Research Shows Chiropractic Care Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

We see a good deal of sports injuries in our Depew clinic, and Dr. Palmer is generally able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital states that over 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and below are injured each year when playing sports. Add that to the close to 2 million adults injured every year while taking part in sports-related activities, as reported by statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can start to see the importance of minimizing these types of common injuries. One approach to possible achieve that goal, as stated in a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to engage in 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 particular study was conducted using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see whether chiropractic could cut down on these injuries and help keep them playing.

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study particularly, all of the players got medical treatment. Furthermore, half of them also engaged in chiropractic sessions at the rate of one treatment each week for the first six weeks, biweekly treatments for the next three months, and one treatment per month for the last 3 months of the study. The other participants were given no chiropractic intervention at all and were used as the control group to determine the benefits of chiropractic care.

Following twenty-four matches, scientists noted a diminished amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Additionally, that same group also missed fewer matches related to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to come to the conclusion that chiropractic should be added to sports training programs to dramatically lessen the quantity of leg injuries.

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

If you or your child plays sports and you want to make sure greater time is spent on the field as opposed to on the sidelines, 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.