We see a number of patients in our Boardman office with ankle sprains but Dr. Carradine has had a lot of success helping them recover more quickly. Why are ankle sprains so common and how can chiropractic help?
According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), an estimated 25,000 people in the US sprain their ankles every day. As a matter of fact, these injuries make up nearly half of all sports injuries, causing people to spend time away from the activities they enjoy most.
Like any injury, there are many causes of ankle sprains. The most common is inversion, or when the ankle rolls inward. This injury can occur due to one forceful movement, or it can develop over a period of time, and activities that increase the risk for this type of ankle sprain include running and jumping. You're also at risk if you have pre-existing ankle injuries, poor posture or balance, weak muscles, and reduced range of motion.
A paper published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics set out to identify chiropractic's role when it comes to ankle sprain recovery. Researchers enrolled 33 individuals between the ages of 18 and 45 who had a history of ankle inversion sprains, who were experiencing tenderness and/or pain, and had not re-injured the ankle in the previous six weeks.
18 of the subjects were assigned to participate in rehabilitation and the other 15 people received chiropractic in addition to rehabilitation. Each person had five full weeks of treatments, with the rehabilitation group receiving therapies seven days a week and the rehab plus chiropractic group receiving treatment six out of the seven days.
The authors found that the people who had both rehab and chiropractic fared the best at the 4-week mark when it came to pain and joint restriction. Additionally, no negative effects were reported, showing that chiropractic is safe.
If you're near our office in Boardman and you're recovering from an ankle injury, give us a call. We'll do what we can to keep you up and moving... literally!
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