Efficacy of Instrumental Chiropractic Treatment Using Activator Methods for Pain and Dysfunction in Juvenile Athletes

The goal of the study is to prove efficacy of instrumental chiropractic treatment for leg pain in juvenile athletes. A randomized placebo controlled clinical trial including juvenile athletes with functional impairment and pain in thigh, leg or foot is performed. Hypothesis: Instrumental chiropractic treatment with the "activator instrument "following the "activator methods" diagnostic evaluation should lead to significant improvement of complaints and functional impairment compared to the control group treated by a deactivated instrument following a sham evaluation protocol.

Pain and functional impairment may force young athletes to interrupt training plans and/or even stay away from competition. Usually elite athletes run through an abundance of tests and diagnostic features-too often these high cost diagnostics don´t provide useful information for treatment. Treating the symptoms in the first place (after ruling out severe pathology) will reduce the need for extensive diagnostic routines and bring athletes back to competition earlier. In our outpatient department of young elite sportsmen chiropractic instrumental treatment is performed routinely- mostly a pain reduction of 3-4 levels in VAS is achieved within the first session of treatment. The following study is thought to prove the efficacy of the Chiropractic Instrumental Treatment performed at our sports-medicine outpatient department.