What Your Danbury Chiropractor Thinks About Common Injuries

This Danbury Chiropractor Has Seen a Lot!

​And when it comes to common injuries, they aren’t all as “common” as they may seem. What appears to be a shoulder strain at first can end up deteriorating and causing complications down the road. It’s always best to exercise caution. But with consistent treatment, Danbury Chiropractor Dr. Shawn Carlin has noticed that common injuries can be prevented by regular chiropractic treatment.
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Our children participate in a lot of athletic activity these days. And most of those activities involve lower body movement- think about soccer, lacrosse, tennis, football, basketball players, etc. It’s become alarmingly common for young athletes to sustain some type of lower body injury. Young players have found themselves sidelined not only during practices, but games as well. It could be anything from a sprained ankle, a tweaked knee, a sore hip, and more. Fortunately, chiropractic care from doctors like Dr. Shawn Carlin in Danbury, CT can help prevent some of these lower body injuries from occurring.

The Research Backing Up Chiropractic Care & Injury Prevention

It might be on the other side of the world, but young athletes are pretty similar no matter where you go. In a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, researchers from Macquarie University in Australia studied 59 semi-elite Australian Rules footballers. These are serious athletes. Roughly one-half were placed in a control group and the other half were put in a treatment group that received sports chiropractic care at regular intervals. During the first six weeks, this meant engaging in care once per week. The following six months of the study, the frequency of care was incrementally decreased.

After looking at the data, Researchers noted that there was a “significant” difference between the two groups of athletes. In the group that received chiropractic care, the number of lower limb strains the players received in the treatment group was decreased when compared to the control. Furthermore, they also noticed that the subjects who engaged in chiropractic care also had fewer weeks of missed practice and games as a result of non-contact knee injuries.

It doesn’t take an Australian research paper to tell you: Chiropractic care can help prevent many common sport injuries. Most of those injuries are lower body injuries. The body is a complex machine! And the spine connects it all! Chiropractic care from Dr. Shawn Carlin in Danbury CT can help prevent lower limb injuries for lots of young athletes. That means more game time and less time spent on the bench!

I’m In Pain Already, Can a Chiropractor Help?

The odds are, the answer to that question is yes. Obviously a chiropractor cannot help fix a broken bone, or perform miracles on any other sports injuries. However, lots of the time the source of pain isn’t necessary that something is injured. It’s that there is an imbalance within the body. A lot of the time, an aching shoulder or bothersome lower back could have a host of causes: Bad habits, poor posture, etc. These imbalances manifest themselves when we ask our bodies to perform, like when we play sports. That’s where the pain comes in.

The primary goal of chiropractic care is to keep body mechanics working the way they are supposed to. When all the parts of the body are doing their jobs correctly, there is no pain. It is only when we are injured or there is an imbalance that people experience pain and reduced function. This is especially true for sports, when young athletes are constantly asked to do their absolute best.

Take it from Dr. Carlin here in Danbury: Your young athlete can benefit from chiropractic care whether they are in pain or not!

​Chiropractic Care is More Than Just Managing Pain

Sure, pain is generally the reason you end up seeing your local chiropractor. But pain relief is not the sole benefit that athletes, and any active person for that matter, can achieve from chiropractic treatment. Post-injury chiropractic treatment has been show to reduce inflammation in order to help restore function to the muscles, nerves, ligaments, etc. All this adds up to speeding the healing process. That means getting the body parts aligned and functionating normally again.

The Three Most Common Sports Injuries:

Shoulder Injuries are very common. Not only is the shoulder a complicated joint, but it is also often a crash pad or landing pad in contact sports.

Knee Injuries are usually due to the repetition of bad habits. Chiropractors like Dr. Shawn Carlin in Danbury CT see lots of patients who are rehabilitating from knee injuries. That’s because knee injuries are often wear and tear injuries. After repeating bad habits enough, an injury is like a bomb with a lit fuse. It’s just a matter of time.

After a knee injury there is a lengthy process. A Chiropractor help with exercises to help with any over-compensation. Also, a Chiropractor can help the healing process by helping to further cure over-compensation in order to bring the body into balance. And that means peak performance!

Lower Back Injuries are all too common, especially among taller athletes. Taller athletes can sometimes have a more pronounced “S” curve in their spine that can often result in lumbar spine issues. More commonly, however, are overuse injuries. These are the injuries caused by running or cycling. They aren’t immediate and happen over time. But without proper Chiropractic care and rehabilitation, minor injuries can become major ones.

​Hip Injuries are also common overuse injuries, in rowers and runners especially. It’s not always the best idea to just tough it out. Sometimes listening to your body is the right thing to do.

No matter what the injury may be, the help of a Chiropractor can put you back on track to recovering and performing your absolute best. Whether you’re an aspiring young athlete, or at the top of your game, Dr. Carlin has the latest technological equipment and years of valuable experience to help anyone who walks in the door. You can trust that Dr. Shawn Carlin and his Chiropractic Care in Danbury CT can help you heal faster and stay injury-free.