Studies Show Chiropractic Effective at Preventing Sports Injuries

We see a lot of sports injuries in our Sunnyvale & San Francisco office, and Dr. Stern is generally able to assist these athletes. Stanford Children’s Hospital reports that more than 3.5 million children of the ages 14 and below are injured each year when playing sports. Add that to the close to 2 million adults injured 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 preventing these types of common injuries. One way to potentially realize that goal, as stated in a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, is to engage in regular chiropractic treatments.

In Australian Rules football, hamstring and other leg traumas are commonplace, often sidelining the players and impacting their team's chance at securing a win. One particular study was conducted using 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers to see whether chiropractic could diminish these injuries and help keep them playing.

Research Proves Chiropractic Helps in Treating Sports Injuries

For this study in particular, every one of the participants received medical treatment. In addition, half of them also engaged in chiropractic sessions at the rate of 1 treatment each week for the first six weeks, biweekly treatments for the next three months, and one session each month for the last 3 months of the study. The remaining participants were given no chiropractic intervention whatsoever and were used as the control group to assess the benefits of chiropractic adjustments.

After twenty-four matches, specialists noticed a reduced amount of lower limb muscle strains in the group that had been given chiropractic care. Furthermore, that very group also missed fewer matches related 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 effectively decrease the quantity of leg injuries.

Dr. Stern Can Help Clients Find Comfort From Sports Injuries & Help You Recover Faster

If you or your child are active in sports and you would like to ensure more time is dedicated on the field as opposed to on the bench, call our Sunnyvale & San Francisco office at (415) 308-7636 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.