Chiropractic Treatment of Ankle Sprain

​We see many patients in our Springfield, MA office with ankle sprains but Dr. Michael Delson has had a lot of success helping them heal more quickly. Why are ankle sprains so common and how can chiropractic care help?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), approximately 25,000 people in the US sprain their ankles daily. As a matter of fact, these injuries make up nearly half of all sports injuries, causing people to spend time away from the activities they enjoy most.

Like most any injury, there are many causes of ankle sprains. The most frequent is inversion, or when the ankle rolls inward. This injury can take place due to one forceful movement, or it can develop over a period of time, and activities that increase the risk for this type of ankle sprain include running and jumping. You're also at risk if you have past ankle injuries, poor posture or balance, weak muscles, and reduced range of motion. How can Dr. Michael Delson help?

A study printed in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics set out to discover 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 subjects were assigned to receive rehabilitation and the remaining 15 individuals received chiropractic adjustments in addition to rehab. Each individual had five full weeks of therapy, with the rehab group receiving therapy seven days a week and the rehabilitation plus chiropractic group receiving treatment six out of the seven days.

The study found that the people who had both rehabilitation and chiropractic fared the best at the 4-week mark when it came to pain and joint restriction. Additionally, no adverse effects were reported, showing that chiropractic is safe.

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

Citations

• 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