How Can a Chiropractor Help After Sports Injury?

If your patient is an athlete, the numerous demands of participating in a sport such as running, jumping and tackling can result in painful tears, sprains, and strains.  A chiropractor can help your patient when they’ve suffered sports injuries and also help to prevent them.

Chiropractors treat and can help prevent injuries of the neck, back, shoulder, knee, and ankle. They’re skilled in manual adjustment of the spine, ensuring that bones are lined up and balanced, which helps relieve tension in the body. This allows the body to function better and become less susceptible to injury. The goal of most chiropractic techniques is to restore or enhance joint function while resolving joint inflammation and reducing pain. This hands-on therapy is often used to treat neck or back injuries but also relieves pain throughout the joints and muscles in the body.

The main reasons athletes suffer sports injuries include forceful impacts, repetitive motions, over-training and failure to warm up properly. Chiropractors can help athletes by relieving their pain and helping them heal faster after an injury. Regular visits will promote quicker recovery after games and training as well as better balance and overall performance.

To start, a chiropractor will ask your patient questions about their health and perform a structural exam of their posture, spine and balance. He or she will also examine your  patient’s back, extremities, tendons, ligaments and joints. Utilizing this information, a chiropractor will be able to determine what treatment would benefit your patient. The two most common techniques are spinal manipulation and spinal mobilization.

During spinal manipulation, a chiropractor will place your patient in different positions and perform a manual impulse to an affected joint. This releases pressure in the joint and aligns muscles and joints so they work the way they’re supposed to.  In some cases, the impulse causes an audible cracking sounds, called cavitation, due to the release of gas that happens when the joint opens up and motion is restored.

Spinal mobilization is used for patients that require a gentle approach, and utilizes tools or simple stretches to release pressure in joints.

Chiropractors may also incorporate other treatment methods to relieve pain such as ice, heat or electric stimulation. 

In addition to treating injuries, chiropractors can also help prevent injuries from occurring. Before beginning an exercise regimen or a sport, it’s recommended that athletes get evaluated by a chiropractor. Chiropractors can check  muscles and spine to detect imbalance and alleviate tension so that the body can work naturally rather than be prone to injury.