CHIROPRACTIC SPORTS MEDICINE

BY DR EDWARD ROTHMAN INTRODUCTION

Chiropractic is one of the largest independent health professions; however, there is often confusion about its place in healthcare, the amount of research that is generated at its educational institutions, and the diversity of the therapy and care offered by its registered clinicians.

WHAT IS CHIROPRACTIC?

Although chiropractic has earned an international reputation because of practitioner skills in spinal and extremity manipulation, clinicians are also skilled in diagnosis and radiology and practise a wide range of therapeutic interventions that address muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Exercise as treatment and physical rehabilitation has a long history in chiropractic. The prescription and use of therapeutic exercise, as part of the profession, can be dated to the profession’s formative years in the early 1900s. Large physical rehabilitation facilities were part of chiropractic clinics and several institutions as far back as the 1920s. The interest in rehabilitation methods, exercise as treatment and the care of injured athletes continues to grow within the profession. The chiropractic approach uses a biopsychosocial model

of examination and care. It is holistic and includes nutrition counselling, reassurance, lifestyle changes, positive attitude resulting in speedier recovery, and the restoration of function through active care and participation of the patient in recovery. Chiropractors are trained to recognise deeper emotional and psychological problems and the need to refer for psychological care when indicated.

CHIROPRACTIC AND SPORTS Chiropractic has a long history of caring for athletes from recreational sports through to participants at the Olympic Games. Several countries at the Beijing Games, including the USA, Brazil, Hungary and the Philippines, included chiropractors as part of their medical teams. Many UK-based football and rugby clubs, including Chelsea, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Wasps, have chiropractors working with their athletes. Chiropractors will also be caring for athletes at the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The Federation Internationale de Chiropractic du Sport (FICS)

is the governing body for international sports chiropractic and comprises members of national chiropractic sports councils from around the world. FICS is also affiliated with several international sports organisations. FICS goals include the promotion of excellence in postgraduate education, the facilitation and promotion of research in sports, and ensuring that the highest levels of professionalism and clinical acumen are practised by chiropractic clinicians.

PRACTICAL RESEARCH

Football is a major international sport with huge financial interests; however, very little is spent on research into improving players’ performance, health and wellbeing. The Anglo-European College of Chiropractic (AECC) in Bournemouth recently announced that it has signed a formal agreement with football club AC Milan’s assessment and treatment centre, MilanLab. Their training methods are innovative and appear to be achieving significant outcomes. AECC and MilanLab will focus on several primary objectives that include joint supervision of postgraduate and

www.sportEX.net

CHIROPRACTIC AND SPORTS

Chiropractic clinicians offer a wide range of holistic therapeutic interventions of value to sports. A partnership between a leading UK chiropractic educational institution and a major European football club will increase the therapy research base and provide practical applications.

postdoctoral research involving current Milan players, teaching and staff exchanges, and organisation of joint sports conferences. AECC is also working towards developing similar collaborative programmes with progressive football clubs in the UK. AECC principal, Kenneth Vall, noted: “We want to develop the

evidence base through collaborative research, which will underpin our own ambition for our current development of a centre for excellence for the assessment and treatment of athletes at our clinic on campus in Bournemouth.” AECC is an associate college of Bournemouth

University. It currently delivers a full-time undergraduate

master’s programme in chiropractic, co-delivers a bachelor’s degree in exercise science with the School of Health and Social Care at the university, and has a substantial portfolio of postgraduate offerings, including a new MSc in sports and rehabilitation and a series of master’s degrees in diagnostic ultrasonography.

CONCLUSION The science involved in sports and exercise training, performance, injury prevention and treatment is growing at a fast pace. It is essential that the lessons learned through research can be applied practically and at ground level for the benefit of the players and participants, whether professional, amateur or recreational. The interdisciplinary nature of the subject involves the integration and application of principles drawn from functional anatomy and biomechanics, physiology, nutrition, psychology, neurology, orthopaedics and general health, all of which are components of chiropractic therapy. The partnership between AECC and AC Milan will significantly increase the research base and its practical application.Details of the courses offered by AECC can be found at www.aecc.ac.uk.

THE AUTHOR

Dr Edward Rothman is director of clinic at the Anglo European College of Chiropractic (AECC). He is also the former programme leader of the BSc in exercise science at Bournemouth University

and the current pathway leader of the MSc in sports and rehabilitation. He has twenty years of practice experience in the United States, working with athletes in a variety of disciplines including runners, cyclists, martial artists and ballet dancers. He moved to the UK in 2000 to join the faculty at AECC. He is a member of the British Association of Sports and Exercise Science and the International Academy of Dance Medicine.

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