Chiropractic care is one of the most effective forms of treatment for sports injuries common in athletics. Chiropractic treatments can also help with rehabilitation following injury.
If you're an athlete, sports injuries are more likely to happen because of sports' physical demands on your body. It can be a serious injury, and it's often difficult to know what you should do.
Let's look at how a sports injury chiropractor can help treat sports-related conditions and why they are essential in recovery.
What are Sports-Related Injuries?
Sports-related injuries are the leading cause of sports medicine visits. According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sports injuries account for almost 20% of all hospital admissions in children between 5 and 18 years old. Over half of these sports-related injuries happen during school hours or after-school activities.
The sports-related injuries that most often require treatment from sports injury chiropractors are the shoulder, knee, and ankle.
Chiropractors are experts in sports injury care - they diagnose, treat and rehabilitate sports-related conditions and provide urgent relief services that can help prevent further damage from injury.
What is the difference between physiotherapy and chiropractic care for athletes?
The sports injury chiropractor is a doctor of chiropractic who specializes in sports injuries. They are trained to diagnose sports-related conditions and provide treatment for acute, long-term, and old sports injuries and other soft tissue problems such as sciatica or fibromyalgia. The sports injury chiropractor can help reduce pain by providing an adjustment to the spine.
On the other hand, physiotherapy is a sports medicine specialist trained in sports rehabilitation and injury management. They are often involved with sports teams, athletes, or sports organizations.
It means that they have special training to care for any injuries caused by physical activity while still addressing the whole person, including their mental health.
A physiotherapist aims to restore functionality and rehabilitation, whereas sports injury chiropractors focus on the spine and sports-related conditions.
The sports injury chiropractor's treatment for sports injuries is multidisciplinary, meaning they'll use a combination of techniques from physical therapy and rehabilitation medicine as well as chiropractic care to get you back on your feet. When consulting with a sports injury specialist, it can be helpful to know there are also sports injury chiropractors who are sports physiotherapists.
What Are the Common Sports Injury Chiropractors Can Treat?
Chiropractic care can help to relieve pain and stress on joints and tissues by getting the body back into proper alignment.
Due to their background in fitness and their use of chiropractic care, most athletes will often be able to heal from sports-related injuries quickly. Athletes who experience an injury regain motion and functionality with only a few chiropractic treatments.
The common sports injuries addressed by a sports injury chiropractor are the following:
Runners Knee
A runner's knee is a sports injury that involves pain and inflammation to one or both kneecaps. It can come from a variety of reasons such as overuse, poor running mechanics, sports injuries involving other parts of the body (i.e., ankle), and more. Whether it comes from an acute event or years of wear and tear, sports injury chiropractors can help relieve sports-related pain.
Ankle Sprain
A sprain is one of the most common sports injuries seen in athletes and nonathletes alike. The sprained ankle usually occurs when someone steps on an object with their foot while twisting simultaneously, which causes tearing or stretching of the ligaments on either side of the ankle. Treatment for sports injury chiropractors includes rest, ice, and elevation to help stabilize your bones while they heal.
Rotator Cuff Tear
Rotator cuff tears are sports injuries that usually happen when a person lifts their arm, and the force causes part of the tendon to tear. The rotator cuff comprises four tendons in your shoulder that provide stability for your upper arm bone with each movement, so it charges quickly as you lift an object or reach overhead. They can also happen from sports-related injuries such as shoulder dislocation. It is common for people with rotator cuff tears to experience pain and weakness in their arm during sports or everyday activities, which can be relieved by sports injury chiropractors.
Lateral Epicondylitis
Also known as "Tennis Elbow," lateral epicondyle is a sports-related condition that results from repetitive motions of the forearm or wrist area. It leads to pain on the outside of your elbow close to where it meets with the bony bump (or point) on the outside of your arm or wrist. Treatment for sports injury chiropractors includes a combination of sports-related physical therapy and rehabilitation.
Shoulder Impingement
The sports injury chiropractor diagnoses this type of sports-related injury when there is a restriction in the range of motion and pain caused by pinching or rubbing on your shoulder joint. It often comes from repetitive overhead motions that pressure the rotator cuff tendons that run through your biceps tendon sheath (a tunnel beneath your arm). Treatment for sports injury chiropractors often includes sports-related physical therapy and rehabilitation.
What are the Categories of Sports Injury Care Provided by Chiropractors?
The sports injury chiropractor in Boca Raton will usually first examine you to determine whether or not they can provide care for your specific sports-related injury.
· Acute Care: for injuries that are fresh and need immediate attention, the sports injury chiropractor may use a combination of manual therapy techniques (such as joint mobilization) and spinal adjustments to relieve sports-related pain as quickly as possible.
· Ongoing Care: for injuries that are not fresh but still need attention, the sports injury chiropractor may use a combination of manual therapy techniques (such as joint mobilization) and spinal adjustments to relieve sports-related pain over an extended period.
· Treatment for Old Injuries: sports injury chiropractors may help relieve sports-related pain by using a combination of manual therapy techniques (such as joint mobilization) and spinal adjustments to give you relief from the root cause of your sports-related injuries.
What are the Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Sports Injuries?
Sports injury chiropractors help relieve sports-related pain by using a combination of manual therapy techniques (such as joint mobilization) and spinal adjustments to give you relief from the root cause of your sports-related injuries. Other benefits of working with a sports injury chiropractor are:
Pain Relief: sports injury chiropractors can help relieve sports-related pain by using a combination of manual therapy techniques (such as joint mobilization) and spinal adjustments.
Holistic Health Care: sports injury chiropractors can provide holistic treatments that help address sports-related injuries as well as sports-related pain.
Better Range of Motion: sports injury chiropractors can relieve the tension in your muscles, allowing for a better range of motion within a joint or set of joints.
Stronger Muscles: sports injury chiropractic care can help strengthen your muscles in the injured joint, helping to support those joints and prevent sports-related injury.
Reduce Overall Risk for Injury: the sports injury chiropractor will often use exercises that will strengthen your muscles to decrease the risk for future sports injuries, which can happen when you have sports-related syndromes and sports injuries that have not been treated.
Alternative Treatment Option: sports injury chiropractors are sports-specific, so if you have been to a sports medicine physician and physiatrist but haven't seen any improvements in your sports injuries, the chiropractor may be able to provide relief with other techniques.
Improved Performance: Sports injury chiropractors will often help athletes by improving their performance through rehabilitation exercises, sports medicine treatment plans, and education to reduce the risk for sports-related injury in the future.
Why is Sports Injury Chiropractic Care More than Just Pain Management?
Sports injury chiropractors are sports-specific, so if you have been to a sports medicine physician and psychiatrist but haven't seen any improvements in your sports injuries, the chiropractor may be able to provide relief with acupuncture or other manual therapy techniques.
Chiropractic care helps reduce pain and inflammation, speeds the healing process. With this, patients get on their feet sooner than they could if they did not receive treatment.
If you seek an alternative option that will give you more than just pain management, sports injury chiropractors may be able to provide sports-specific care that will help you get back in the game.
What Should You Do In Case of A Sports-Related Injury?
Suppose you are experiencing a sports-related injury, best to seek medical treatment and avoid pushing through the pain of your injury. For minor injuries, you can apply the rest, ice, compression, and elevations method. But if you have severe pain, swelling, numbness, and instability in the affected area, seek help.
Conclusion
Sports injuries are common among athletes, and chiropractic treatments can help with rehabilitation following injury. Injuries that may need care include ankle sprains, plantar fasciitis, and shoulder strains from throwing or lifting weights improperly.
If you're an athlete looking to stay healthy for your next big game this weekend, contact Boca Chiropractic today! We offer a variety of services tailored just for athletes, like physical therapy and massage therapy. Get expert help for your sports injuries - call bocachiropractic.com now!
