Sprains, Strains, and Other Pains: Chiropractic Care Offers an Excellent Options for Overuse Injuries
Feeling a little sore after a weekend of sports or yardwork? You may have an overuse injury, one of the many conditions that can be improved with a visit to the chiropractor.
What Are Overuse Injuries?
Overuse injuries affect the ligaments, tendons, soft issues, muscles, joints, and bones. The injuries can occur anywhere, but most often cause pain in the back, shoulders, elbows, hips, legs, knees, feet, and heels.
Overuse injuries can occur if you:
- Use Repetitive Motions, Whether You're Painting the House or Hitting a Golf or Tennis Ball
- Train Too Long, Too Often, or Too Intensely
- Use Incorrect Form or Technique
- Have Poor Posture
- Wear Shoes That Don't Provide Adequate Support and Cushioning for Your Feet
- Run or Work Out on Hard Surfaces
Common overuse injuries include:
- Tennis Elbow
- Golf Elbow
- Little League Elbow
- Runner's or Jumper's Knee
- Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Injuries
- Shin Splints
- IT Band Syndrome
- Achilles Tendonitis
- Rotator Cuff Tendonitis
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Shoulder Impingement or Instability
- Sprained Ankles, Knees, and Wrists
- Strained Muscles
- Hip, Elbow, Knee, and Kneecap Bursitis
- Stress Fractures in the Leg and Foot
Treating Overuse Injuries with Spinal Manipulation
You're much more likely to experience an overuse injury if the vertebrae in your spine are misaligned. Misalignments affect your entire body, causing imbalances that leave muscles and tissues too tight or too weak and prone to injuries. In some cases, tight muscles and tissues press on nerves, causing or worsening pain.
Have you ever felt a tug in your shoulder, arm, or upper back muscles when you swung a baseball bat or reached up to trim a tall hedge? That pulling sensation was a warning sign that your muscles were too tight. If you ignored the signals from your body, you might have ended up with a painful muscle strain or a rotator cuff injury.
Spinal manipulation, the most well-know chiropractic treatment, realigns the vertebrae in your spine. Realigning the vertebrae decreases pain, allows the muscles and soft tissues to relax, and promotes healing by improving blood flow.
The treatment is quick and pain-free. Your chiropractor uses quick hands-on movements or an activator device to improve the alignment of your spine and joints. Regular visits to the chiropractic prevent misalignments and can help you avoid new injuries.
Manipulation also eases inflammation, a key factor in pain and stiffness. Although inflammation is helpful in the early stages of injuries, tissues may remain inflamed long after an injury. Chronic inflammation can delay healing and cause pain, stiffness, and reduced range of motion.
Massage Relieves Pain and Enhances Flexibility
Your chiropractic treatment plan may include massage, a therapeutic technique that's helped people heal for thousands of years. Massage reduces tension in muscles and soft tissues that can cause pain.
Scar tissue produced by your body to help heal your injury can decrease your flexibility. Massage breaks apart scar tissue, improving your ability to move your joints easily. Natural painkillers released by your body during your massage could even reduce your reliance on prescription or over-the-counter medication.
Scientists at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering explored the healing power of massage in a recent research study. Their experiment involved massaging injured leg muscles in mice with a custom-designed robotic system. Massage quickly removed neutrophils and cytokines, cells that cause inflammation. Mice that received massage therapy recovered more quickly and had stronger leg muscles than those that didn't receive treatments.
Ultrasound Therapy
Ultrasound may be part of your therapy plan after an overuse injury. Sounds waves warm deep tissues, relieve pain, relax muscles and soft tissues, reduce inflammation, increase blood flow, and promote healing. Increasing blood flows makes it easier for nutrients and cells that heal the body naturally to reach the injured areas. The therapy is helpful for sprains, muscles spasms, strains, tendinitis, bursitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other overuse injuries.
According to a systematic review published in the Internal Medicine Review, the use of ultrasound for the treatment of soft tissue injuries is supported by scientific evidence and improves injury outcomes.
Are you struggling with an overuse injury? Chiropractic care can speed your recovery and reduce your pain. Contact our office to schedule an appointment.
Sources:
The Harvard Gazette: Massage Helps Injured Muscles Heal Faster and Stronger, 10/6/2021
NCBI: Internal Medicine Review: Low Intensity Ultrasound for Promoting Soft Tissue Healing: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Medical Technology, 2/2016
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6128661/
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases: Sports Injuries, 7/27/2020
https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/sports-injuries
Palmer College of Chiropractic: Why Do Athletes Often Rely on Chiropractic Care?, 7/8/2022
https://www.palmer.edu/palmer-blog/why-do-athletes-often-rely-on-chiropractic-care/