Studies Show Chiropractic Care Beneficial at Preventing Sports Injuries

We encounter a lot of sports injuries in our Port Coquitlam clinic, and Dr. Olson is usually able to assist these athletes. Stanford Childrens Hospital states that more than 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and younger 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 collected by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can begin to see the importance of preventing these types of common injuries. One approach to potentially achieve that goal, according to a study released in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to receive regular chiropractic care.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg traumas are commonplace, frequently sidelining the players and affecting their team's likelihood of securing a win. One particular study was conducted using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see how well chiropractic care could reduce these injuries and help keep them in the game.

Research Supports Chiropractic Care Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study specifically, all of the participants received medical treatment. Additionally, half of them also received chiropractic treatments at the rate of one treatment each week for the first 6 weeks, biweekly treatments for the following three months, and one session per month for the last 3 months of the study. The remaining participants had no chiropractic intervention at all and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic adjustments.

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

Dr. Olson Can Help People Find Comfort 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 as opposed to on the sidelines, call our Port Coquitlam office at (604) 941-4596 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.