Tackle Sports Injuries Head-On: A Comprehensive Guide to Chiropractic Care for Football Players
Tackling Football Injuries Head-on with Sports Chiropractic
The repetitive motions and high-impact collisions associated with football make it a fairly high-risk sport if the body is not properly conditioned. Regular sports chiropractic care can reduce the risk of sports pain and injury by using multiple targeted therapies to fully optimize the range of motion, strength, and flexibility and treat pain during play at its earliest stages. Sports chiropractic care is also great for helping athletes recover from football-related injuries.
Overuse Injuries
Some of the most common injuries of the sport result from overexertion or overtraining, repetitive stress, and wear and tear on the joints over time. These types of injuries can occur in the shoulder (from repeated overhead throwing,) and the knee (from stress associated with running, pivoting, and bracing,) but can occur in any joint experiencing repetitive stress and strain.
Proper technique, as well as conditioning exercises targeting strength and flexibility in these specific areas, are vital to preventing injury or re-injury. Sports chiropractic care involves the expert evaluation of sports-specific body mechanics to improve the quality of movement and eliminate compensation strategies (improper movements due to pain or lack of mobility.)
Because many of these types of injuries result from training beyond the body’s ability to recover, sports chiropractic recovery assistance can be most beneficial as part of a training program. Sports massage, soft tissue manipulation, chiropractic adjustment, and a variety of specialized therapies aid healing address imbalances in muscles and joints, and ensure alignment in the spine to give an athlete the edge by recovering more fully.
Traumatic Injuries
Hard tackles can result in ACL and MCL tears that can radiate associated damage to other muscles and tissues in and around the knees. Hamstring injuries are caused by rapid acceleration and deceleration and are another common acute injury. While injuries like this may sideline a player for a time, sports chiropractic care modalities like myoacoustic compression therapy, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, and red light therapy can reduce pain and encourage faster healing. These and other targeted therapies can improve blood flow to the damaged area, encourage the production of collagen, and stimulate cells and tissues to repair, regenerate, and recover faster. Myofascial release is particularly effective at addressing hamstring injuries.
Perhaps the most concerning potential injury football players face is concussion, especially repeated concussions. While most are mild, all concussions involve damage to the brain’s neurons. Symptoms can vary from slowed cognition, dizziness, and headaches to nausea, vomiting, and sleep difficulties, and may not show up until days after the hit.
Sports chiropractic care has been shown to be an effective concussion therapy. Gentle manipulation of the head, neck, and spine can ensure the nervous system is unimpeded. With the message centers of the brain free and open, the body’s innate ability to heal itself is naturally improved. Additional chiropractic therapies designed to stimulate the nervous system and fire up nerve activity can help restore healthy brain function faster.
Since footballers are gonna football, sports chiropractic care is here to ensure an athlete’s body is as strong, flexible, and conditioned as possible, their technique is on point, and pain during activity is addressed before it gets worse. If you play football — or parent a football player — at any level, rush to our website to discover the many ways sports chiropractic can improve your game and help prevent injury. Or call DTX Sports Medicine for an appointment today.
