How Can a Chiropractor Help With Sports Injuries?
Did you know that men’s football causes the worst sports injuries, whereas soccer is the sport with the most injuries in women’s sports? If you play sports to get that blood flowing and to build camaraderie with your fellow players, sports injuries aren’t on top of your mind.
But it is something that can cause you to miss days not only from your favorite sports but also from work (21.9% of injuries require over 7 days off). That’s where a sports injury clinic and a chiropractor come in.
Read on to see how a sports injury doctor can help you become less injury-prone and heal faster from any potential injuries.
A Sports Injury Chiropractor Can Help Your Injuries
The great thing about a sports injury doctor is that they can help you restore optimal joint function after an injury. This way you can go back to playing your favorite sport without a care in the world. Chiropractors do this by making adjustments to reduce pain and alleviate joint inflammation.
As you can imagine, as an athlete, you put a lot of pressure on your body every time you train or compete. This can result in a wide variety of problems with spinal alignment and movement. And can cause injuries in the long term.
Without a chiropractor’s help, you will not use your injured limb or area as much. This will probably cause the muscles around it to atrophy and the joints to stay inflamed for longer.
Chiropractic therapy can help reduce tension and pressure on the various joints in the body like the ankles, knees, hips, shoulder, and back. If you’ve been to a chiropractor before, you must have experienced the audible cracking sounds called joint cavitation. This is when the gas is released as the joint opens up and the full range of motion is restored.
A chiropractor also does a wide variety of other treatments using heat, ice, and electrical stimulation. This reduces pain in your joints and body. Simple stretching and mobilizing exercises also help a great deal with reducing joint pressure and restoring mobility.
Your Asymmetries Will Be Analyzed
A sports injury doctor will also do a structural exam of your back, joints, tendons and ligaments to figure out where your asymmetries lie. As you can imagine, human beings aren’t built completely symmetrical from head to toe. Many of us have one limb longer than the other or asymmetries in our back joints that might not be apparent to the untrained eye.
But each asymmetry can result in an imbalance in the body that can be detrimental to an athlete’s optimal performance.
A chiropractor can help you get back into alignment by using methods like massaging, soft tissue work, and other methods of reducing tension. It can restore alignment in your spine. And an aligned spine is crucial for healthy and high-performance activities without injuries.
The minute your body is aligned more symmetrically, it can reduce overexertion on one side of your body, and thus, reduce greatly the chances of injuries due to asymmetries. This is something that you wouldn’t even consider without the help of a sports injury doctor.
Stretching and Increasing Flexibility Reduces Injuries
Even though your coach reminds you to warm up and cool down before and after each sports session, you probably don’t follow the advice to a T. No one really does. You are too eager to get to the workout or the actual sports session.
But stretching your muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments and thus, improving their flexibility is crucial to avoiding injuries during competitions and practice.
A chiropractor can help you with those tight muscles. They do this by analyzing your tense and painful muscles to see where the misalignments lie. And using soft motions or tension-relieving exercises reduce or remove said tensions. Over time, time spent with a chiropractor pays off great dividends as your body becomes less prone to injuries.
Prevent Those Sports Injuries Before They Happen
A chiropractor will make adjustments, stretch your muscles and limbs, and make spinal alignments. This will all ensure that your body stays in alignment longer and is prone to fewer injuries.
Not only will you recover faster from an injury (or inflammation) when they happen, but a chiropractor’s care and attention will diagnose any imbalances or tensions as soon as they manifest. This way they can be removed and injuries prevented from the get-go.
As you know, prevention is better than cure. There’s nothing better than being in alignment and strong enough to avoid injuries altogether. But this won’t happen without the careful attention of a sports injury doctor.
Every time you are planning to begin a new sports or exercise regimen, it’s important for you to visit a chiropractor beforehand. They will be able to gauge where your body stands right now, with all its asymmetries and misalignments. And in this manner they can get you back to balance and spinal alignment, making you a stronger athlete and helping you avoid injured days on the bench.
Enhance Your Athletic Performance With the Help of a Sports Injury Clinic
No one ever thinks that they will experience sports injuries. Even if they are playing sports with the most injuries recorded, like men’s football or women’s soccer. It’s too late once the injuries have already happened.
A sports injury clinic will, of course, be able to help you once you get an injury. But it’s better to get to them before you start a sports or exercise regimen to avoid all possible days off due to injuries.
Contact Glenwood Sport & Spine or visit our location in Edmonton. Get your sports and car accident injuries taken care of in the right manner. Our staff is always ready to help you with any inquiries you might have.