Treatments for Sports Injuries
Angela Baker explains the top alternative treatments for sports injuries.
Thirty million young people participate in sports only in the USA. The trend of physically active young people is a step in the right direction, but it comes with a danger. 2 million young athletes suffer injuries annually, and 3,000 need hospitalisation at least once a year. While many choose medication to improve their state, complementary therapies can also make them feel better and cope with the situation. Here are the top of the most used alternative treatments for sports injuries.
Why do athletes prefer alternative treatments?
Current evidence does not support the effectiveness of alternative treatments for sports injuries, but often, athletes are dissatisfied with conventional solutions. Many conventional treatments do not work on sports injuries, and they come with associated adverse effects that damage their performance. Also, many doctors are overworked, so they do not always offer their patients what they need.
Alternative therapists prefer a holistic approach. They treat the whole person, not only the sports injury the athlete experiences. They personalise the treatments to fit the personal factors every patient experiences.
The majority of alternative therapies, such as meditation, yoga, and reiki, promote well-being. Even if they do not improve sports injuries, patients continue to use them because they make them feel better. More and more doctors are recommending alternative treatments to complement conventional solutions.
Food as medicine
The food that you eat gives you everything you need to function correctly. It can also help you heal from injuries sustained while doing physical activity. For instance, you should eat a better breakfast if you have muscle cramps. Cereals with a delicious cinnamon taste open the blood vessels and allow the food to enter the intestines. As far as milk is concerned, it gives you a much-needed electrolyte boost. If you want to recover faster from an injury, try anti-inflammatory foods like tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, fatty fish, cherries, oranges, and strawberries
When you are hurt and cannot move specific body parts, you should eat as much protein as possible. The best foods to eat are eggs, dairy products, seeds and nuts, tofu, beans, and legumes.
Why are they so good? Because these foods minimize the losses and help you make a full recovery. Do not accept sports injuries. Could you do something about them?
Chiropractic Adjustment
Take health into your own hands and embrace a more holistic approach. Consider the whole body when searching for health and wellness. We will fill in the blanks if you don't know what holistic healing stands for. Holistic medicine is all about achieving excellent health by gaining the right balance in life. You should see a chiropractor if you experience soft tissue injuries, such as tears, sprains, and contusions. The professional offers numerous options, including sports massage, electrical muscle stimulation, and ultrasound therapy.
Chiropractors are skilled professionals who can treat and prevent injuries relating to the knee, back, shoulder, and ankle. A chiropractic adjustment is recommended for professional athletes and amateur sports enthusiasts. Undoubtedly, each medical case is different. If it is not the result of poor stretching techniques, it is caused by an undetected spine or joint problem. The chiropractor thoroughly examines and asks questions about your sports life to determine what is wrong.
Herbs
If you play soccer, blisters are common. A great deal of friction is applied to many areas of the skin, causing irritation and the build-up of fluid under the skin. Surprising as it may seem, herbs can help heal blisters.
If you want to disappear your blisters, rub calendula on the affected areas. This medicinal flower contains flavonoids, which protect the body from free radicals. Use calendula regardless of whether you have an ulcer or an upset stomach. Aloe vera is an excellent alternative to calendula, so try to find one of these two. This miraculous plant has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, which can help muscle and joint pain.
However, when dealing with complex health problems like tendonitis, your doctor may recommend some medication, and you should listen to their advice. Your doctor will analyse the chemistry involved in your tendonitis and will try to identify what chemical irritants lead to your condition. Inflammation of the tendon often involves chemical irritants such as serotonin, cyclooxygenase, bradykinin, or histamine. Sometimes, tissue inflammation results from toxins, so you should ask the doctor if this is true.
When you practice sports regularly, you are predisposed to get injured, so you should improve your chemistry knowledge to understand how specific reactions occur.
Getting More Sleep
You need to get more sleep. It is the thing that you hear time and time again. Until now, you have not been willing to listen to this piece of advice. If you get optimal sleep, you can improve your physical performance and speed up recovery. What happens is that wounds heal faster, and damaged muscles are protected from further injury. When you doze off, the body makes white blood cells, which fight infection and boost recovery.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a safe alternative if a trained practitioner performs it using sterilised needles. Traditional Chinese medicine states that an imbalanced energy flow causes various health problems, so acupuncture can treat allergies and mental health conditions. Chinese medicine explains that a harmonious balance between yin and yang under the form of the force known as qi leads to prosperous health. Qi and energy flow through 350 acupuncture points in the human body.
A therapist inserts needles in the points responsible for the injury, bringing the energy flow back into balance. Acupuncture is helpful in cases of knee pain, neck pain, low back pain, and osteoarthritis. It can help athletes deal with pain and stress and replace pain medications that can count as drugs. Doping is the last thing a young athlete needs when trying to make a name for themselves.
Alternative treatments are the best solution in some sports injury cases because they have few side effects, are safe when performed correctly, and work great when combined with conventional therapies.
Page Reference
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- BAKER, A. (2019) Treatments for Sports Injuries [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article498.htm [Accessed
About the Author
Angela Baker is an alternative medicine specialist currently working with athletes to help them heal sports injuries without taking medication. She is always seeking to discover new ways for personal and professional growth and is convinced that it's always important to broaden her horizons. That's why Angela constantly researched new alternative treatments to address sports-related conditions. Also, she writes for alive.com to guide athletes looking for alternatives to conventional treatment.