Research Shows Chiropractic Care Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

Chiropractic Adjustments Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries in Asheville

We see a large number of sports injuries in our Asheville clinic, and Dr. Myers is often able to assist these athletes. Stanford Childrens Hospital reports that over 3.5 million children aged 14 and younger are hurt each year while playing sports. Add that to the nearly 2 million adults injured each year while participating 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 widespread injuries. One approach to possible realize that goal, as reported by a study released in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to receive routine chiropractic care.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg traumas are commonplace, frequently sidelining the players and affecting their team's chance at winning. One specific study was administered using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see whether chiropractic adjustments could cut down on these injuries and help keep them in the game.

Research Shows Chiropractic Therapy Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study in particular, all of the players received medical treatment. In addition, half of them also received chiropractic sessions at the rate of 1 treatment per week for the first 6 weeks, biweekly sessions for the following three months, and one treatment a month for the last 3 months of the study. The remaining participants had no chiropractic intervention at all and acted as the control group to determine the benefits of chiropractic.

Following 24 matches, researchers noted a diminished amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had received chiropractic care. Additionally, that very group also missed fewer matches connected to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to conclude that chiropractic ought to be made an addition to sports training programs to effectively decrease the number of leg injuries.

Dr. Myers Can Help Patients Find Comfort From Sports Injuries & Help You Get Better Faster

If you or your child plays sports and you would like to ensure greater time is dedicated on the field versus on the sidelines, call our Asheville office at (828) 676-0963 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.