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Treatments for Sports Injuries

Angela Baker explains the top alternative treatments for sports injuries.

30 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 from the total number 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 is 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 times doctors are overworked so they do not always offer their patients what they need.

Alternative therapists prefer a holistic approach and 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 like meditation, yoga, and reiki promote wellbeing, and even if they do not improve sports injuries patients continue to use them because they make them feel better. More and more doctors recommend alternative treatments to complement conventional solutions.

Food as medicine

The food that you eat gives everything you need to function properly. It can also help you heal from injuries sustained while doing physical activity. For instance, if you have muscle cramps, you should eat a better breakfast. Cereals with a delicious cinnamon taste open the blood vessels and allow the food to go to 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 certain parts of your body, you should eat as much protein as possible. The best foods to eat are: eggs, dairy products, seed 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. Do something about them.

Chiropractic Adjustment

Take health into your hands and embrace a more holistic approach. Consider the whole body when searching for health and wellness. If you do n0t have any idea what the concept of holistic healing stands for, we will fill in the blanks. Holistic medicine is all about achieving amazing health by gaining the right balance in life. If you happen to experience soft tissue injuries, such as tears, sprains, and contusions, you should see a chiropractor. The professional offers numerous options, including sports massage, electrical muscle stimulation, and ultrasound therapy.

Chiropractors are skilled professionals, so they can treat and prevent injuries relating to the knee, back, shoulder, and ankle. A chiropractic adjustment is recommended for professional athletes, as well as 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 carries out a thorough examination and asks questions about your sports life to figure out what is wrong.

Herbs

If you play soccer, it is common to have blisters. A great deal of friction is applied to many areas of the skin, and the outcome is irritation and the build-up of fluid under the skin. Surprising as it may seem, herbs can help heal blisters.

If you want to make your blisters go away, rub calendula on the affected areas. This medicinal flower contains flavonoids, which protect the body from free radicals. No matter if you have an ulcer or an upset stomach, use calendula. Aloe Vera is a great alternative for calendula, so try to find one of these two. This miraculous plant has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, which can turn out to be useful when you have 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 piece of 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 as serotonin, cyclooxygenase, bradykinin, or histamine. Sometimes the inflammation in tissues is the result of toxins, so you should ask the doctor if this is the case.

When practising sports regularly you are predisposed to get injured so you should improve your chemistry knowledge to understand how certain reactions occur.

Getting More Sleep

You need to get more sleep. This is the thing that you hear time and time again. Until now, you were not 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 the recovery process.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a safe alternative treatment as long as a trained practitioner performs it, and uses sterilised needles. Traditional Chinese medicine states that an imbalanced energy flow causes various health problems, so acupuncture can treat allergies to 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 and brings the energy flow back into its balance. Acupuncture is helpful in cases of knee pain, neck pain, low back pain, and osteoarthritis. It can help athletes to 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 injuries cases because they come with 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 who is 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 researched constantly new alternative treatments to address sports-related conditions. Also, she writes for alive.com, to guide athletes who are looking for alternatives to conventional treatment.