Research Shows Chiropractic Beneficial at Preventing Sports Injuries

We encounter a lot of sports injuries in our Texarkana, Atlanta office, and Dr. Swanson is usually able to assist these athletes. Stanford Childrens Hospital reports that over 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and younger are injured each year while playing sports. Add that to the nearly 2 million adults hurt annually while engaged in sports-related activities, according to statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can begin to see the importance of preventing these types of widespread injuries. One approach to potentially achieve that goal, as stated in a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to receive regular chiropractic treatments.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg injuries are commonplace, frequently sidelining the players and affecting their team's chance at securing a win. One specific study was administered using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see how well chiropractic treatment could cut down on these injuries and help keep them playing.

Research Proves Chiropractic Therapy Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study specifically, every one of the players received medical treatment. In addition, half of them also were given chiropractic sessions at the rate of one session per week for the first six weeks, biweekly treatments for the following three months, and one treatment per month for the final 3 months of the study. The other half had no chiropractic intervention at all and were used as the control group to determine the benefits of chiropractic care.

After twenty-four matches, researchers noted a reduced amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Additionally, that same group also missed fewer matches correlated to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to come to the conclusion that chiropractic should be added to sports training programs to effectively diminish the amount of leg injuries.

Dr. Swanson Can Help Patients Find Comfort From Sports Injuries & Help You Get Better Quicker

If you or your child plays sports and you want to ensure more time is dedicated on the field as opposed to on the sidelines, call our Texarkana, Atlanta office at (903) 792-2060 and schedule an appointment today. We will do our best to keep you in the game!

References

• Hoskins, W, & Pollard, H. (2010, April 8). The effect of a sports chiropractic manual therapy intervention on the prevention of back pain, hamstring and lower limb injuries in semi-elite Australian Rules footballers: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 11(64), doi:10.1186/1471-2474-11-64
• Misra, A. (2014, March 17). Common sports injuries: Incidence and average charges. Department of Health & Human Services.
• Stanford Children’s Hospital. (n.d.). Sports injury statistics.