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Many people suffer sports injuries each year for which they don’t feel the need to seek treatment, particularly young athletes. Fear of being sidelined leads them to think that because it only hurts a little or only during certain activity they can safely push through the pain during workouts, or “treat” the injury themselves with ice, wraps, pain relievers, and self-designed workout modifications.
But over time, minor knee, shoulder, or elbow pain not treated properly can become lingering discomfort, or even a permanent health problem, despite the fact that complete recovery is possible.
It’s vitally important to seek early and proper treatment, and chiropractic rehab is increasingly relied upon by youth and teen athletes of all levels for full and faster healing of sports injuries.
With specialized training and knowledge of sports-specific body mechanics, sports chiropractors can restore functional integrity and stability to affected areas to provide faster pain relief and prevent minor pain from becoming exacerbated or chronic.
“Proper” Treatment is Not the Same for Everyone
Every injury and every athlete is different. While two people may have the same complaint, the events that led to the reported pain may be different, as are the health, lifestyle habits, and body compositions of the patients.
Sports chiropractic utilizes thorough evaluations of posture, alignment, and body mechanics to formulate an individualized rehab regimen for each patient consisting of a number of therapies and modalities. To recover fully, patients must achieve an intricate balance of rest, activity, and lifestyle support, along with proactive sports rehab.
Rest: Activity. Rest equals repair, but while the immediate point of injury may need a period of inactivity, it’s important to strengthen the surrounding soft tissue, ligaments, and tendons with appropriate stretches and exercises. Sports chiropractors utilize proven tools and therapies that speed healing and often leave injured areas stronger than they were before.
Lifestyle Factors. To restore an injured part of the body, the athlete needs adequate sleep and healing nutrition. While most teen athletes can consume vast amounts of junk foods without gaining weight, diets high in sugary, processed foods don’t assist repair. Not only will vitamins, minerals, and proteins energize the body for rehabilitation, they will prevent other illnesses like colds and viruses from demanding important immune-system attention. Likewise, smoking/vaping, drinking alcohol, and overusing OTC pain meds slow the regeneration of injured tissues and interrupt the healing process.
Sports chiropractic rehab. While it’s tempting to think minor injuries can be self-treated, it’s important for young athletes to seek guided professional care. Because youth and teen athletes are still growing, not properly taking care of issues early on can damage growth plates and affect development. In addition, athletes who have been attempting to play with minor injuries tend to have altered techniques to compensate for pain, affecting their performance and creating bad habits that can contribute to future injuries. Alleviate pain with sports chiropractic allows the body to function more optimally to enhance performance.
Sports injuries are a natural part of sports. Whether you have a new injury or are dealing with lingering pain from a previous one, chiropractic sports rehab can help you heal more quickly and get you back in the game.
