Sports chiropractic care is a specialist type of chiropractic treatment designed to help athletes recover from injuries and improve their performance. Sports chiropractors are qualified to assess sports-related injuries, such as spinal misalignments and joint pain, and treat them using various chiropractic adjustments and massage therapy.
Chiropractors that specialize in sports-related injuries can also help athletes prevent future damage by putting together custom programs for each patient, outlining specific routines for exercises they can do at home, recommended diets, and ergonomic advice.
Sports chiropractor vs general chiropractor
The difference between a sports chiropractic professional and a general chiropractor is that a sports chiropractor has in-depth training that allows them to evaluate muscular-skeletal problems associated with taking part in sports. They deal with the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of injuries that affect the body’s joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles.
Treatment
The type of treatment involved in sports chiropractic care depends on the individual. A session to alleviate restricted spinal movement caused by a basketball injury will look a lot different when compared to a session for a professional runner who wants to improve their performance.
Sports chiropractic treatment can include:
- Manual adjustments
- Nutritional advice and supplements
- Rehabilitative exercise programs
- Massage therapy
- Additional therapies depending on each individual patient
Sports chiropractors use sophisticated technology to diagnose injuries before treating them. Tools such as musculoskeletal ultrasounds, MRIs, CT scans, and x-rays can all help a sports chiropractor get to the root of the problem, so they can put together the best treatment plan. They can diagnose and treat all kinds of common sports-related injuries, including:
- Tennis players who suffer from upper extremity problems as a result of repeatedly hitting a ball
- Athletes with shoulder and spinal injuries caused by many overhead throws
- Runners who experience intense hip pain from excess running on pavements
A sports chiropractor is an expert at correcting injuries caused by asymmetries and restoring the body’s natural balance.
What can sports chiropractic care treat?
To perform at their best, it’s important that all athletes (professional and recreational) maintain a healthy balance of structure, strength, and endurance. A sports chiropractor can help you achieve all this.
Athletes such as tennis and basketball players frequently experience overuse injuries that begin in one joint and spread outwards. This can often be caused by a herniated disc in the spine. A chiropractor can help you recover from this type of injury through spinal manipulations and soft tissue release techniques to reduce excess tension in your joints and muscles through gentle stretching and massages.
The goal of sports chiropractic care is to get athletes back into their sport as soon as possible and prevent them from suffering further injuries in the future. Some of the most common conditions treated by sports chiropractors include:
- Achilles tendonitis
- MCL sprains
- Hamstring strains
- Sports hernia
- Whiplash
- Shin splints
- Ankle sprains
- Quadriceps trains
- Lower back pain
- Neck pain
Benefits
There are many benefits that come with sports chiropractic care. It’s one of the best and least-invasive methods of preventing injuries, improving your overall health, and optimizing your performance. It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional athlete or just enjoy playing on weekends, having regular chiropractic sessions can help make sure you can continue practicing your favorite sport for as long as you want to.
Here are just some of the benefits of sports chiropractic care:
- Improve and speed up the healing process
- Boost muscle function
- Enhance sleep duration and quality
- Improve general health
- Prevent future injuries
- Relieve pain from current injuries
- Increase range of emotion
- Boost strength
- Lower stress levels
- Reduce drug dependence
Start Today with Sports Chiropractic Care
If you’re a professional athlete or regularly play sports, it’s incredibly important to take care of your body. When you look after yourself properly, you’ll avoid major damage in the future, recover from injuries faster, and become better at your chosen sport. Failure to take good care of your body could put you at risk of an injury that means you can never practice your favorite sport ever again.
Do the smart thing and make an appointment with your nearest Veeva chiropractic clinic. You’ll be able to chat with the resident sports chiropractor about the best ways to stay in optimum shape for peak performance. Whether or not you’ve got a specific injury that needs addressing, the team will be able to take care of you and help you smash goals you never thought you could achieve.
About the author
Matt has been helping providers within the healthcare setting for over a decade. He realizes how best to solve a patient’s problem by understanding the individualism of each patient. Therefore knowing what their true needs are. To focus on the patient and the “Why” they need their particular service that goes beyond the initial reason for them to seek treatment.
Matt has been with Veeva since 2018. He also has access to over 75 years of combined real-life hands-on experiences from the many doctors within the Veeva Chiropractic landscape.
