Chiropractic Care for Water Sports Injuries
By Sara Butler
Water sports are a lot of fun, but just as with any sport, they present their own unique dangers. Boating, skiing, paddle boarding, surfing, and kayaking are great for your body but carry with them the risk of injury. Here’s what you need to know about injuries that can be sustained during water sports and what you should do if you end up getting injured.
The Dangers
There you are, riding that wave and doing well until you crash and burn in the surf. What’s the worst that can happen? Well, quite a lot can go wrong, actually. The most common things that lead to injury during water sports are:
Being ejected from a boat or other craft
- Capsizing
- Colliding with foreign objects in the water
- Wiping out
These types of accidents can cause injuries to your body due to the way they cause you to twist or turn your body – often in ways you’re not used to moving. This can injure your back, your knees, your shoulders, your ankles, and pretty much any other joint in your body while taking a spill, even if it is in the water.
The Biggest Danger
The injury that is most concerning to your chiropractor is whiplash, which is normally associated with car accidents. But in reality, whiplash can happen any time that your body is suddenly forced to stop. When you hit a wall of water ,it suddenly stops your forward momentum, causing damage to the ligaments and muscles in your back and neck. It can also create joint dysfunctions or restriction in your spine as well as your other joints.
When Your Spine is Out of Whack
Out of whack isn’t what your chiropractor calls it – what they call it is joint restriction and dysfunction. When these things occur in your spine, it puts pressure on the nerves exiting from your spinal cord and causes irritation. This interrupts the communication between your central nervous system and the rest of your body, creating possible long-term problems for you such as pain, tingling, numbness, and irritation.
You need chiropractic treatment in order to adjust these problems so that your body can work together as it was meant to, and work well to heal itself. So, if you regularly partake in water sports, then you need to make sure you’re seeing your chiropractor at The Joint regularly!
To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic.