Another study reveals that chiropractic care wards off sports injuries. The new report looked specifically at the prevention of lower-limb injuries in Australian Rules football players.

A total of 59 semi-elite players took part in the experiment. Of these, 29 received chiropractic care and 30 served as controls.

According to the report, “both groups received the current best practice medical and sports science management, which acted as the control. Additionally, the intervention group received a sports chiropractic intervention. Treatment for the intervention group was individually determined and could involve manipulation/mobilization and/or soft tissue therapies to the spine and extremity. Minimum scheduling was: 1 treatment per week for 6 weeks, 1 treatment per fortnight for 3 months, 1 treatment per month for the remainder of the season (3 months).”

Findings “demonstrated a trend towards lower limb injury prevention with a significant reduction in primary lower limb muscle strains and weeks missed due to non-contact knee injuries through the addition of a sports chiropractic intervention to the current best practice management.”

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders – April 8, 2010;Epub.
www.biomedcentral.com/bmcmusculoskeletdisord

Cervical adjustments increase range of motion (ROM) and movement time, according to a new study.

The investigation enrolled 15 volunteers between the ages of 21 to 42 years. All the participants had an “asymptomatic palpable intervertebral motion restriction at the C1-C2 level.”

The volunteers were randomly divided into two groups. One group received upper cervical spinal manipulation, while the other received no treatment. A significant improvement in active cervical ROM into rotation and movement time was seen in the intervention group, but not in the control group.

JMPT – March 2010;33:189-92.
www.jmptonline.org