Osteopathic therapy for Sports Injuries, Rehabilitation and Prevention

Sports injuries treated by Osteopathic therapists

Whether you’re an enthusiastic amateur or an elite professional, an osteopathic therapist can help with the prevention and treatment of common sporting injuries.

For more information click on the complaint below.

1. • shoulder injuries
   

2. •  Elbow and wrist injuries.
   

3. •  Foot and ankle complaints.
   

4. •  Low back pain (with or without sciatica).
   

5. •  Muscle and ligament injuries.
   

6. •  Knee pain (including lack of mobility and degenerative conditions).
   

Functional complaints:

    *  reduced joint flexibility (e.g. suffered by golfers who can’t rotate as well as they used to).

    *  mechanical limitations (e.g. suffered by gymnasts having difficulty in doing full “splits”).

Injuries caused by overuse:

    *  tennis and golfer’s elbow.

    *  jumper’s knee.

    *  tenosynovitis and tendonitis.

    * recurrent injuries.

Osteopathic therapy in action

A man in his late fifties, running at senior club level, had a calf injury in his right leg. After assessment by a variety of therapists he consulted an osteopathic therapist who took a thorough case history and looked at his posture in action. The osteopathic therapist found that the problem had been caused by a change of job two years previously. The man's new job required a lot of standing up, and examination revealed his tendency to stand with his right leg slightly bent. As a result the calf muscle had started to shorten on the right hand side. Osteopathic treatment helped him to stand with a straight posture, reducing the tension in the right calf. A stretching routine was then prescribed and

recovery from the injury was quickly achieved.

A forty year old woman, playing badminton and tennis at county level, had been suffering from severe tennis elbow for six months. She was concerned that the worsening pain would force her to give up her sport. Her osteopathic therapist discovered that her spine allowed little rotation, and that her shoulder muscles were unusually tight. He treated her neck (from where the nerve supply to the elbow arises), and worked on her shoulder and upper back mobility. This approach prevented the elbow from compensating for the lack of movement in the shoulder and allowed better functioning of the whole upper extremity.

Free of pain, and benefiting from greater mobility, she recovered from the injury and was able to play more powerful tennis and badminton shots than ever before.

A 16 year old footballer, who played at a national level at U18, complained of recurrent hamstring injuries and right-sided low back pain over the past two years. This was despite of rest, various treatments and specialists' opinions. He had been diagnosed as having unequal leg lengths and a heel raise had been recommended. He started wearing this one year ago but more widespread symptoms had been created as a result. An osteopathic therapist’s opinion was sought and they were able to demonstrate that, very unusually, because of sport, a ‘protective scoliosis’ had already started to become semipermanent.

Thus the heel raise had forced additional stress which the spine was unable to compensate for. Treatment to enable the spine to re-align itself was carried out and a steadily increasing height of heel raise was gradually introduced. Exercises were given to help maintain the developing flexibility and increase strength. Treatment also helped to stop the hamstring injuries by increasing optimal joint function at the knee and hip.