Professional athletes are constantly reaching new heights in their professional careers. With each passing year, new records are shattered and the human body is pushed to its limits. Competitors train rigorously and take their diets to a new level every day. Yet despite the conscientious care and precautions that athletes follow, most experience musculoskeletal injuries at one time or another.
Chiropractors are to athletes as cardiologists are to those who suffer from cardiovascular disease. Athletes who receive treatment from a medical doctor find themselves frequently benched and on the sidelines. Others play and then spend hours after the game icing their injuries and taking pain medication. This is because medical doctors do not treat the body as an integrated system, but rather treat each injury individually. Meanwhile, chiropractic treatment offers a balanced, holistic approach, by using spinal adjustments and physical therapy techniques to help the patient’s muscles, tendons, and ligaments return to their normal function.
Chiropractic care meticulously tends to the needs of the athlete because special attention is given to the spine, joints, muscles, tendons, and nerves. Additionally, chiropractic care ensures that all pieces of the musculoskeletal system are working harmoniously in their healthiest, most natural state.
Professional athletes recognize tremendous value in chiropractic care because they realize that it helps them maximize athletic performance. Whether you’re an athlete or a weekend warrior, receiving chiropractic care will enable you to reach an optimum level of achievement without breaking yourself.
At Action Chiropractic, Dr. Brian Willyard, a sports injury chiropractor in Port Orchard, WA, helps athletes recover quickly and keep playing for years.
Below we'll discuss the main benefits.
Headaches Caused by Neck Pain
Many of the headaches athletes experience can be traced to problems in the neck. This can be caused by vertebrae shifting out of alignment leading to pressure on your occipital nerves.
Utilizing light touch, physical manipulation, and massage techniques, Dr. Willyard helps reduce upper neck tension, relieve nerve pressure, and eliminate triggers that often initiate headaches and migraines.
Lumbar Spine
Dr. Willyard may use lumbar spine traction to relieve back, neck, or leg pain caused by herniated or bulging discs and pinched nerves.
Traction therapy gently stretches the spine, allowing displaced discs to retract, relieving pressure on nerves, and increasing blood flow for healing.
Elbows
Elbow injuries can prevent you from reaching peak performance, whether you are an amateur or professional athlete.
Treatment from a sports injury chiropractor in Port Orchard, WA, can break up the scar tissue causing your elbow pain and restore your muscles to normal function, helping them heal more quickly and reduce discomfort.
Shoulders
Shoulder injuries are common among athletes of all ages and can affect a range of sports. Forceful impacts on repetitive motions can cause them.
Instead of immobilizing the injured area and prescribing pain pills, Dr. Willyard will identify the issue and suggest noninvasive treatments that promote faster healing.
Hips
The hip is one of the largest joints in the body. It's a ball and socket joint with cartilage cushioning to prevent friction.
Arthritis or inflammation can have a devastating impact on cartilage. This leads to painful cycles of cartilage loss and degeneration.
Sports injury chiropractors can assist athletes with their hip injuries by recognizing triggers for injuries and providing ongoing treatments to reduce pain and prevent further damage to the cartilage.
Knees
The knee contains the largest free-floating bone in your body and acts like a hinge, allowing you to sit, walk, squat, or jump.
The synovial fluid surrounds and moisturizes the joint surface cartilage upon which the kneecap rests, keeping it lubricated and protected. Unfortunately, when this cartilage becomes damaged or injured, arthritis can develop.
However, athletes can reduce their risk of injury when they regularly receive sports injury chiropractic care from Dr. Willyard.
Ankles
An ankle sprain is one of the most frequent injuries athletes suffer.
Dr. Willyard uses various techniques to treat an ankle injury, such as ice therapy, massage, and soft tissue manipulation. This helps reduce swelling and bruising and accelerate healing time.
Call Action Chiropractic at (360) 876-6865 to schedule your appointment with Port Orchard, WA, sports injury chiropractor Dr. Willyard.
