Dr. Rosselle offers a balanced approach to the treatment and the healing of sports injuries. By using chiropractic adjustment to return spinal segments to their normal mobility and by using physical therapy to help the supportive tissues (muscles, tendons, & ligaments), Dr. Rosselle helps the injured areas return to normal function. Combined with some rest to help the healing process, athletes will find their way back on the court or wherever they practice. Afterward, better strategies for exercise and stretching will be discussed with the athlete to help him or her stay on the path to better enjoyment of their chosen sport.
According to experts, as much as 20 percent of all sport injuries involve the lower back or neck. Running and weightlifting, and other sports that involve repetitive impact, expose athletes to a high risk for lumbar (lower back) injuries. Contact sports, such as soccer and football, expose the cervical spine, or neck, to injury. More than one-third of all high school football players sustain some type of injury. Soccer players are at risk for mild to severe head traumas, neck injuries, cervical spine damage, headache, neck pain, dizziness, irritability, and insomnia. Heading the ball, the act of using the head to re-direct the soccer ball, has been linked with cervical injuries in children and adults. The trampoline and gymnastics also present significant risks for spinal cord injuries from unexpected and brute falls or contact with hard surfaces.
Here’s a look at some of the other common injuries by sport:
Bicycling – Poor posture can greatly increase your risks of a back injury during cycling. When riding a bike, your lower back is constantly flexing sideways and up and down. Upper back injuries can involve the flexing of the neck. And the bumps and jars incurred on the road can wreak havoc and possible compression injuries to your spine.
Golf – Common injuries incurred during the sport of golf usually involve muscle sprains and strains to the lower back.
Running/jogging – Running and jogging puts a great deal of stress on your back, since the constant pounding against a hard surface can jar, and possibly compress, structures such as vertebrae, joints, and discs.
Skiing – Skiing involves a great deal of twisting and turning motions, as well as jarring landings, all of which can cause muscle sprains and strains and in some cases, minor spinal fractures.
Swimming – Swimmers are known to suffer lower back injuries. Motions such as the crawl or breaststroke can cause the lumbar region to be hyperextended. If the swimmer is not properly conditioned or warmed up, the hyperextension sometimes doesn’t subside.
Tennis – “Tennis elbow” is a layman’s term for pain on the lateral, or outside part of the elbow, on or near the bony protrusion. Tennis elbow is caused when the tendon from the elbow bone tears or is ruptured. It is no surprise that professional tennis players can be afflicted with this given all of the stress and strain they place on the joint during play. In addition, tennis players are in constant motion, and the repeated twisting and trunk rotations can cause injuries. Shoulder injuries and turned ankles and knees also are common. The act of serving the ball also has been shown to hyperextend the lower back, and possibly compress discs.
Weight lifting/body building – Body builders are at a significant risk for a host of serious back, shoulder, neck, and knee injuries. Resistance training has been known to cause muscle sprains and strains, ligament and tendon injuries, and in some cases, stress fractures (also called spondylolysis). Older people seem to be at higher risk since their bones and discs are more brittle.
Dr. Rosselle’s goal is to restore spinal health so that the body has the best opportunity to maximize proper function. Knowing this, it's easy to understand why so many athletes enjoy what chiropractics have to offer.