Chiropractic Aids Sprained Ankle Recovery

We see many patients in our Depew office with ankle sprains but Dr. Palmer has had a lot of success helping them heal more quickly. Why are ankle sprains so common and how can your chiropractor help?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), an estimated 25,000 people in the US sprain their ankles daily. In fact, these injuries make up nearly half of all sports injuries, causing people to spend time away from the activities they enjoy most.

Like any injury, there are many causes of ankle sprains. The most frequent is inversion, or when the ankle rolls inward. This injury can occur due to one forceful movement, or it can develop over a period of time, and exercises that increase the risk for this type of ankle sprain include running and jumping. You're also at risk if you have previous ankle injuries, poor posture or balance, weak muscles, and reduced range of motion.

How Can Chiropractic Treatments and Dr. Palmer Help?

A study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics set out to discover chiropractic's role when it comes to ankle sprain recovery. Researchers enrolled 33 individuals between the ages of 18 and 45 who had a history of ankle inversion sprains, who were experiencing tenderness and/or pain, and had not re-injured the ankle in the previous six weeks.

18 of the participants were assigned to participate in rehabilitation and the remaining 15 individuals received chiropractic in addition to rehabilitation. Each person had five full weeks of therapy, with the rehab group receiving treatment seven days a week and the rehabilitation plus chiropractic group receiving therapy six out of the seven days.

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps With Ankle Sprains

Researchers found that the individuals who had both rehab and chiropractic fared the best at the 4-week mark when it came to pain and joint restriction. Furthermore, no bad effects were reported, showing that chiropractic is safe.

If you're near our office in Depew and you're recovering from an ankle injury, give us a call. We'll do what we can to keep you up and moving... literally!

Bibliography

• American College of Sports Medicine. (n.d.). Ankle sprains and the athlete. Retrieved from https://www.acsm.org/docs/current-comments/anklesprainstemp.pdf
• Lubbe, D et al. (2015, January). Manipulative therapy and rehabilitation for recurrent ankle sprain with functional instability: a short-term, assessor-blind, parallel-group randomized trial. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 38(1), 22-34, doi:10.1016/j.jmpt.2014.10.001