If you’ve been injured playing sports, chiropractic care can help. Call our office at Zenaptic Chiropractic to setup a free consultation with Dr. Troy. We’re located in Vancouver, Washington near the intersection of Fourth Plain Blvd and Andresen.
Athletes experience numerous injuries each year; sports such as basketball, tennis, baseball, and football involve a lot of running and jumping. When you put your body through these physically demanding activities, you can injure yourself.
You may experience painful tears, sprains, and strains. Doctors often prescribe medication to help alleviate pain; unfortunately, this only a temporary fix and it only treats these problems for a short period of time.
In extreme cases, physical therapy or surgery is recommended in order to repair the damage that has occurred as a result of the sports injury.
Causes of Sport Injuries
Many sports injuries are caused by unsafe exercising environments, poor training, structural abnormalities, muscle weaknesses, and tears in the ligaments and joints.
Many people participate in poor exercise training – they engage in very intense exercises and do not give their bodies enough time to recover.
Furthermore, each person’s body has a different bone structure and various weak points in their bodies. These weak points in the bone structure can make you more prone to getting sports injuries.
Structural conditions such as a lower curve in the lower spine, a kneecap that is set higher than usual, and a displaced knee can cause various injuries while playing sports.
Symptoms Of Sports Injuries
You can experience a wide range of symptoms from a sports injury. Early signs include swelling, pain, reduced movement, inflammation, muscle spasms, headaches, tenderness, dislocation, numbness, loss of sensation, and deformity.
Sports injuries can be acute and chronic. They are also caused by application of great force, direct impact and overuse. An acute injury is one that occurs immediately and a chronic injury is one that happens due to repeated overuse of certain muscles.
Some common sports injuries include:
- Ankle sprain
- Hamstring strain
- Knee joint injuries
- Bicep tendonitis
- Hip flexor strain
- Inversion ankle strain
- Spinal injuries
- Dislocations
- Stress fractures
Sports Injury Analysis and Treatment
Sports injuries can be treated in a variety of ways, including prescription drug therapy and holistic options such as chiropractic care. The treatment for a sports injury depends on the severity and type of damage.
Many doctors may prescribe nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin, acetaminophen or ibuprofen to reduce pain and swelling. Using immobilizers such as slings, splints, and casts are good ways to prevent damage and stop an injured area from moving.
Broken bones and torn ligaments and joints may require surgery to fix them. Fortunately, the majority of sports injuries do not require surgeries.
Compressions, heating pads, electro stimulations, cryotherapy, thermotherapy, ultrasound, and massage are alternative options for treating sports injuries. The simplest and easiest form of treatment is getting rest.
Making time to rest after an injury can help you recover faster. Rest can help increase the healing process.
The most common advice after any type of sport-related injury is to apply RICE – rest, ice, compression, and elevation in addition to seeking the advice of a medical professional.
Sports Injuries and Chiropractic Care
Chiropractors understand the biomechanical mechanisms inside of the body. They know how to properly treat injuries, prevent them, and restore the body’s functional integrity and stability.
You should seek help from a chiropractor for the treatment and rehabilitation of a sporting injury because they are prepared to manage a variety of musculoskeletal problems that occur away from the spine.
Your chiropractor may work in conjunction with your primary care physician or family doctor to help heal your sports injury. A family doctor generally has common knowledge about sports injuries, but they do not specialize in this area.
On the other hand, a chiropractor specializes in these types of problems.
Remember that a sports injury cannot be totally avoided, rather they can be minimized. The way a person treats and responds to his or injury determines how fast you might recover.
Your chiropractor will make spinal subluxations to help restore your natural mobility along with the use of physical therapy to support your tendons, ligaments, and muscles.
All of these activities will help return your body’s normal function. When chiropractic care is combined with rest, many people go back to exercising and engaging in athletic activities in a short amount of time.
Chiropractic care can also help to maximize your athletic performance, so you can experience more enjoyment of your sport.
Sports Injury FAQ
What should I think about when experiencing any type of sports injury?
- Sports injuries can cause both acute and chronic pain
- Overstressing your muscle can cause you to experience persistent aches and pain
- Pushing your body beyond its limit, especially during an injury, may cause additional damage to the body
- Sports injuries can be very painful and difficult to live with
- Lots of musculoskeletal problems occur due to sports injuries
- Rest and reduce regular activities if you experience a sport injury
Summary
You may experience a sports injury due to a variety of reasons such as exercising too much, overuse of muscles, direct impact on hard surfaces, and poor athletic training. Medication is only a short and temporary relief to your pain and problems.
Chiropractor Dr. Troy Dreiling can help you fully recover from a sports injury by helping restore your mobility and alleviating the pain. Call us today to schedule your free consultation!
Video
Transcription
Hey, it’s Dr. Troy here in Vancouver, Washington!
Today I want to talk about sports injuries and their effect on your health and your function. Being an athlete myself, playing football through high school, and being competitive in college in
Being an athlete myself, playing football through high school, and being competitive in college in bodybuilding, I know first hand the value of getting regular chiropractic adjustments, even prior to injuries. I‘ve definitely experienced injuries and chiropractic has helped me. That’s what got me into chiropractic.
Over the years I’ve worked with USA Judo, USA Volleyball, USA Weightlifting, USA Soccer, USA Wrestling. These are high-level athletes that demand the body functions properly and some of these people will suffer injuries. Whether it’s a fall or a trauma or they move wrong. Maybe they have neck pain and get headaches, they have shoulder pain, maybe they get a sting where they compress or over stretch a nerve playing football from a tackle. A gymnast who falls off the balance beam and lands on her hip. Even ankle sprains, shoulder issues, these are all things that chiropractic may be able to help with.
I’ve seen hundreds of athletes over the years. Athletes tend to respond fast because they are in shape, they’re used to having their bodies heal because they are always working out. So, their bodies are always in healing mode all the time. They are always building and repairing and they are trying to lay down new healthy tissue.
If you have been injured, or I see some of these older athletes who are in their forties or fifties and they have had multiple injuries from when they grew up from sports and they are suffering now, later in life. Those can be great chiropractic patients, they can respond really well through a series of chiropractic adjustments.
If you are suffering, you’re an athlete, you’ve been injured and you want to see if chiropractic is right for you, call the office, (360) 260-6903. One of our highly trained doctors or massage therapists will work together with you to get you back on the field, get you back to your sport, get you feeling good again.
(360) 260-6903 is the number at the office.
