Chiropractors have always been involved with helping sports people with injuries that they have sustained. They deal with functioning disorders of the joints and so often work in conjunction with a backup team for professional athletes. They may also have a private practice and work with individual sports enthusiasts who get sporting injuries. There are chiropractors who deal specifically with sports injuries.
They may help with the treatment of minor injuries or ones caused by overuse of a certain part of the body. They may help with the prevention of injuries and with improving the athlete’s performance. These are explained in more detail below.
Minor injuries
Athletes can be prone to getting a selection of minor injuries. These could include straining of muscles, teats to tendons, sprains to ligaments or bruises. These cause inflammation to the infected part and symptoms will include pain, heat redness and a loss of function.
Overuse Injuries
By overworking a particular part of the body, an injury can occur. There are many parts which could be affected and it can cause problems with training and performance. These can include things like runners knee, tennis elbow, jumpers knee, Achilles tendonitis, neck pain, groin strain, hamstring strain, low back pain, thigh strain, calf strain and rotator cuff tendonitis.
Both minor injuries and overuse injuries can cause inflammation which will be the first thing that will be looked for. For the first five days, this will be treated firstly with rest, ice, compression and elevation and then there may be other work done. The nearby joints will be manipulated and there may be some deeper tissue work as well. There may be ultrasound therapy to reduce pain and inflammation. There may be massage, trigger point therapy, myofascial release techniques and cross friction exercises as well as stretching to be done. Home rehabilitation exercises will also be given so that the treatment can be continued by the patient. For more severe injuries, surgery may be inevitable so in this case, perish the thought, this interesting post about rotator cuff surgery may be useful.
Injury Prevention
It is important for an athlete to understand what has caused the injury and how to prevent it from happening again. The chiropractor will be able to explain this to them, letting them know what specific movement will cause the injury they have and what they need to do to prevent it. If it is something that they need to do as part of their sport, they may be given exercises to relax that area so that it does not get inflamed again. Ergonomic and postural advice will also be given to help prevent problems.
Improved Performance
Regular chiropractor sessions can help the joint mechanics, the surrounding nerves and the muscles in the area. This should help the control and muscle strength in this area as well as the co-ordination. This should in turn help the performance. There are many sportsmen and women who believe this to be true and regularly use the services of a chiropractor to ensure that they give the best possible performance that they can.
About Author
Dustin is the owner of Premier Sports Chiropractic, his extensive postgraduate education includes Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioner, Certified Kinesio® Tape Provider, Certified Graston® Technique. You can find out more about his expertise and specialization here: http://dustinyoungdc.com/
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