Sporting injuries are common among athletes of any age partaking in any sport but of course some types of injuries are more associated with one particular sport rather than others. Fortunately, though a professional chiropractor has the knowledge and experience to help any sportsman doing any sports and it is not just when they are injured that a sports chiropractor can help them as they can often give advice to ways to help avoid those injuries.
Although most chiropractors are used to seeing and dealing with a very wide and diverse range of injuries, there are some injuries which occur more frequently than others, especially among athletes. The 7 most common sports injuries found by some sports chiropractors are:
- Muscle strain
- Back pain
- Golfer’s elbow or tennis elbow
- Knee ligament sprain
- Runner’s knee
- Achilles Tendinitis
- Plantar Fasciitis
Muscle Strain – Muscle strain or muscle tear can happen to any muscle in the body due to overuse, overload, repetitive movements, slip or a fall but the most common muscles affected by this among athletes are hamstring in the back of the thigh, rotator cuff in the shoulder or quadriceps in the front of the thigh.
Back Pain – Nerve impingement, neck pain, disc herniation and whiplash all come under the common heading back pain and these can be injuries due to the often extreme tension placed on the back during participation in many different sports.
Golfer’s elbow or tennis elbow – The correct medical terms for these are Medial and lateral epicondylitis respectively and can be caused by continued repetitive movement of the arms and can affect both the inside of the elbow or the outside.
Knee ligament sprain – These sprains can lead to unstable and painful knee joints and are more often suffered by basketball players, soccer players and gymnasts, sports which are associated with excessive leg movement.
Runner’s Knee–To give it its proper name Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, can be caused by a variety of different things including the wearing of inappropriate footwear, over or under training and poor posture but always lead to inflammation and pain around the kneecap.
Achilles Tendinitis – This is a painful inflammation of the Achilles tendon which connects the heel bone to the calf muscle and so is located in the lower leg.
Plantar Fasciitis – This is the name of the thick band of tissue which forms the foot’s arch and when damaged can cause pain to the foot’s underside and the heel.