Many people we treat at Chiropractic Athletic have joint conditions such as arthritis. A lot of these patients have these conditions from years of wear and tear. Many people developed arthritis in their lower back because of their jobs. Some people have neck pain because of poor posture and an unhealthy diet. These conditions result from typical wear and tear. The type of pain people relate to getting older. However, this isn’t the case for everyone.
Many people have chronic pain and are experiencing joint conditions because of sport injuries in their earlier days. These people were athletes when they were younger and they abused their bodies. Sports injuries are some of the most common types of injuries and these people are paying the price in their later 50s and 60s. What are some of the most common types of sports injuries that may cause joint conditions later in life?
ACL Injury
An ACL injury is very common to many athletes. If you are unaware, your ACL is the tough ligament that keeps your lower leg bone from moving forward in relation to your thighbone, and keeps your lower leg bone from over rotating. As you can tell this ligament has an extremely important responsibility. When athletes run, jump, land, twist, and pivot they are putting an extreme amount of stress on this ligament. Thankfully this ligament is strong. However, sometimes athletes put too much stress on this joint.
When athletes put to much stress on the ACL the ligament can get injured or even tear completely. Tearing completely usually requires surgery but a severe injury can haunt you down the road. According to coastalorthopedics.com people who injury their ACL or people who tear their ACL and have reconstructive surgery are almost 300 times more at risk of developing arthritis than someone who has never injured their ACL.
Tennis Elbow
The term “Tennis Elbow is a common term for people who overuse their arm, forearm and hand muscles and are now experiencing pain in their elbow. Tennis players put an enormous amount of stress on their arms, forearms and hands during a game of tennis. All of that constant stress has to have some sort of negative orthopedic effect. According to WebMD.com:
“Tennis elbow is caused by either abrupt or subtle injury of the muscle and tendon area around the outside of the elbow. Tennis elbow specifically involves the area where the muscles and tendons of the forearm attach to the outside bony area (called the lateral epicondyle) of the elbow. Your doctor may call this condition lateral epicondylitis. Another common term, “golfer’s elbow,” refers to the same process occurring on the inside of the elbow — what your doctor may call medial epicondylitis. Overuse injury can also affect the back or posterior part of the elbow as well.”
Although there is constant wear and tear and injury that cause tennis elbow, researchers say that tennis elbow specifically does not lead to arthritis. However, tennis elbow is a form of tendinitis which many people experience in their later years and after sports injuries. If you think you may have tennis elbow or tendonitis, this is a common condition we can treat! Contact Chiropractic Athletic Center
Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries
The posterior cruciate ligament is located in the back of the knee. This is another ligament that is connected to the femur and connects to the shinbone. Much like the ACL this ligament has import responsibilities as well. This ligament keeps the tibia (shinbone) from moving back to far in relation to the femur. This tendon gets injured when an athlete falls on a knee that is bent or when they take an excessive blow to the lower leg. However, besides sports there are many cases of the posterior cruciate ligament getting injured from people in car accidents. When people strike an object head on they slam into the dashboard and this causes your bent knee to tear ligaments.
This injury is also linked to arthritis just like people with ACL injuries. You injure your knee, you heal and you feel fine and then in your later 50s you develop arthritis due to the injury. Arthritis is a very common condition and Chiropractic Athletic Center has a solution.
Chiropractic Athletic Center:
At the Chiropractic Athletic Center we may have an answer to your arthritis caused from a sports injury. Call Chiropractic Athletic Center in York, Pa today at (717) 767-4151
References:
David T Derrer, MD (Feb 27,2014) Tennis Elbow (blog article) Retreived From: http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/tennis-elbow
