work with athletes of all ages and can provide information on proper posture and technique, stretching, warm-up and cool-down exercises to help you prevent sports injuries.
Chiropractic Care For Athletes
The doctors at Plato Chiropractic Health Clinics can advise athletes on nutrition, hydration, and avoiding muscle strain. They also can provide information about how to recognize the difference between muscle pain and injury, and the warning signs of an impending injury. In case you are injured, your doctor of chiropractic may recommend joint manipulation, depending on the type and severity of the injury.
Chiropractic treatment can also have a positive effect on athletic performance. A study published in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine found that chiropractic treatment increased hip extension and running velocity among young male runners.
At Plato Chiropractic Health Clinics, we are committed to serving athletes of all ages with reliable and safe solutions to improve health and wellness on and off the field, as well as help prevent and treat sports injuries.
If chiropractic is not the best solution for your sports injuries, our doctors will work with you to find the care you need.