Concussion, Athletes and Chiropractic care

The weight of the average head is 9-12 lbs.  7 small, moveable bones support this weight with help from the spinal muscles and spinal ligaments.  Any impact, sudden or jarring motion to the head will have a straining effect on the neck muscles which can cause the neck bones to subluxate or misalign.  Once the vertebra are out of their normal joint position, neck pain due to muscle imbalance and possible cervical tension headaches and dizziness are the result.  Chiropractors correct the alignment of the cervical spine with chiropractic adjustments to the spinal joints, restoring proper alignment and joint motion.  This allows the neck to heal and function normally. In addition, concussion impact injuries to the skull can cause fixations in the cranial bones. Cranial bone fixations, especially in the sphenoid bones near the temporal area can prevent a normal concussion recovery. In addition to acute concussion medical care and evaluation, chiropractic care of the cervical spine and cranial bone fixation management are essential to concussive recovery. Pre-concussion screening (testing for previous or current concussions and cervical chiro-subluxation) should be performed on all athletes prior to sports participation.  Athletes who participate in collision or contact sports are especially vulnerable to cervical subluxation and said athletes should be checked, evaluated and or adjusted by their chiropractor on a weekly basis.

PS.  Pre-concussion screening can be accomplished with easy, non-invasive testing that ony takes a few minutes in the doctor's office. Ask you Chiropractor or medical doctor if they perform pre-concussion screening tests.

Author

Dr J. Zimmerman, Chiropractor Dr. Zimmerman is a practicing chiropractor from Galloway, NJ with 30 years of chiropractic practice.