Everyone from professional to recreational athletes has the potential to experience a sports injury. These injuries can be both minor and major.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the top 7 most common sports injuries, and how chiropractic treatment can help in your recovery.

Tennis Elbow

Tennis Elbow is a fairly common injury that can actually occur in any type of sport where a constant repetitive movement of the wrist or elbow occurs.  Most commonly, people who play tennis and golf are effected.

Tennis elbow causes pain, swelling and stiffness as a result of many tiny tears within the muscles and tendons of the elbow.  The best way to prevent the condition is to add a warm-up and exercise routine to your tennis or golf game. An elbow brace can also be used.

If you have tennis elbow, rest, ice, and anti-inflammatories can help, along with special stretches and exercises your Chiropractor can show you.

Knee Injuries

Knee injuries are common in many sports.  Everything from a strain, to an ACL tear can happen if you move the wrong way during a game.

Common knee injuries include ACL tears, torn meniscus, tendon tears, and injuries that involve the patella.  Depending on the type of injury, surgery may be necessary, however for injuries that don’t involve surgery, a combination of rest, stretches and adjustments can help.  The knee is one of the body’s largest joints, and takes a lot of abuse during sports.  Being proactive about knee health is important.

Chiropractic knee therapy is especially beneficial, as keeping the joints and muscles finely tuned will make them less susceptible to injuries.

Sprains and Strains

Sprains and strains can occur at any time.  Sometimes they are due to parts of the body being overworked. Other times, they are the result of some sort of traumatic impact to the area. They also occur if muscles and ligaments are used in an unnatural way.

Unfortunately, most of us have experienced a sprain or strain at some point in our lives.  The key to preventing these types of injuries, is to ensure that your body is in optimal working condition.  Chiropractic treatment can ensure that your muscles and joints are properly aligned. Alignment helps ward off strains and sprains that can occur when a muscle isn’t functioning properly.

Groin Pull

A groin pull is an injury to the muscles of the inner thigh, which help to pull the legs together.  If you participate in sports that require a lot of side to side movements, usually contact sports like football, then you are at risk of suffering from a groin pull.

A Chiropractic treatment called ART (Active Release Technique) is especially helpful to a groin pull injury, along with regular therapeutic stretching.  ART targets the soft tissues within the groin to help speed up the healing process of a groin pull injury.

Shin Splints

Shin splints is a condition that is typically suffered by people who run or jog on a regular basis. Characterized by shooting pains down the front of the legs, it can often be brought on by not properly warming up and stretching before taking a run.

Along with the standard ice and rest, the symptoms of shin splints can often be relieved in a single visit to the Chiropractor.  By treating all of the muscles of the lower and upper leg, chiropractic therapy will help to strengthen the muscles that are contributing to the pain of shin splints.

Sciatica

Sciatica is a condition that originates in the lower back, and causes shooting pain down the sciatic nerve, all the way down the leg to the ankle.  Many people suffer from sciatica even if they aren’t involved in sports. Although, it is a common condition suffered by those who do participate in sporting activities.

Sciatica can occur for many reasons including a lack of proper stretching and warmup before sporting activities.  If you suffer from bulging discs or other lower back problems, you could end up suffering from sciatica.

One of the best ways to prevent sciatica, is to ensure that all of the joints and muscles of your back are working properly. Proper alignment will reduce things like disc issues and back spasms. In turn, this will reduce your risk of developing sciatic.  Chiropractic treatment is an integral part of maintaining proper back health.

Shoulder Injuries

There are many types of shoulder injuries that a person could experience.  Two of the most common traumatic types are dislocations and separations.  These types of injuries can occur when the muscles within the shoulder and back are not functioning properly.  The strain that is put on the shoulder muscles can cause them to become very uncooperative. This will likely result in one of these types of injuries if the back problems aren’t corrected.

The best way to prevent shoulder injuries is to ensure that your entire upper body is working properly. This includes muscles, bones and ligaments.  Chiropractic adjustments can help to correct any problems that may lead to a shoulder injury, thereby helping to keep the muscles of the shoulders strong and healthy.

How Can A Chiropractor Help?

As you can see, there are some fairly common sports-related injuries.  These types of injuries can occur whether you participate in sports or not. Reducing your risk of one of these types of injuries is to maintain overall body health. Chiropractic treatments do just that. They are designed to treat the ‘bigger picture’ of the whole body. They don’t just focus on the area where the symptoms of injury will occur.

If you’d like to reduce your risk of suffering a sports injury, visit your Chiropractor on a regular basis.  He/she will be able to deliver adjustments that will ensure your body is working properly.  They can also work with you to design a well-rounded treatment plan should you experience an injury.  Treatment plans can include Chiropractic and massage therapy, along with physical therapy and stretching.