Chiropractic: Not Just For Injury Rehabilitation

It’s no secret that chiropractic treatment has been shown to be effective at relieving back pain, neck pain and other musculoskeletal disorders, but many athletes don’t realize that proactive visits to a chiropractor can help prevent those injuries from occurring in the first place.
In 2010, a group of researchers tested the efficacy of preventative chiropractic treatments on 60 semi-pro Australian football players. The participants were split into two groups; both groups had sports science and medical care but the test group received chiropractic treatments in addition.  Chiropractic care was defined as manipulative therapy, soft-tissue therapies, and mobilization applied to the spine and extremities.
After playing in twenty-four matches, both groups of football players were evaluated for the frequency of lower-limb injuries. Although the rates of non-contact knee and hamstring injuries were similar between the two groups, the athletes in the group receiving chiropractic care did experience greater benefits than athletes who had not as the chiropractic patients experienced significantly less lower-limb muscle strains and missed playing time due to injury.
Research Take Away
The researches concluded that the addition of chiropractic care to the participants’ management corresponded with a  trend towards lower limb injury prevention with a significant reduction in primary lower limb muscle strains and weeks missed due to non-contact knee injuries.
Proactive chiropractic treatment provides many potential benefits for athletes, including injury prevention, enhanced recovery and improved athletic performance. For example, previous research has shown chiropractic care to one of the best methods for treating sports hernias in soccer players and has found spinal manipulation to be the most effective treatment for lower back pain in athletes. Research has also shown that chiropractic treatment can potentially improve the athletic performance of judo athletes and rugby by restoring pain-free range of motion.

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