Studies Show Chiropractic Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

Studies Show Chiropractic Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

We see a good deal of sports injuries in our Lincoln clinic, and Dr. Jerrad Swanson DC, FMT, DN1 is generally able to help these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital states that over 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and below are injured each year when playing sports. Add that to the almost 2 million adults injured 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 common injuries. One approach to potentially achieve that goal, as stated in a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to receive regular chiropractic care.

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

Research Shows Chiropractic Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study specifically, all of the participants received medical treatment. In addition, half of them also engaged in chiropractic sessions at the rate of 1 session each week for the first six weeks, biweekly treatments for the following three months, and one session each month for the last three months of the study. The other participants were given no chiropractic intervention whatsoever and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic.

Following 24 matches, specialists noticed a reduced amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Additionally, that very group also missed fewer matches connected to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to come to the conclusion that chiropractic ought to be made an addition to sports training programs to dramatically lessen the amount of leg injuries.

Dr. Jerrad Swanson DC, FMT, DN1 Can Help People Find Relief From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Faster

If you or your child are active in sports and you want to ensure greater time is spent on the field versus on the sidelines, call our Lincoln office at (402) 484-5177 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.