Research Shows Chiropractic Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

We encounter a lot of sports injuries in our Kettering office, and Dr. Poelking is generally able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital reports that more than 3.5 million children aged 14 and younger are hurt each year while playing sports. Add that to the nearly 2 million adults injured each year while participating in sports-related activities, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can begin to see the necessity of minimizing these sorts of common injuries. One way to potentially realize that goal, according to a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to engage in routine chiropractic care.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg injuries are common, often sidelining the players and affecting their team's odds of winning. One specific study was conducted 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 in particular, every one of the volunteers got medical treatment. In addition, half of them also engaged in chiropractic treatments at the rate of 1 treatment each week for the first six weeks, biweekly sessions for the next three months, and one session per month for the remaining three months of the study. The other half had no chiropractic intervention at all and acted as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic care.

After 24 matches, scientists noted a diminished amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Additionally, 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 quantity of leg injuries.

Dr. Poelking Can Help Patients Find Relief From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Quicker

If you or your child plays sports and you would like to ensure greater time is dedicated on the field versus on the sidelines, call our Kettering office at (937) 299-2900 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.