Research Shows Chiropractic Adjustments Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

We come across a good deal of sports injuries in our Moon Township clinic, and Dr. Spiropoulos is generally able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital reports that more than 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and below are injured each year while playing sports. Add that to the almost 2 million adults hurt each year while engaged in sports-related activities, as reported by statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can begin to see the importance of preventing these sorts of widespread injuries. One way to possible achieve that goal, according to a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to receive regular chiropractic care.

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

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study specifically, every one of the participants received medical treatment. Additionally, half of them also engaged in chiropractic treatments at the rate of one treatment per week for the first six weeks, biweekly treatments for the next three months, and one treatment per month for the last 3 months of the study. The other group were given no chiropractic intervention whatsoever and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic.

Following 24 matches, scientists noted a lessened number of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Moreover, that same group also missed fewer matches related to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to conclude that chiropractic should be made an addition to sports training programs to dramatically lessen the number of leg injuries.

Dr. Spiropoulos Can Help Clients Find Comfort From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Faster

If you or your child are active in sports and you would like to make sure greater time is dedicated on the field versus on the bench, call our Moon Township office at (724) 513-0521 and make 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.