Chiropractic Care and Sports Injuries
Every athlete experiences aches and pains associated with their love of a sport or activity. You don’t have to be a professional to receive professional care in the case of a sports injury. That’s where chiropractors come in. They can assess and treat injuries related to your labor of love and help you to keep doing what you love best, but with less pain.
Common Sports Injuries
The great thing about a chiropractor is that they will assess your whole body, not just the source of your injury. It is not uncommon for a problem that may be arising in one part of your body to actually be the result of something wrong with another part of your body! The chiropractor is the Sherlock Holmes of the sport injury. If it’s there, they will find the underlying reason and treat it. The injury can be acute or chronic, but have no fear because your chiropractor will be on it!
The most common sports injuries are usually the result of lack of flexibility, defective biomechanics, physical misalignment, instability and muscle disparities. They present themselves usually as ankle sprains or strains, hyperextended knee, hip flexor strains or rotator cuff tendonitis. Ankle sprains are common injuries from football, basketball and soccer, and they usually are the consequence of improper alignment.
Hyperextended knees are seen in basketball, volleyball and gymnastics and usually begin because the strength of the muscles is imbalanced. Hip flexor strains are common in cyclists, sprinters and soccer players and can be caused by lack of elasticity and weakness in muscles. Rotator cuff tendonitis happens when the arms are repeatedly above the head in sports such as swimming, tennis and baseball. Muscle instability and weakness is a major contributor to this condition.
What a Chiropractor Can Do
Chiropractors can order x-rays or MRI’s to assess the severity of the injury. They can then advise you on the best care for your injury and then help determine what the source of the larger problem may be. Once you have recovered from the acute injury, they can recommend exercise routines that can help with flexibility and muscle imbalances. They can also help to correct any misalignments that be causing you to be more susceptible to a specific kind of injury.
One of the many benefits of chiropractic is that it is a non-invasive and drug free treatment. That helps with recovery time. It’s also helpful that they look at the big picture of your whole body and how it is working together. This can help you from having the same injury in the future.
Sports and chiropractors go together like peas and carrots, so if you are active and don’t have a chiropractor yet, go out and find one!
Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of CityofStPete