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Can Chiropractic help a sprained ankle
Can Chiropractic help a sprained ankle?
A sprain is an injury to a ligament that involves that ligament being stretched beyond its normal range, often resulting in some degree of tearing. Chiropractic care can not directly help the ligament, but Chiropractic can improve the environment of the ligament and so assist in its healing indirectly. The force required to cause this type of injury will no doubt have jarred and impacted on the other structures at the ankle, namely the many bones and joints that make up the ankle and foot. The jarring to these joints will commonly affect the relationship of the bones to each other and so the integrity of the joints. This would upset the mechanics of the ankle and foot as a whole resulting in changes in mobility, impaired circulation and drainage and often pain. By improving the biomechanics of the foot and ankle using chiropractic techniques, these factors normalise which allows the the area to heal better and much faster.
Why do we get Back Pain?
Pain is very important to us. It is the body’s warning signal to us that something is not right. It is a signal that usually makes us stop and take notice and then hopefully take action to change it.
Back pain can come from several structures. The spine is made of 24 moving bones which are interconnected at joints, called Facet Joints, along the back of the spine. Between the ends of the bones in the spine there is a disc which is soft to allow mobility as well as shock absorption.If the Facet Joints are not moving freely then there will be irritation at these nerve-rich joints, resulting in pain.
The same change in movement in the joints, or acute trauma, can result in the dics becoming inflamed and swollen, or even ruptured. The disc can then push on the nerve exiting the spine, again resulting in pain.
Together with these issues the muscles along the spine will spasm which is again a common source of back pain and stiffness.
Chiropractic care has helped many people with these problems by utilising appropriate techniques which improve the movement of the facet joints and the relationship between the vertebrae of the spine, hence reduce any of these sources of pain. If you don’t already have a Chiropractor, or would like to try a different approach schedule an appointment today.
The Musculoskeletal System and its Importance to our Health
The Musculoskeletal System consists of bones, muscles, joints and ligaments and tendons that make up the body and allow it to be upright and to have movement. The skeleton is the framework of the body. Of this, the spine is made of 24 movable bones, 23 discs and has attachments for 12 sets of ribs and hundreds of ligaments and muscles. It supports and protects the spinal cord, and allows 31 pairs of nerves to pass from the spinal cord through small openings to muscles, organs, bones and skin.The Nervous System consists of the Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System. The Central system consists of the brain and the spinal cord. The Peripheral Nervous System consists of all the nerves that are running through our body, from the point where they branch off the spinal cord to the target structure ie muscle, organ, bone or skin. The Central Nervous System has control over the whole body by sending and receiving signals via use of the Peripheral system.
The Nervous System controls absolutely every cell and system in the body. This means literally every muscle, every organ, every function the body has. Therefore if there is anything that impedes the function of any part of the Nervous system, the target tissue will be compromised. The opposite is also true, having a nervous system that functions optimally will result in a body that functions optimally.
As mentioned the Central Nervous system is housed and protected by the spine, with all the bodys nerves branching off the spinal cord and exiting the spine through small openings between the vertabrae. Due to this close proximity of these structures, it is easy to see how any imbalance in the spine or change in how well it moves or imbalances in the muscles around the area, can result in some impeding pressure or force on the nerve, thereby affecting its function and hence the function of the target structure. So by having a well balanced musculoskeletal system results in minimising any impeding pressure or force on the nervous system, thus allowing it to function optimally and so increasing the potential for optimal health.