Chiropractic Care for Gymnasts

Most people associate Chiropractic care with back and neck pain, headaches and sciatica, but Chiropractic care also helps optimal performance.

Here at Body Care Health and Chiropractic we have been treating more and more gymnasts, most of whom are below the age of 14 and are involved in multiple training sessions a week. Most of their complaints are due to back, hip or knee pains but we also have treated sprains in the elbow and wrist joints.

Gymnastics is among the most difficult and demanding sports in terms of stresses being place on the body physically. It is the type of sport which requires your body to have a fair amount of flexibility in performance. This is why gymnastics can cause both acute and overuse injuries.

Many young girls participate in gymnastics and this is when their bodies are most flexible and are still developing. As a Chiropractor, we want to ensure their bodies develop correctly by removing any interferences before they become a problem physically (short term and long term) and interfere with their performance.

It is always good for parents to pay close attention to their child’s complaint of any pain. Any pain expressed by a young gymnast should never be ignored or treated lightly as ‘growing pains’ as there may be an underlying injury that could have adverse long term effects to a child’s physical development.

How Can Chiropractic Care Help?

Chiropractic care provides alignment of the spine which increases the health of your nervous system, joints and therefore sporting performance. At Body Care Health and Chiropractic we use gentle techniques to help all joints (not just the spine) such as shoulders, hips and knees. This will help reduce the chance of injury. We will also help with techniques to strengthen their core muscles and increase flexibility in a stable way.

At Body Care Health and Chiropractic we believe that prevention is better than cure and the sooner an injury is detected, the higher the chance of recovery. Our goal is to keep young gymnasts’ bodies healthy and injury free, as well as optimising their performance.

For more information please contact us on 0409712075.

Author: Dr Felicity Ede