Blog | Innate Chiropractic Center

Achilles Tendon Sport Injuries And Chiropractic Treatment

Professional athletes and individuals with a specific sport hobby suffer from a multitude of different injuries, contracted during the course of their activities. Some popular sports like football, soccer, baseball, golf, hiking, basketball, etc., while highly enjoyable, involve extensive exertions which result in various sports injuries in players. Chiropractic has become a popular mode of treatment for the different sports injuries and medical conditions, like Achilles Tendon injury, dislocated shoulder and spinal alignment.

What Is Achilles Tendon Injury?

The achilles tendon is one of the longest tendons in the body, which is stretched from the heel to the calf muscles of the human body. It assists in the engagement of different activities which require movement and flexible physical activity.

The Achilles tendon is used by sports athletes and enthusiasts for practicing and playing the different strenuous sports, like football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, running, etc. Over-exertion on the Achilles tendon results in swelling and pain in the tendon which hampers an athlete from engaging in different sports activities. If too much pressure and exertion is put on the tendon, it causes it to tear partially or completely rupture.

Symptoms

An injured Achilles tendon becomes swollen and causes acute pain whenever the leg is stretched. The patient feels stiffness and tenderness in the affected area, which makes it difficult to engage in different everyday activities. If the tendon completely ruptures, then the patient experiences excruciating pain, and is unable to move around.

If an athlete experiences difficulty in flexing his legs or pointing his toes, he might have a partial or complete rupture in the Achilles tendon. Prompt medical attention is required for the diagnosis and treatment of the Achilles tendon injury, before the patient suffers more acute damage due to movement or strain.

Treatment

Achilles tendon injury requires prompt treatment from medical professionals to ensure that the affected area does not suffer further damage. A patient with a ruptured or injured tendon is required to rest his leg and apply ice to ease the swelling. Patients are also advised to use an elastic bandage on the leg to keep the swelling down.

Anti-inflammatory pills can be prescribed which tend to bring down the swelling of the tendon, and different exercises are advised for keeping the tendon in shape. But chiropractic treatment is quickly becoming the preferred mode to heal sports injuries, especially Achilles tendon injury.

Image Used under Creative Commons license. Photo Credit:03042012Ccm gamosuma juvenilA231.JPG

Disc Injuries -Thoracic Disc Herniation and Chiropractors

The demanding activities and tasks at the workplace and the lifting of heavy objects at home, causes pain in the back and neck region of the body, which if not treated appropriately, can result in serious disc injuries. Thoracic spine herniation is a medical condition, for which chiropractic offers effective treatment methods.

What Is Thoracic Disc Herniation?

Thoracic disc herniation is a type of disc injury in which the upper back region of the body is affected and a tingling pain permeates throughout the affected area. In some cases, the patient might feel pain in his chest and rib cage, which might be because of the pressure exerted on the nerves in the area.

The thoracic spine of the body consists of 12 vertebra, referred to by doctors as T1 to T12. The thoracic spine begins at the base of the neck, and continues until the end of the rib cage, where the T12 vertebra joins with the first vertebra of the lumbar region.

Thoracic disc herniation is a medical condition caused by the bulging or swelling of the pulpous and nerve material, located in the center of the disc. The material squeezes out of its narrow space and becomes exposed. The pressure exerted by the disc on the exposed nerves causes extreme pain to the individual which hampers him in engaging in different everyday activities.

Disc generation is also a probable cause of thoracic disc herniation, as the disc experiences wear and tear due to age and strenuous usage. This medical condition is more likely to develop in individuals who are in the 40 to 60 year age bracket.

Medical professionals conduct MRI scans in order to determine that there is no pressure and damage to the spinal cord because of the degeneration of the disc. In extreme cases, where the herniated disc exerts pressure on the spinal cord and the nerves, an individual can even suffer from a paralysis in the lower region of the body.

If the disc herniation is more to the side, it might cause pressure or impingement on the nerve root, causing pain in the abdomen and chest walls. In other cases, the pressure on the nerves might cause a combination of different symptoms ranging from upper back pain to tingling sensations all down the spine.

Chiropractic and Disc Injuries

Chiropractic offer non-invasive treatment methods for different spine, neck and disc injuries. They provide services for joint adjustment and relief from various musculoskeletal disorders. Chiropractic is gaining popularity for effective treatment of different painful muscle strains and disorders.

Image used under Creative Commons Licensing: the neck thing. ouch. no really…ouch! by Beth Punches

Lansing Chiropractor describes intermediate neck exercise

Here is a simple exercise that you can do at home with no exercise equipment.
It works the longus capitis, longus colli, SCM (sternocleidomastoid) muscles.
The purpose of this exercise is to increase neck strength and muscular endurance.
The benefits are improved stability, functional strength and injury prevention.

Begin by lying on the back with the head extended off the table, maintaining a chin tuck position.
Slowly extend the head back towards the floor and then raise the head, returning to the initial neutral starting position and repeat as instructed.
Move slowly through the range of motion.
Slowly return to start position.
Repeat for prescribed repetitions and sets.

Good Nutrition For A Healthy Life

To maximize weight loss and exercise goals, you need to avoid crash diets and overly aggressive exercise programs. Small, simple changes have a more lasting effect. For instance, instead of going on a food fast or severe calorie deprivation diet, make a pledge to have smarter food choices by eating healthier foods. Start reading food packaging labels. Labels are the key to weight loss and proper nutrition. From labels, you gain the knowledge of which foods are high calorie and which ones have too much fat or carbohydrates (sugar). More importantly, you can study the ingredients of food products so that you can avoid certain health and weight loss sabotaging components. You can exclude potentially harmful ingredients like high sodium levels, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and colors and hydrogenated oils from your diet when you read labels. As far as an exercise program is concerned, instead of stressing yourself out over finding the time for a two-hour gym workout each day of the week, try starting out with three to four 30-minute walks per week. Walking on a treadmill at the gym or outdoors is one of the best all-round exercises. Studies have shown that walkers are 50% healthier than non-exercisers. Once you make a walking routine an integral part of your week, it is then much easier to branch out into other forms of exercise, like circuit training or aerobics classes. The bottom line is that if you start making changes slowly and ease into a healthy lifestyle, the more likely your goals will take root and become a part of your life.

Introduction to Chiropractic

What is Chiropractic?

Being a type of manual therapy, the practitioner utilizes techniques, forces and manipulations that are administered chiefly by hands. The spinal cord is the center of all therapies for a chiropractic doctor. Their belief is that the spine is the central structure as it allows messages from different parts of the body to reach the brain and vice versa. Under the state of paralysis in any part of the body, it is the spinal cord that can make any limb completely nonfunctional.

Spine Manipulation

Keeping the vitality of the spine in mind, D. D. Palmer brought to life the concept of spine manipulation to deal with vertebral subluxation. It is the practice of applying varying amounts of force to the area of concern in the spine to restore normal functioning. Palmer is popular for applying this technique to a deaf individual (deafness not present at birth) and being successful at restoring his hearing capabilities.

Subluxation

Primarily a chiropractic practitioner deals with a vertebral subluxation. A subluxation is when the spine loses its normal positioning and the neural pathway dysfunction causes a compromise in the functioning of several different parts of the body including the visceral system. A subluxation occurs as a result of a trauma, injury or even a chemical imbalance in the body.

Chiropractic’s Forte

A thorough examination is undertaken before your doctor performs any chiropractic techniques to relieve your pain. Several conditions are beyond the realm of this care. If you have a neurological condition, then you will be recommended to a neurologist and will not be administered any care procedures under a chiropractic practitioner. Other such conditions that cannot be dealt with manual therapies include tumors, broken bones, osteoporosis and arthritis. Areas that can be called its forte are pain in the upper and lower back, neck pain, and headaches, minor injuries related to sports, asthma, tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, menstrual pains and the like.

Neck pain

This is said to be the second most valid reason for paying a visit to a chiropractic practitioner. However, neck pain can be caused by a variety of reasons. Several of which can be dealt with utilizing chiropractics. With cervical disc degenerative diseases, pinched cervical nerve, minor injuries to ligaments, herniated disc disease and the like, chiropractic can be very effective.

When the neck becomes an area of concern, several other parts of the body can suffer the impact. Weakness in the arms, shoulders and hands, the tingling sensation in parts of the body supplied by the neck suffer along with the pain in neck. Therefore, dealing with neck pain with the help of a chiropractic practitioner is a wise decision.

« Previous Page
1
…
4
5
6
7
8
…
15
Next Page »

Connect With Us