Chiropractic & Sports
Active Care for the Active Lifestyle
 
Chiropractic care and spinal manipulation treatment are growing in popularity and acceptance. Manipulative or manual therapeutic procedures have been the mainstay of trainers, sports physicians, chiropractic physicians and therapists since the beginning of competitive sports. Increasing interest in spinal manipulation by those associated with sporting activities comes from the fairly frequent incidence of spinal pain syndromes among athletes. Injuries to the lower back and neck become incapacitating and can lead to loss of performance and possibly permanent disability. Moreover, elite athletes are claiming that regular manipulative treatment has led to improved performance and this undoubtedly has stimulated interest in manipulative therapy and chiropractic in sports. All this momentum brings with it questions and controversy. This article will hopefully answer those questions and quiet some of the controversy.

The chiropractor’s role in sports (and in healthcare in general) is ever-changing. There has been much research done in the field of chiropractic and in the musculoskeletal specialties to help expand the scope of the chiropractic profession. The musculoskeletal system makes up over one half of the person’s mass yet many times this system is overlooked. The mechanical principles that determine what functions the body is able to perform are the same regardless of the activity be it athletic, recreational, occupational, or everyday tasks. It is this system that the chiropractor specializes in treating. The chiropractic professional is well versed in the art of joint manipulation, mainly the joints of the spine and extremities and recently is well trained in the areas of rehabilitation, nutrition and soft tissue techniques. All these tools allow the chiropractor to treat a sports-related problem very thoroughly and efficiently.

Let’s take a look at how running and related sports activity affects the body and how injuries can be examined and treated with chiropractic manipulative treatment. Taken as a whole, human locomotion is a careful orchestration of the whole body. Running especially, involves the whole body. Running is also a repetitive task. The body is asked to do a very demanding activity over and over again. During running, forces (from body weight and speed) absorbed by the body reach 10-15 times that of your body weight. These forces travel from the ground into the foot and ankle complex, to the knee and hip, into the low back and up into the arms. These forces are distributed equally throughout the joints of the legs, the spine and the surrounding muscles, ligaments, tendons, and fascia (the material covering the muscle, spinal discs, joints, ligaments and tendons). These connections are called a kinetic chain. This chain is a functional connection that runs from the foot to the opposite arm. There should be an equal sharing of forces along this chain for proper function to occur. The foot and ankle are just as important to this kinetic chain as is the back and arms. All the structures mentioned above need to be working in the correct order and at the correct time for proper function to occur. Any changes in the biomechanics, anywhere along the kinetic chain will eventually result in pain and injury. For instance, a foot that over-pronates (turns in too far) can manifest as knee pain, low back pain, or even as neck pain and headaches, without any pain present in the foot. Therefore, an athlete may have low back pain that is caused by incorrect biomechanics in the foot. Other problems that occur from injury and bad biomechanics are strain and sprain injuries, myofascial trigger points (painful “knotted” areas in the muscle), muscle tightness, and muscle dyssynergy, which is when a joint-stabilizing muscle does not work due to an over active mobilizing muscle (quite common). An example of this would be a problem common to runners, in which over active quadriceps muscle and iliotibial band (ITB) inhibits, or shuts off the vastus medialis oblique (VMO); the main stabilizer of the knee.

How does a chiropractic physician find out where the source of the problem began? A chiropractor will take a thorough case history, perform orthopedic tests, and run the athlete through a litany of functional tests. The goal of all physicians is to re-create the pain and rule out any structural damage that needs to be referred out to other healthcare specialists. Once the problem is determined the chiropractor has many options to treat the problem. Chiropractic is a profession that deals with the body as a whole, not only the area of complaint but other related areas with in the kinetic chain. Therefore, the chiropractor should look at joint dysfunctions of the spine and extremities, muscular imbalances, bio-mechanical problems, as well as nutritional, occupational and emotional considerations. Treatment of athletic injuries however, usually includes pain and swelling reduction, joint mobilization (the adjustment), stretching of over-active muscles, activation or muscle re-education for joint stabilizing muscles, and an active rehabilitation protocol that focuses on sport-specific activities.

You can see that there are many options available to the chiropractic physician. There are very few limitations to the treatment of sports related injuries and problems within the chiropractic scope of practice. Research, done mostly by insurance companies, shows that chiropractic care is not only extremely effective for the patient, with recovery times being cut in half in many cases, but it is also cost effective. The goal is to get the athlete (or non-athletic patient) active in his or her own care and to empower them with the responsibility of their own health.

If you have any sport injury or health-related questions feel free to contact either Matt Herber, DC or Matt Gallagher, DC at
Active Chiropractic & Rehabilitation by calling 965-1155.

You are also invited to stop in and see our unique approach to healthcare and talk to the doctors in person at 502 Greene Ave in Green Bay, next to Zestys or visit us online at www.activechirorehab.com

Matthew S. Herber, DC  and Matthew J. Gallagher, DC