Chiropractic Works for Ankle Sprains

​We see quite a few patients in our New Carrollton office with ankle sprains but Dr. Heusler has had a lot of success helping them recover more quickly. Why are ankle sprains so common and how can chiropractic help?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), an estimated 25,000 men and women in the US sprain their ankles daily. In 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 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 pre-existing ankle injuries, poor posture or balance, weak muscles, and reduced range of motion. How can Dr. Heusler help?

A paper published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics set out to determine chiropractic's role when it comes to ankle sprain recovery. The authors recruited 33 people 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.

18 of the participants were assigned to receive rehabilitation and the other 15 people received chiropractic in addition to rehab. Each person had five full weeks of treatment, with the rehab group receiving treatment seven days a week and the rehab plus chiropractic group receiving therapy six out of the seven days.

The authors found that the individuals who participated in both rehabilitation and chiropractic fared the best at the 4-week mark when it came to pain and joint restriction. Additionally, no negative effects were reported, showing that chiropractic is safe.

If you're near our location in New Carrollton and you're struggling with an ankle injury, give us a call. We'll do what we can to keep you up and running...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