How can chiropractic care help athletes?

Sports Chiropractic provides care in the conservative management, rehabilitation or optimization of the neuromuscular system for the athlete to recover from injury and/or better performance. In Australia, sports chiropractic has been established for over 30 years.

Sports Chiropractic Australia has a vision to enhance the health of physically active Australians through chiropractic care and to increase integration and cooperation with others in sports healthcare.

The Sports Chiropractor focuses on the preventative, maintenance forms of treatment as much as the acute, immediate treatment of athletes.

A Sports Chiropractor gives consideration to the hard and soft connective tissues (joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia etc), in addition to exercise prescription.

The focus of sports chiropractic is to provide care in the conservative management, rehabilitation and performance optimization of the neuromusculoskeletal system for athletes. Sports chiropractors are also strongly driven to participate in a multi-disciplinary sports injury care team such as Physiotherapists, Soft Tissue Therapists, Sports Physicians and Orthopedic Surgeons to help provide the best care for each athlete.

Sports chiropractic achieves this focus through the application of a multi-modal treatment approach that include one or more of the following: manipulation, mobilization, soft tissue therapies, electrotherapy, rehabilitation and other movement/exercise therapies, nutritional advice, strapping and bracing and other related approaches. These approaches are applied to injury management in the form of acute, sub-acute and chronic injury as well as in the prevention of injury and the optimisation of athletic performance through the pursuit of the highest efficiency in neuro-musculoskeletal functioning.

Evidence for sports chiropractic is still growing with recent studies has highlighted some interesting results regarding the reduction and management of injuries for athletes.

If your are into sports and struggling with injuries or finding hard to meet your peak potential call or email the clinic for more information on how we can help you.

Call: (08) 9321 1964

By Dr. Ruben, Perth Chiropractor

References

The Effect of a Sports Chiropractic Manual Therapy Interventions on the Prevention of Back Pain, Hamstring and Lower Limb Injuries in Semi-elite Australia Rules Footballers; RCT (2010) Wayne Hoskins PhD , Henry Pollard PhD

Devitt BM. Use of conservative and sport-specific management strategies for a baseball pitcher with persistent elbow pain [case report]. J Chiropr Med 2006;5(3):97-100.

Kazemi M, Shearer H. Chiropractic utilization in Taekwondo help athletes. J Can Chiropr Assoc 2008 June;52(2):96-109

Stump JL, Redwood D: The use and role of sport chiropractors in the National Football League: A short report. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2002, 25 (3): 1-4. 10.1067/mmt.2002.122326.