Pediatric Chiropractic
School is back in session! While focusing on school work can exhaust your child’s mind, school sports are also taking a toll on their body. Participating in school sports allows your child to exercise and stay active, but it can come at a price if you are not careful. Youth sports can physically strain your child’s developing structure and can affect their growth. Fortunately, with the proper education and preventative measures, you can lessen sports-related injuries to your child, and let them get back to enjoying their games!
A study of athletes by the Journal of Chiropractic Research and Clinical Investigation concluded that athletes who received 12 weeks of chiropractic care exhibited 30 percent improvement in reaction time, versus a group with no chiropractic care.
The Statistics.
- The number of kids who play organized sports each year – 36,250,000
- Percent of parents who are worried about injuries in youth sports – 87 %
- Percent of kids who play sports outside of school – 60 %
- Percent of boys who play organized sports – 66 %
- Percent of girls who play organized sports – 52 %
More than 3.5 million children ages 14 and younger get hurt annually playing sports or participating in recreational activities. More than 775,000 children, ages 14 and younger, are treated in hospital emergency rooms for sports-related injuries each year. Most of the injuries occurred because of falls, being struck by an object, collisions, and overexertion during unorganized or informal sports activities.
According to the CDC, more than half of all sports injuries are preventable. Overuse injuries are responsible for nearly half of all sports injuries to middle and high school students.
Younger athletes are more susceptible to injuries because they have slower reaction times than adults, they are less coordinated, and they are still growing and developing. Many injuries result from overuse, which comes from placing stress on the musculoskeletal system.
Benefits of seeing a Chiropractor for youth sports
Seeing a chiropractor when involved in youth sports helps prevent injuries and/or manages existing injuries while improving athletic performance. The chiropractic physicians at Ault Chiropractic can educate you and your children on wellness techniques as well as biomechanical injuries and their treatment options. Implementing routine chiropractic care throughout sports-related activities can decrease neck and back pain and will allow your children’s joints to function better in the activities that they love.
Tips to consider
- Always wear protective equipment correctly.
- Make sure your coach is properly training your kids (only 1 in 5 coaches of youth teams of children under age 14 say they have been properly trained).
- Drink plenty of water and eat well-balanced meals.
- Stretch and warm-up accordingly before practice and cool-down after practice.
- Get plenty of rest and avoid being overworked.
- Work on managing the mental stress competitive sports can cause.
Be sure to keep you kids in prime playing condition and encourage you to add chiropractic to your child’s training schedule! Also, Drs. Robert and Rebecca Ault are Certified Chiropractic Sports Physicians, which makes them uniquely qualified chiropractic physicians. They are experts in helping your children with their sports injury and wellness needs.
Make an appointment for your athlete at our Hudson Chiropractic Office or our Brimfield Chiropractic Office here.