Chiropractic Care Aids Sprained Ankle Recovery

We see a lot of patients in our Parkland office with ankle sprains but Dr. Scharf has had a lot of success helping them get relief more quickly. Why are ankle sprains so common and how can chiropractic adjustments help?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), an estimated 25,000 men and women in the US sprain their ankles daily. As a matter of fact, these injuries make up practically 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 frequent is inversion, or when the ankle rolls inward. This injury can happen due to one forceful movement, or it can develop over time, and exercises that increase the risk for this type of ankle sprain include running and jumping. You're also at risk if you have previous ankle injuries, poor posture or balance, weak muscles, and reduced range of motion.

How Can Chiropractic Therapy and Dr. Scharf Help?

A report printed 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 area in the previous six weeks.

Eighteen of the people were assigned to receive rehabilitation and the remaining 15 patients received chiropractic therapy in addition to rehabilitation. Each individual had five full weeks of treatments, with the rehab group receiving therapy seven days a week and the rehab plus chiropractic group receiving treatment six out of the seven days.

Research Shows Chiropractic Treatment Helps With Ankle Sprains

Researchers found that the individuals who had both rehabilitation and chiropractic fared the best at the 4-week mark when it came to pain and joint restriction. Also, no negative effects were reported, showing that chiropractic adjustments is safe!

If you're near our location in Parkland and you're dealing with an ankle injury, give us a call. We'll do what we can to keep you up and moving... literally!

Articles

• American College of Sports Medicine. (n.d.). Ankle sprains and the athlete. Retrieved from https://www.acsm.org/docs/current-comments/anklesprainstemp.pdf
• Lubbe, D et al. (2015, January). Manipulative therapy and rehabilitation for recurrent ankle sprain with functional instability: a short-term, assessor-blind, parallel-group randomized trial. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 38(1), 22-34, doi:10.1016/j.jmpt.2014.10.001