Summer is quickly approaching and there are soooo many awesome sports we love to play! Soccer, golf, tennis, basketball, water skiing, volleyball… the list goes on. Personally, I love beach volleyball but that sport is so rough on my body. Jumping in the sand, diving for balls, and reaching for back to smash a great serve all create a lot of adrenaline for me. It also creates a lot of pain for me – in my knees, elbows, and shoulders, sometimes even my ankles if I land the wrong way. I’m sure you can think of your favourite summer sport right now and relate to both the adrenaline and the pain. As we age more, the injuries can take longer to heal and lead to chronic pain. This is why your Chiropractor is great to have around. He helps you relieve and treat the pain so you get to keep having fun no matter what injuries occur.

1. Groin Pain

Groin pain is caused by too much stress on the groin and thigh which makes it over stretch or over tear. Groin pulls happen often in sports that involve running, jumping and a quick change in direction. You will experience pain inside the thigh near the pubic bone and trying to lift your knee to your chest. You usually hear a popping or snapping sound and get swelling or bruising on the upper inside of the thigh muscles. It can be treated by Chiropractic care in a couple of different methods, including:

• Graston Technique
• Active Release Technique
• Kinesio Taping

3. Shin Splints

When you hurt your shin bone in the front lower portion of your leg it can easily turn into chronic pain. Running, jumping, walking for a distance and even chasing after your kids can cause shin splints. You can prevent getting these by stretching before your exercise and wearing the right footwear based on the activity you are engaging in. Your shin bone is a shock absorb-er for your body and supports the arch of your foot. When you do experience this pain, your Chiro can treat it to help reduce the pain by adjusting the calf, ankle, and foot, and getting your muscles stretching so blood flows easier. Shin splints can also be caused by the hip, spine, or ankle being misaligned. It happens a lot to people who are on their feet all day.

4. Shoulder Injuries

If you love playing beach volleyball as much as I do, you probably have a sore shoulder on a regular basis. It gets even more painful the older I get. Shoulder injuries can be difficult to recover from. We need to make adjustments to realign the joint and surrounding tissues. If you overuse your rotator cuff we can treat it with electrical muscle stimulation, spinal adjustments, and hot and cold compresses.

5. Concussions

As a Chiropractor I am trained to spot the signs of mild traumatic brain injury. This is often caused by a blow to your head, neck, or face. Sports that involve balls (so most of them) can easily set you up for a brain injury. I love spiking that volleyball but it’s not as much fun getting smashed in the face by the ball. I can identify if there’s neck injuries along with the concussion and help relieve your headaches as a result of the injury. I recommend pushing the pause button on your summer sports until the symptoms from your concussion are completely gone, so they don’t come back. You should avoid drinking alcohol, anti-inflammatory medications, and driving until you have fully recovered. Sidney Crosby is a well known example of someone who recovered completely from his concussions by receiving help from a Chiropractor. Each year, over 3.8 million traumatic brain injuries happen that are sport related. You may not notice the symptoms for days, or even weeks but if there’s enough trauma to injure your brain, there will surely be enough damage done to your spine too.

6. Tennis Elbow/ Golfer’s Elbow

Golfer’s elbow is a term less used but you have probably heard of Tennis elbow before. Even though both of these injuries involve the forearm muscles, the differentiating factor is where the muscles connect to the joints. They are on opposite sides of the joint. This injury causes inflammation and damage in the elbow and strains your different tendons. Tennis Elbow will affect your muscles and tendons from your forearm to your wrist and fingers. The pain may happen gradually and is usually a result of overuse in the forearm. Golfer’s elbow will affect your muscles from your wrist to your funny bone. The pain is more prominent when you twist your wrist and causes pain near the funny bone or inner elbow. There are some great stretches that can help with the pain but you should cut back on how often you participate in the summer sports that are causing this pain.   If you enjoy playing racquet sports like Tennis and Golf make sure you warm up your muscles and stretch before you play. Review your technique and the equipment that you are using. Your symptoms should not be ignored because it’s not going to go away on its own. Using a brace is a temporary solution. It should be treated with active release therapy, the graston technique, or extra-corporeal shock-wave therapy.