Research Shows Chiropractic Beneficial at Preventing Sports Injuries

We encounter a several of sports injuries in our Napa office, and Dr. Bettencourt is generally able to help these athletes. Stanford Childrens Hospital states that more than 3.5 million children aged 14 and younger are hurt each year when playing sports. Add that to the nearly 2 million adults hurt annually while taking part 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 types of widespread injuries. One way to possible realize that goal, as reported by a study released in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to engage in regular chiropractic treatments.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg traumas are commonplace, frequently sidelining the players and impacting their team's odds of winning. One specific study was conducted using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see how well chiropractic care could lessen these injuries and help keep them playing.

Research Shows Chiropractic Treatment Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study in particular, all of the volunteers was given medical treatment. Additionally, half of them also were given chiropractic sessions at the rate of 1 treatment each week for the first six weeks, biweekly sessions for the next three months, and one treatment per month for the final 3 months of the study. The other group had no chiropractic intervention at all and acted as the control group to determine the benefits of chiropractic adjustments.

Following twenty-four matches, scientists reported a reduced number of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had received 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 should be made an addition to sports training programs to dramatically decrease the number of leg injuries.

Dr. Bettencourt Can Help Patients Find Comfort From Sports Injuries & Help You Heal Quicker

If you or your child are active in sports and you would like to make sure greater time is spent on the field as opposed to on the bench, call our Napa office at (707) 257-3600 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.