Research Shows Chiropractic Beneficial at Preventing Sports Injuries

We come across a lot of sports injuries in our Alpharetta clinic, and Dr. Berklich is usually able to help these athletes. Stanford Childrens Hospital states that more than 3.5 million children aged 14 and below are hurt each year when playing sports. Add that to the close to 2 million adults hurt each year while taking part in sports-related activities, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can start to see the necessity of preventing these types of widespread injuries. One approach to possible achieve that goal, according to a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to engage in routine chiropractic treatments.

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

Research Shows Chiropractic Care Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study specifically, all of the volunteers was given medical treatment. In addition, half of them also were given chiropractic sessions at the rate of 1 treatment each week for the first 6 weeks, biweekly sessions for the next three months, and one treatment each month for the last 3 months of the study. The other half had no chiropractic intervention whatsoever and were used as the control group to determine the benefits of chiropractic.

After 24 matches, scientists reported a reduced amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Additionally, that same group also missed fewer matches correlated to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to come to the conclusion that chiropractic should be added to sports training programs to dramatically reduce the amount of leg injuries.

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

If you or your child plays sports and you want to make sure more time is dedicated on the field as opposed to on the bench, call our Alpharetta office at (770) 475-2225 and schedule 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.