What is chiropractic?

Chiropractic is a healthcare profession focused on diagnosing, treating, and preventing disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially those involving the spine, muscles, joints, and nerves. It emphasizes a hands-on, non-invasive approach to allow your body to do the healing for you.

Is chiropractic care safe?

Chiropractic care is considered safe when provided by a qualified and registered chiropractor. Your chiropractor will discuss the relevant considerations prior to adjustments to ensure the approach suits your medical history and goals.

What is the 'cracking' sound during an adjustment?

That sound is gas releasing from a joint as it moves during adjustment, known as cavitation, where negative pressure is created during a high velocity, low amplitude adjustment. Many techniques don't produce any sound at all.

How many chiropractic sessions will I need?

This varies from person to person and depends on your current condition, how long it has been present, your lifestyle and daily demands, and your goals. Your chiropractor will outline a plan and recommendations, and you remain in control of your care.

What is a chiropractic adjustment?

A chiropractic adjustment is a controlled force applied to a joint, typically in the spine, to restore proper movement and improve function, designed to reduce inflammation and pain and improve blood flow and nerve supply.

Will I need X-rays or scans before starting chiropractic care?

Most people do not require imaging before starting care. Imaging is only recommended when clinically appropriate, for example if your history or examination suggests it would provide useful information.

Do I need a referral to see a chiropractor?

No. Chiropractors are considered primary healthcare providers, meaning you don't need a referral to see one. They are trained to assess, diagnose, and treat musculoskeletal issues, often working alongside other medical professionals.

Does Spirit Chiropractic provide a Medicare bulk billed service?

Yes, Spirit Chiropractic's Medicare services are bulk billed with no gap payment required. A referral from your GP is required for Chronic Disease Management (CDM) or Enhanced Primary Care (EPC).

Acute lumbar Sprains

18 Sept

Written By Silver Esho

Prevention? It is a thing by the way..

The Weekend Warrior Blueprint: Preventing Acute Lumbar Sprains When Jumping Back Into High-Intensity Sports

By Dr Silver Esho, Spirit Chiropractic, Parramatta NSW · 18 September 2026

Quick summary

Sports scientists track a metric called the acute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) — how much you did this week compared to your recent weekly average — and ratios above roughly 1.5–2.0 are linked to a 4- to 9-fold increase in injury risk (Maupin et al., 2020).
The lowest-risk zone sits around an ACWR of 0.80–1.30 — meaning a huge weekend effort after a sedentary week is exactly the pattern that spikes injury risk, by design.
A proper warm-up matters too: structured neuromuscular/dynamic warm-up programs cut lower-limb injury risk by roughly 43–50% in controlled research, while static stretching alone is better suited to flexibility work than pre-activity injury prevention (Kłobuchowski et al., 2026).
The fix isn't skipping the weekend game — it's building a small weekly baseline of activity and warming up properly so the weekend isn't your only load on the system.

"Weekend warrior" injuries get treated as bad luck or getting older, but the mechanism is well studied and fairly mechanical: your body responds to how much load you're used to, and a huge mismatch between your weekly baseline and a single big session is exactly what raises injury risk.

The Metric Behind "Weekend Warrior" Injuries

A 2020 systematic review of 27 studies examined the acute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) — calculated as your training load over the past week divided by your rolling average load over the past 3–6 weeks — and its relationship to injury risk across various sports. The review found that an ACWR above 2.0 carried substantially elevated injury risk, with relative risk ranging from 3.91 to 8.90 depending on the specific load measure used. High-speed running spikes with an ACWR above 1.18 were linked to increased injury odds as well. In contrast, ratios in the 0.80–1.30 range consistently showed the lowest injury risk across the studies reviewed (Maupin et al., 2020).

Translate that to a typical weekend warrior: someone mostly sedentary Monday to Friday, then playing 90 minutes of a high-intensity sport on Saturday, is producing exactly the kind of workload spike this research flags — a huge acute load relative to a near-zero chronic baseline, well outside the low-risk zone.

Warm-Up Is Doing More Work Than You Think

A 2026 systematic review of exercise-based warm-up and training strategies found that structured neuromuscular training programs — such as the well-studied FIFA 11+ protocol, which combines balance work, landing control, trunk/hip stability, and progressive plyometrics — produced relative risk reductions of 43–50% for ankle, knee, and ACL injuries. The same review noted that static stretching is better suited to dedicated flexibility sessions than as pre-activity injury prevention, while dynamic stretching and brief high-intensity activation work were the preferred pre-game preparation (Kłobuchowski et al., 2026). Structured preseason load management in the same review was linked to up to a 25% reduction in lower-extremity strains.

In other words, "warming up" that consists of a few static toe-touches isn't doing the job the research is talking about — the protective effect comes from dynamic, movement-based preparation that primes the muscles and joints for the actual demands of the sport.

The Weekend Warrior Blueprint

Build a small weekly baseline. Even two short, moderate sessions during the week (a run, a gym session, a bike ride) meaningfully narrows the gap between your "chronic" load and your weekend "acute" load, pulling your ratio toward the safer 0.80–1.30 range.
Warm up dynamically, not just statically. Leg swings, lunges, hip openers, and light jogging or sprint build-ups for 10–15 minutes prepare the muscles and nervous system far more effectively than static stretching alone.
Ease into the first 10–15 minutes of play rather than going flat-out immediately — the tissue is least prepared right at the start of a session that follows a sedentary week.
Don't try to "make up for" a missed week by pushing harder on the weekend — this is precisely the spike the workload research links to elevated risk.
If you've had a big gap (illness, travel, a busy period), scale intensity back for a session or two rather than returning at full previous intensity immediately.

Dealing with a lower back tweak from weekend sport?
If you've picked up an acute lumbar strain or ongoing tightness from jumping back into sport, a chiropractic assessment can check what's actually injured, get you moving safely again, and help you build a training pattern that reduces the risk of it happening again.

Call Spirit Chiropractic — Parramatta: 0410 420 856

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do "weekend warriors" get injured more than regular exercisers?

Research tracking training load found that a large spike in activity relative to your recent weekly average is linked to substantially higher injury risk — up to 4 to 9 times higher at the largest spikes studied. A sedentary week followed by one intense weekend session creates exactly this kind of spike.

How much weekly activity do I need to avoid weekend injury risk?

Research suggests the lowest-risk zone is when your recent week's activity is roughly 0.8 to 1.3 times your average over the past few weeks — so a couple of moderate sessions during the week, rather than none, helps bring a big weekend effort into a safer range.

Does stretching before sport actually prevent injuries?

Static stretching alone appears better suited to flexibility-focused sessions than injury prevention before activity. Structured neuromuscular and dynamic warm-up programs, by contrast, have shown meaningful reductions in injury risk in controlled research.

What's the single best thing to do before jumping into a high-intensity weekend game?

A dynamic, movement-based warm-up of 10 to 15 minutes, combined with easing into the first part of play rather than starting at full intensity, addresses two of the main factors research links to reduced injury risk.

References

Maupin, D., Schram, B., Canetti, E., & Orr, R. (2020). The Relationship Between Acute:Chronic Workload Ratios and Injury Risk in Sports: A Systematic Review. Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine, 11, 51–75. https://doi.org/10.2147/OAJSM.S231405
Kłobuchowski, W., Skorulski, M., Ornowski, K., Roczniok, R., Maszczyk, A., Callegari, B., Silva Souza, G., Pietraszewski, P., & Kuliś, S. (2026). Exercise-Based Strategies from Warm-Up to Training: A Systematic Review of Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention. Sports, 14(5), 187. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports14050187

Silver Esho https://spiritchiropractic.au