How Your Chiropractor Addresses Microtrauma Before Injury

Aches and pains aren't always caused by dramatic injuries, like falls or car accidents. In some cases, pain occurs as a result of a series of microtraumas. Microtraumas, tiny injuries to the body's soft tissues, trigger pain and stiffness and may increase your risk for more serious injuries. Fortunately, chiropractic care can prevent microtraumas from becoming major problems.

What Are Microtraumas?

Microtraumas affect your tendons, ligaments, muscles, and the connective tissue that support your joints. The injuries are so small that you may not notice any symptoms at first.

When microtraumas occur, your body may make small changes to protect itself. You might alter the way you walk or change the way you hold your shoulder due to microtraumas in your back, neck, shoulder, hips, or legs. Even minor posture changes can affect spinal alignment, trigger inflammation, or irritate nerves.

Microtraumas may also create imbalances that increase your risk for injury. Imbalances happen when one group of muscles becomes too tight or strong, while another group becomes too loose or weak.

Reaching for an umbrella in the back seat of your car could strain or tear tight tissues in your shoulder due to a collection of microtraumas. Or, you might dash down the stairs the same way you do every morning and suddenly feel pain in your back or leg.

Muscles that are too tight can change the alignment of your spine, causing subluxations. Subluxations occur when the vertebrae in your spine aren't properly aligned. Subluxations cause pain and swelling and may affect flexibility and movement.

What Causes Microtraumas?

Microtraumas are overuse injuries that can be caused by:

• Poor Sitting or Standing Posture
• Bending Your Neck Down to View Digital Devices
• Repetitive Movements, Like Typing, Hammering or Swinging a Racquet
• Gait Imbalances That Affect the Way You Walk
• Sleeping in Awkward Positions
• Stress
• Poor Form When Exercising

According to Science Direct, people often ignore small twinges that may occur with microtraumas. Although the body attempts to repair the damage, healing won't happen if poor posture continues or a muscle imbalances aren't corrected. Unfortunately, this means that tearing and tissue degeneration worsen until it becomes impossible to ignore pain or stiffness.

In addition to causing soft tissue injuries, like bursitis, tendinitis, and carpal tunnel syndrome, microtraumas may also be responsible for stress fractures. Stress fractures happen when the muscles tire and can't absorb shock properly. This stresses the bones and increases pressure on them. The pressure creates a small crack in the bone called a stress fracture.

How Do Chiropractors Treat Microtraumas

Treating microtraumas as they occur is the simplest way to avoid pain and mobility problems. Chiropractors use these therapies and treatments to manage microtraumas:

• Manipulation. Spinal manipulation therapy, commonly called adjustments, improves the alignment of the vertebrae that make up the spine. Correcting subluxations eases pain, restores normal movements, and improves imbalances. Joint manipulation keeps the bones in a joint properly aligned and decreases pressure on surrounding soft tissues. If you notice that a joint doesn't move as easily as it once did, you may have a joint restriction caused by microtraumas. Manipulation offers a simple way to correct the issue and allow healing to begin.
• Soft Tissue Therapies. Soft tissue therapies, including massage, soft tissue mobilization, and myofascial release, loosen tight muscles and soft tissues and break apart scar tissue that may form due to microtraumas. Scar tissue restricts joint movement and causes pain.

In addition to improving pain and ability, these therapies reduce inflammation and improve blood flow, ensuring that injured areas receive the nutrients and other substances needed for healing.

Your chiropractor may also recommend exercises that stretch and strengthen muscles and help you avoid imbalances. After evaluating your posture, your chiropractor may suggest changes that will reduce your risk of microtraumas. For example, your chiropractor may suggest taking frequent breaks when using digital devices and holding handheld devices at eye level to reduce strain on your neck, upper back, and shoulders.

Regular visits to the chiropractor help microtraumas heal and lower your risk for more serious injuries. Get in touch with our office to schedule an appointment with the chiropractor.

Sources:

Science Direct: Microtrauma

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/microtrauma

Spine Health Foundation: Joint Health: If You Don’t Move it, You Lose It, 12/11/2017

https://spinehealth.org/article/joint-health-if-you-dont-move-it-you-lose-it/

Foundation for Chiropractic Progress: How Microtraumas Add Up to Stress and Repetitive Strain Injuries

https://www.f4cp.org/how-microtraumas-add-up-to-stress-and-repetitive-strain-injuries/

PubMed: Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research: Overuse Injuries in Sport: A Comprehensive Review, 12/5/2018

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6282309/

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