Research Shows Chiropractic Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

We see a large number of sports injuries in our Depew office, and Dr. Palmer is generally able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital reports that more than 3.5 million children aged 14 and younger are hurt each year when playing sports. Add that to the close to 2 million adults injured every year while taking part in sports-related activities, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can start to see the necessity of minimizing these types of common injuries. One approach to possible achieve that goal, as stated in a study released in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to receive regular chiropractic treatments.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg traumas 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 whether chiropractic could cut down on these injuries and help keep them playing.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study specifically, every one of the participants got medical treatment. Furthermore, half of them also were given chiropractic sessions at the rate of 1 session each week for the first six weeks, biweekly treatments for the next three months, and one treatment each month for the remaining 3 months of the study. The other participants were given no chiropractic intervention whatsoever and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic care.

After 24 matches, specialists noticed a diminished amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Furthermore, that very group also missed fewer matches correlated to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to come to the conclusion that chiropractic ought to be made an addition to sports training programs to effectively lessen the quantity of leg injuries.

Dr. Palmer Can Help Clients Find Relief From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Quicker

If you or your child are active in sports and you would like to make sure more time is dedicated on the field as opposed to on the bench, call our Depew office at (716) 668-2225 and make 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.