Chiropractic and Prep Wrestling: Grappling With a Great Idea
Reviewed by: Dr. Steven Knauf, D.C.
By Paul Rothbart
Sports are a major part of the high school and prep school experience. Students and parents love to root on their school’s teams. For the players, it’s a chance to represent their institution and bring home glory.
Football and basketball are generally the most popular school sports, followed by baseball, soccer, and hockey. Most high schools have teams in several other sports, and one of the most common is wrestling.
Grapplers have been going at it since Ancient Greece and each year, hundreds of thousands of teen athletes -- boys and girls alike -- take to the mat, looking to pin or outpoint their opponents. Wrestling requires strength, speed, knowledge of leverage, and strategy. It’s unlike every other high school sport; it’s organized fighting. It is hard on the body.
How Physical Is Wrestling?
Look at what the basics of wrestling are. Putting holds on your opponent, trying to restrain them, and hopefully pin them to the mat. While doing this, an opponent is attempting the same thing to you. It’s a form of combat and naturally is a highly physical sport.
Proper technique is an essential part of success in any sport. However, in wrestling, technique alone will not win. Your opponent is also applying correct holds. Great intensity and outpouring of strength, explosiveness, determination, and grit are required to win consistently. Naturally, this puts tremendous stress on the body. Not to mention the maximum exertion the body goes through when engaged with another wrestler.
Strength training is a major part of a wrestler’s routine if he hopes to win matches. Unlike say, an offensive lineman in football who builds strength for a couple of blocking techniques, wrestlers have to be able to use a wide variety of muscles in different combinations throughout a match, and maintain maximum range of motion. This makes training and conditioning intense, and also stresses the body.
Are Injuries Common in Wrestling?
Given the physicality and intensity of the sport, it should be no surprise that wrestlers are no strangers to sports injuries. Utilizing leverage and having it used against you puts strain on the joints and back. Skin-to-skin contact is constant and can cause abrasions and friction burns. Wrestlers don’t wear a lot of protective gear so most of their body is left vulnerable. The threat of an injury is present during every hold of every match and practice.
What Injuries Are Wrestlers Prone to Having?
Wrestling injuries happen frequently and the nature of the sport makes some types very common.
Sprains and Tears of Knee Ligaments
Many wrestling moves require that the athletes bend their bodies into unnatural positions. This puts excess stress on the joints, and the knees are frequent targets. Wrestlers very often sprain or tear ligaments in knees that have been pushed too far.
Dislocated Shoulders
Upper body holds can also strain joints. Shoulder injuries are common in wrestling and dislocations are the most frequent of these. Subluxation of the shoulders is also common. Wrestlers who are slammed to the mat tend to land on their shoulders. Tendons and ligaments are often strained and torn as well.
Sprained Ankles
Another common wrestling injury is a sprained ankle. When competitors are executing the explosive moves that are such a big part of the sport, the feet and ankles hold the body steady. Rolling the ankle joint happens often and sprains can result.
Skin Infections
Perhaps no other sport has as much skin-on-skin contact as wrestling. It’s easy for competitors to pass bacteria and germs to each other and cause skin infections such as folliculitis, tinea, impetigo, and abscesses. Good hygiene is an essential part of preventing these infections. Having the strongest immune system possible is a real benefit.
Cauliflower Ear
Cauliflower ear, usually associated with boxers, is common in wrestling as well. It happens when friction or blunt force trauma causes a deformity to the outer ear, causing it to resemble the vegetable that it is named for. That’s why wrestlers wear headgear, one of the few required pieces of protective equipment. Another important piece of equipment is a mouthguard.
Concussions
Being taken down and slammed into the mat is tough on the body part that hits first. When that part is the head, a concussion can result. This is one of the most serious sports injuries for an athlete.
How Can Chiropractic Help Wrestlers?
Sports medicine is essential to help athletes heal from injuries, as well as prevent them from happening. Chiropractic care is a discipline that can be helpful to wrestlers.
Treating Injuries
Many of the common wrestling injuries respond well to chiropractic care. Treatment can repair strained joints, shorten recovery time, and ease the neck pain wrestlers often experience. Spinal decompression and routine adjustments can take pressure off the spinal column and improve signal conduction between the brain and the rest of the body, contributing to better overall health.
Preventing Injuries
The best way to deal with an injury is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Regular chiropractic care allows joints to move through their full range of motion. This can help provide stability to the area and may prevent injuries. Spinal manipulation may even prevent injuries in other areas of the body. The source of many kinds of pain frequently emanates from a problem in the back, which serves as the center for most physical movement.
Improving Performance
Professional athletes down through college and high schoolers to youth competitors all want that extra edge in a match. Regular chiropractic treatments keep the spine and joints aligned and flexible, which can improve athletic performance. Treatments can increase flexibility and the range of motion of joints, adding strength and power to the explosive movements that are essential to being a competitive wrestler. Reduced pain will also boost performance because pain is a distraction during competition.
How Many Boys and Girls Wrestlers Are There in High School?
Wrestling is a more popular high school sport than you may think. In 2023, the number of teen wrestlers representing their schools topped 300,000 . That number includes nearly 50,000 girls wrestling for their schools. That’s a 16 percent increase in the number of prep school grapplers over the previous school year.
What Impact Can Chiropractic Have on High School Athletes?
Sports are among the most popular activities for boys and girls high school students. Like wrestling, all sports can take a toll on the body and cause injury. Chiropractic can do for those athletes what it does for the grapplers.
Treatment of injuries, reduced risk of being injured, and improved performance are benefits that all teen athletes can get from seeing a chiropractor. The Joint Chiropractic has clinics located throughout the U.S. You don’t need an appointment. Bring your high school sports hero in and see how chiropractic care can boost their athletic career as well as their overall health.
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