Research Shows Chiropractic Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

We encounter a several of sports injuries in our Saint Paul office, and Dr. Slater is usually able to assist these athletes. Stanford Childrens Hospital states that more than 3.5 million children aged 14 and below are injured each year when playing sports. Add that to the nearly 2 million adults hurt 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 importance of preventing these types of widespread injuries. One way to possible achieve that goal, as stated in a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to engage in routine chiropractic treatments.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg traumas are commonplace, frequently sidelining the players and impacting their team's chance at securing a win. One particular study was conducted using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see whether chiropractic treatment could lessen these injuries and help keep them in the game.

Research Proves Chiropractic Treatment Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study specifically, every one of the players received medical treatment. Additionally, half of them also engaged in chiropractic treatments at the rate of one session each week for the first six weeks, biweekly treatments for the following three months, and one treatment a month for the last three months of the study. The other participants had no chiropractic intervention at all and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic.

Following twenty-four matches, specialists reported a diminished amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had received chiropractic care. Moreover, that same group also missed fewer matches connected to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to come to the conclusion that chiropractic ought to be added to sports training programs to dramatically decrease the number of leg injuries.

Dr. Slater Can Help Clients Find Relief From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Quicker

If you or your child plays sports and you would like to make sure greater time is spent on the field versus on the sidelines, call our Saint Paul office at (651) 699-3366 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.