Your brain communicates with your body via your nervous system. If there is irritation to a nerve at the spinal level it can affect wherever that nerve goes.
The sacral plexus which exit the lower levels of the spinal cord supply the muscles, joints, bones, ligaments and other structures of the leg, knee, ankle, feet and toes. Therefore if there is irritation to the nerves which exit at these levels it can change the biomechanics of your leg and the way it functions. For example: it can change the way your hamstrings are firing. This can make you more susceptible to a hamstring injury.
There are 3 grades to a strain and each take a different amount of recovery time, ranging from 1 week for some grade 1 strains to 6 months for a particularly bad tear.
There was a study in 2010 which looked at hamstring and lower limb muscle strain in VLF players and how regular chiropractic care can help avoid such injuries. The reason they looked at these injuries is because they have been the most common injury in the AFL over the past 15 years. The study was looking at the inclusion of a sports chiropractor in conjunction with the current medical staff of doctor, physio and trainers.
The study lasted a whole season and included 59 VFL players. One group received chiropractic in conjunction with the normal treatment and the control group did not. The chiropractic treatment was patient specific – so whatever that patient needed at the time.
The chiropractic group only had 4% hamstring strain and 4% lower limb muscle strain whereas the control group not receiving chiropractic had 17% hamstring strain and 28% lower limb muscle strain.
The chiropractic group missed just four matches during the season through hamstring or lower limb muscle strains. The group not receiving chiropractic treatment missed 14 matches through hamstring injury and 21 matches through lower limb muscle strain.
The group receiving chiropractic treatment also had significant reductions in non-contact knee injuries, lower back pain and improvements in physical components of health.
These are pretty exciting results in just 1 season for a preliminary study.
