Chiropractic Works for Ankle Sprains

​We see quite a few patients in our Columbus office with ankle sprains but Dr. Kenneth Osborn 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), an estimated 25,000 men and women in the US sprain their ankles daily. In fact, these injuries make up almost 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 take place due to one forceful movement, or it can develop over a period of time, and exercises 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. Kenneth Osborn help?

A paper 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 experiencing tenderness and/or pain, and had not re-injured the ankle in the previous six weeks.

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

The authors found that the individuals who had both rehabilitation and chiropractic fared the best at the 4-week mark when it came to pain and joint restriction. Furthermore, no undesirable effects were reported, showing that this treatment option is safe.

If you're near our office in Columbus and you're struggling with an ankle injury, give us a call. We'll do what we can to keep you up and running...literally!

Citations

• 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