Whether you are a weekend warrior, a competitive athlete, or simply staying active for health, sports injuries can sideline your progress and affect your quality of life. At Acomb Chiropractic Clinic, we specialise in diagnosing, treating, and preventing many sports-related musculoskeletal issues. By combining hands-on care with performance-focused rehabilitation, we aim to help you recover safely, optimise function, and get back in the game stronger than before.
Understanding sports injuries
Sports injuries occur when the body’s tissues—muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints, or bones—are exposed to stress beyond their capacity to adapt. This can result from:
- Acute trauma: sudden impacts, falls, or collisions
- Overuse: repetitive motions without adequate recovery
- Poor biomechanics: flawed movement patterns or technique
- Fatigue: decreased tissue resilience under physical or mental stress
Recognising the type and mechanism of injury is the first step in tailoring an effective treatment plan that addresses both symptoms and underlying risk factors.
Common types of sports injuries
- Sprains and strains: Sprains involve ligament tears around joints (e.g., ankle sprain). Strains affect muscles or tendons (e.g., hamstring pull).
- Tendinopathies: Inflammation or microtears in tendons—like achilles tendonitis or rotator cuff tendinopathy—often result from excessive loading without proper conditioning.
- Joint injuries: Dislocations, cartilage tears (e.g., meniscus tear in the knee), or repetitive joint stress (e.g., tennis elbow) can cause chronic instability and pain.
- Stress fractures: Tiny bone cracks develop over time from repetitive impact, sometimes seen in runners and gymnasts.
- Bursitis: Inflammation of the fluid-filled sacs that cushion joints (e.g., shoulder or hip bursitis) often follows repetitive friction.
Chiropractic care for sports injuries
The term ‘sports injuries’ covers a large array of possible injuries that occur following a physical trauma of some kind. Clearly not ALL physical injuries are appropriate for hands on physical care; fractures, dislocations, tears, or other severe injuries for example. But if you are in doubt as to what is going on, or what structure is injured, a chiropractor is often well placed to assess such an injury and establish if it’s something appropriate for our care, or if you need further investigations to rule out more severe damage.
Chiropractic treatment offers a drug-free, non-invasive approach that focuses on restoring optimal function and accelerating recovery. Options include:
Joint Mobilisation and Manipulation
Precise manipulations of spinal and peripheral joints are designed to improve alignment, enhance range of motion, and reduce nerve irritation. Restoring proper joint mechanics aims to help tissues heal under ideal conditions.
Soft tissue therapy
Techniques such as trigger point therapy, vibration massage and soft tissue stretching techniques break down scar tissue, ease muscular adhesions, and boost circulation to injured areas.
Myofascial dry needling/acupuncture
Needles can provide fantastic pain relief, especially for chronic injuries.
Rehabilitation and performance enhancement
Rehabilitation extends beyond pain management. We prescribe personalised exercises that target strength, flexibility, coordination, and proprioception:
- Strength training: Builds balanced muscle support around vulnerable joints (e.g., glutes and hamstrings for knee stability).
- Flexibility work: Dynamic and static stretches maintain optimal tissue length and joint mobility.
- Neuromuscular drills: Balance boards, agility ladders, and plyometric exercises refine movement patterns and reduce re-injury risk.
- Sport-specific conditioning: Tailored drills mimic the demands of your activity—be it sprinting, swinging a racket, or throwing—to ensure a seamless return to play.
- Preventing future injuries: A proactive approach minimises downtime and protects long-term performance:
- Technique optimisation: Coaching on proper form and biomechanics helps you move safely and efficiently.
- Load Management: Gradual progression of volume and intensity prevents tissue overload.
- Cross-Training: Incorporating varied activities reduces repetitive stress while maintaining fitness.
- Regular treatment: Periodic chiropractic assessments catch small issues or subtle imbalances before they lead to significant injury.
- Recovery strategies: Adequate sleep, hydration, nutrition, and active recovery techniques (foam rolling, massage) support tissue adaptation.
Get in touch
At Acomb Chiropractic Clinic, we are committed to helping you if we can. If you have had a sports injury or are concerned about recurring discomfort associated with activity, we encourage you to contact us for a personalised consultation. Our experienced chiropractic team will conduct a thorough assessment, explain our findings and what we think is possible in clear terms. If appropriate, we will develop a personalised treatment plan tailored to your specific condition and goals, aiming to maximise your possible benefit.
Not all complaints are appropriate for chiropractic care: If we think we cannot help your complaint, or you require more investigations, we will do our best to support you in finding you another path forward.