Professional and amateur sports figures are reaching new heights in their careers everyday. Each year new records are shattered and the human body is pushed beyond its limits. Athletes are constantly pushing themselves harder, choosing rigorous training patterns, and taking their diets to a whole new level. Despite the meticulous care and training that these athletes take, they experience musculoskeletal injuries.

Chiropractors are to athletes, as Cardiologists are to those who suffer with cardiovascular disease. Chiropractors are specifically trained to evaluate and treat the injuries and ailments of athletes. Medical doctors are not well versed in sports injuries and an injured athlete will be treated more effectively by a Chiropractor. In addition to treating athletic injuries, chiropractors are skilled in aiding athletes in injury prevention.

Common Sports Injury Conditions:

• General muscle strain and ligament sprains
• Meniscus tears, cruciate ligament sprains and patellar tracking injuries
• Elbow and Wrist injuries
• Golfers/Tennis elbow and carpal tunnel
• Sprained ankles
• Shoulder pain
• Rotator cuff injuries, shoulder impingement and bursitis
• Knee pain

Athletes who are regularly treated by a medical doctor frequently find themselves benched and on the sidelines. Others that play often spend hours after the game with ice packs and taking pain medication. Medical doctors do not treat the body as an integrated system, but rather treat each injury individually.

It has been said that chiropractic care most closely relates to the needs of the athlete because special attention is given to the spine, joints, muscles, tendons, and nerves. Chiropractic ensures that all pieces of the musculoskeletal system are working in harmony and in their healthiest, most natural state.

Professional athletes see such a great value in chiropractic treatment that they regularly have chiropractic visits to prevent injuries.

Running, weightlifting, and other sports that involve repetitive impact, expose athletes to a high risk for lumbar (lower back) injuries. Contact sports, such as soccer and football, expose the cervical spine, or neck, to injury. More than one-third of all high school football players sustain some type of injury. Soccer participants are easy candidates for mild to severe head traumas, neck injuries, cervical spine damage, headache, neck pain, dizziness, irritability, and insomnia. Heading the ball, the act of using the head to re-direct the soccer ball, has been linked with cervical injuries in children and adults. The trampoline and gymnastics also present significant risks for spinal cord injuries from unexpected and brute falls or contact with hard surfaces. If you are an athlete or weekend warrior, chiropractic care will enable you to reach peak performance, without breaking yourself.

Here are Some Other Common Sports Injuries:

• Cycling – Poor posture can greatly increase your risks of a back injury during cycling. When riding a bike, your lower back is constantly flexing sideways and up and down. Upper back injuries can involve the flexing of the neck. And the bumps and jars incurred on the road during cycling can wreak havoc and possible compression injuries to your spine.
• Golf – Common injuries incurred during the sport of golf usually involve muscle sprains and strains to the lower back.
• Running/jogging – Running and jogging puts a great deal of stress on your back, since the constant pounding against a hard surface can jar, and possibly compress, structures such as vertebrae, joints, and discs.
• Skiing – Skiing involves a great deal of twisting and turning motions, as well as jarring landings, all of which can cause muscle sprains and strains and in some cases, minor spinal fractures.
• Swimming – Swimmers are known to incur lower back injuries. Motions such as the crawl or breaststroke can cause the lumbar region to be hyperextended. If the swimmer is not properly conditioned or warmed up, the hyperextension sometimes doesn’t subside.
• Tennis – “Tennis elbow” is a layman’s term for pain on the lateral, or outside part of the elbow, on or near the bony protrusion. Tennis elbow is caused when the tendon from the elbow bone tears or is ruptured. It is no surprise that professional tennis players can become inflicted with this with all of the stress and strain they place on the joint during play. In addition, tennis players are in constant motion, and the repeated twisting and trunk rotations can cause injuries. Shoulder injuries and turned ankles and knees also are common. The act of serving the ball also has been shown to hyperextend the lower back, and possibly compress discs.
• Weight lifting/body building – Body builders are at a significant risk for a host of serious back, shoulder, neck, and knee injuries. Resistance training has been known to cause muscle sprains and strains, ligament and tendon injuries, and in some cases, stress fractures (also called spondylolysis). Older people seem to be at higher risk since their bones and discs are more brittle.

Below is a list of sports injuries commonly treated at USA Health and Therapy:

If you suffer from any of these conditions or sports injuries, call Dr. Singer at USA Health and Therapy in Oakland Park to schedule an appointment today. Regular chiropractic treatments can promote health, healing, wellness and well-being.