Chiropractic Aids Sprained Ankle Recovery

​We see a number of patients in our Arlington, WA office with ankle sprains but Dr. Ernst has had a lot of success helping them heal more quickly. Why are ankle sprains so common and how can chiropractic care help?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), approximately 25,000 people in the US sprain their ankles every day. 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 occur due to one forceful movement, or it can develop over time, and activities that increase the risk for this type of ankle sprain include running and jumping. You're also at risk if you have past ankle injuries, poor posture or balance, weak muscles, and reduced range of motion. How can Dr. Ernst help?

A report printed 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 individuals between the ages of 18 and 45 who had a history of ankle inversion sprains, who were reporting tenderness and/or pain, and had not re-injured the ankle in the previous six weeks.

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

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

If you're near our location in Arlington, WA and you're recovering from an ankle injury, give us a call. We'll do what we can to keep you up and running...literally!

Sources

• 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