The Difference in Sports Medicine Doctors
Chiropractic vs. Conventional Medicine
Whether teen, recreational or professional, athletes of all levels experience injury at one time or another. While some sports injuries are acute and others the result of overuse, the trick is getting the proper treatment quickly to help you heal and be back in the game in the most efficient way possible.
Both chiropractors and conventional medical doctors practice sports medicine, and both can conduct thorough examinations, and order Xrays and MRIs to diagnose injuries. It’s their treatment approaches that are often radically different.
Sports chiropractors
Sports chiropractors use a holistic approach to treating sports injuries by focusing on the manipulation of the spine and various other joints, as well as soft tissue mobilization in the affected area. This increases mobility and relieves undue stress on certain joints, offering patients immediate pain relief and long-term curative effects. Other common treatments used in chiropractic sports rehabilitation include targeted red laser therapy to reduce inflammation, electrical stimulation, and specific exercises aimed at improved mobility and strength in the injured area.
Conventional Medicine
Sports medical doctors treat sports injuries by prescribing rest, physical therapy, or more invasive techniques such as pain medication and even surgery. While these may be necessary in emergency situations such as when a bone is broken or other severe cases, most sports injuries can be healed with the more hands-on, non-invasive approach of a sports chiropractor and without the use of prescription drugs.
Cause of Injury
Aside from utilizing more-natural, less-invasive procedures, chiropractors are as focused on the cause of the problem as much as they are the problem itself. While you may think you know what caused your injury — your elbow hurts because you play too much tennis, for example — there could actually be a posture/alignment issue or soft tissue restriction affecting strength, balance, flexibility or mobility in that area that led to the condition.
In addition, many chronic injuries are due to other lifestyle factors such as obesity, stress or nutrient deficiencies. Sports chiropractors can address those areas as well, with the intention of treating the cause of your problem, and not just the symptoms. With this approach, chiropractors have great success in not only the treatment of existing sports injuries but in helping patients return to their sports pain-free with reduced risk of re-injury.
If you are seeking pain relief from a sports injury that is not an emergency, consider chiropractic as your first choice in a sports medicine doctor.
