Child Sports Injuries & Chiropractic

Participation in youth sports is booming. And did you know that almost 40% of all children, teenagers and adolescent injuries are sports-related?

Injuries in the young athlete are often trivialised. Why? Because they are usually encouraged to "toughen up and play through the pain," or because expectations are they are young and resilient, therefore it is expected that their young bodies will heal quickly.

This approach is not in the young athlete's best interest for the following reasons:

• It often leads to delayed healing and return to sports.
• It can turn an easily treatable injury into one that becomes difficult to treat.
• In some cases, it can result in a permanent injury that precludes sports participation.

A child has many physical stresses to deal with during their growing years, and problems in children's spines can occur at almost any point in their development and growth. Factors that will affect the likelihood of a child sustaining an injury are:

• Physical makeup of the child. The natural strength of our ligaments, soft tissues and spine varies from person to person. Other factors such as body weight, posture and even hormonal factors can have an influence.
• In contact sports, the physical maturity of the child compared to their opponents.
• Degree of supervision by coaches and trainers.
• The amount of sport played in a period of time.

Children in sport will benefit greatly from spinal joint and extremity joint examinations by a Chiropractor. Every painful injury should be checked, and young athletes should be encouraged by their parent or sports coach to practice early intervention strategies.

At Potter Chiropractic we are trained in Sports Chiropractic diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Whether providing prevention education, structural adjustments or recommending ways to prevent future injury, Potter Chiropractic has an important role to play with young athletes.

Potter Chiropractic – Let's get you better