Research Shows Chiropractic Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

We see a lot of sports injuries in our Ronkonkoma office, and Dr. Priolo is usually able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital reports that over 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and younger are injured each year when playing sports. Add that to the almost 2 million adults hurt annually while taking part in sports-related activities, according to statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and you can start to see the necessity of minimizing these sorts of widespread injuries. One way to possible achieve that goal, as reported by 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 chance at securing a win. One specific study was conducted using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see if chiropractic could reduce these injuries and help keep them playing.

Research Supports Chiropractic Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study in particular, every one of the players received medical treatment. Additionally, half of them also received chiropractic sessions at the rate of 1 treatment each week for the first 6 weeks, biweekly treatments for the following three months, and one session per month for the remaining 3 months of the study. The remaining participants were given no chiropractic intervention whatsoever and acted as the control group to determine the benefits of chiropractic care.

Following twenty-four matches, specialists 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 connected to non-contact knee injuries. This lead the researchers to conclude that chiropractic ought to be added to sports training programs to dramatically reduce the quantity of leg injuries.

Dr. Priolo Can Help Clients Find Relief From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Quicker

If you or your child are active in sports and you want to ensure more time is spent on the field versus on the bench, call our Ronkonkoma office at (631) 676-6324 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.