Studies Show Chiropractic Beneficial at Preventing Sports Injuries

We encounter a lot of sports injuries in our Henderson office, and Dr. Russell is generally able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital states that more than 3.5 million children aged 14 and younger are hurt each year when playing sports. Add that to the close to 2 million adults injured annually while engaged 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 minimizing these types of widespread injuries. One way to potentially realize that goal, as reported by a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to receive regular chiropractic treatments.

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 conducted using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see how well chiropractic could diminish these injuries and help keep them in the game.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study in particular, every one of the players received medical treatment. In addition, half of them also engaged in chiropractic sessions at the rate of one session per week for the first 6 weeks, biweekly sessions for the next three months, and one treatment per month for the final 3 months of the study. The remaining participants were given no chiropractic intervention whatsoever and acted as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic care.

Following twenty-four matches, scientists reported a reduced number of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Furthermore, that same group also missed fewer matches correlated to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to conclude that chiropractic ought to be added to sports training programs to dramatically reduce the quantity of leg injuries.

Dr. Russell Can Help Patients Find Comfort From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Faster

If you or your child are active in sports and you would like to ensure more time is dedicated on the field versus on the sidelines, call our Henderson office at (702) 990-2225 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.