Chiropractic & Athletes

Athletes have been benefiting from Chiropractic care for many years; however, it has only recently been receiving attention from the media. Athletes of all types, from the weekend warrior to the world-class athlete, utilize Chiropractic because it is a drug-free way to better health and performance. Chiropractic adjustments help ensure that the body functions as efficiently as possible, which can maximize healing and recovery from all types of injuries.

Approximately 80 – 90% of all world-class athletes use Chiropractic care to prevent injuries and to increase their performance potential. 31 percent of NFL teams use chiropractors in an official capacity as part of their staffs and approximately 80 percent of the trainers have referred to a chiropractor for evaluation or treatment.A survey of certified NFL trainers revealed that 100 percent of them agree that players will use chiropractic care without referral from the team medical staff.

The science of Chiropractic is founded on the premise that a proper nerve supply is essential to controlling and regulating the functioning of the human body. The nervous system controls every activity in the body by sending and receiving nerve messages to all the body tissues and systems, and it is protected by the bones of the spine called vertebrae. When the spine is in its optimal structural position, the nerves are protected, and optimal communication exists between the central nervous system and the rest of the body. The vertebra of the spine is susceptible to certain stresses and forces, which can cause them to lose their proper position. These minor misalignments of the spine, which are known as vertebral subluxations, cause nerve interference and weaken the entire structure of the spine. Athletic training can often jar and misalign the spinal column. Impact to the legs, feet, head, shoulders and torso often radiates to the spine. Doctors of Chiropractic detect and correct vertebral subluxations by physically analyzing and adjusting the spine. This restores the spine and nervous system to a more optimal level of function, which maximizes the body’s performance and healing potential.

Anyone who engages in athletics can benefit from regular Chiropractic checkups to ensure that their spine is balanced and free from structural stress and subluxations. When the spinal column is brought back into balance and alignment, the body’s nervous system and body biomechanics (ability to move efficiently) are maximized. Changes in the optimal spinal position produce spinal pathologies and loss of function. Postural strength and coordination are essential for injury prevention and sports performance.In an average year, 25 million people visit a doctor for injuries that they suffer because of athletics. In professional sports, injury is the number one reason for early retirement. Overall, 67 billion dollars is spent each year for the treatment of athletic injuries.

There are essentially two categories that athletic injuries fall into: acute or traumatic, which is usually the result of a sudden impact or unseen force; and repetitive overuse such as swinging a racket or a golf club. In fact, virtually every workout results in micro-injuries as the body is torn down and then rebuilt through rest and recovery.

As a society, we have been conditioned to believe that symptoms are bad and that the key to health and recovery is their removal. However, symptoms are part of the body’s healing and repair process. Symptoms represent the body s best efforts to heal itself. By treating symptoms, you are suppressing the body’s natural response and inhibiting the healing process. Instead of just treating symptoms, doctors should stimulate the body’s defenses to allow for completion of the healing process. If you had a fire in your house, you would not cut off the alarm and then relax, thinking that the fire is gone. The same thing happens to your body when you continue to ignore or mask symptoms. In part, this may be the reason athletes often develop chronic injuries.At the very least, health care providers should not be responsible for slowing the natural healing process.

Chiropractic’s focus on the nervous system and postural biomechanics allow the body to function properly and to heal itself. The healing process always occurs from within the body, but research has shown that Chiropractic has an amazing potential to assist the body in the recovery process. The quality of healing is directly proportional to the functional capability of the nervous system to send and receive nerve messages. More sports-related injuries are treated in hospital emergency departments than any other type of injury. Standard medical procedures may be necessary when an athlete is injured. Traditional medical professionals specialize in the management and care of fractures, dislocations, lacerations and damaged tendons and ligaments; however, many athletes leave the hospital with as much spinal stress (subluxations) as they were suffering from when they entered.

Doctors of Chiropractic focus on the entire structure of the body rather than just the obviously injured part. For this reason, they can often detect and help to prevent an injury that might normally be overlooked or ignored. Obviously, you cannot compete at your fullest if you are not in alignment AND your body cannot heal properly if your spine is not in alignment. Doctors of Chiropractic are experts in the field of human biomechanics, they are very aware of proper posture and movement. By observing an athlete in action, a Chiropractor can often detect and prevent a structural problem that can lead to injury or poor performance. Athletic injures are often caused by improper biomechanics or muscle imbalances within the spine. Chiropractic has helped thousands of athletes, professional and amateur, overcome an injury without resorting to surgery.Many athletes have discovered that Chiropractic care allows them to achieve an optimal level of performance when training and competing in their respective sporting event. A proper biomechanical structure allows athletes to achieve and maintain their optimal level of performance-safely and naturally.

There is a growing body of research and case studies, which clearly show the relationship between Chiropractic care and athletic performance. A Canadian research team included Chiropractic care in the rehabilitation program of sixteen injured female long-distance runners. Not only did these runners recover quickly, seven of them actually scored “personal best” performances while under Chiropractic care. The extent of Chiropractic’s “winning edge” was tested on fifty athletes who were divided into a control group and a group, which added Chiropractic care to their usual training procedures. After six weeks, the group under Chiropractic care scored significantly better on standard tests of athletic ability. When tested on their reaction time, the control group demonstrated less than one percent improvement, while the Chiropractic group achieved reaction times more than eighteen percent faster than their initial scores.

A landmark research effort from the New Zealand School of Chiropractic and the University of Auckland, evaluated the effects chiropractic adjustments may have on reaction times. Two groups were tested to study variations in reaction times; one group received spinal adjustments, while the other group, only receiving a short period of rest, and acted as a control group for comparison. There was a marked improvement for the group that received an adjustment over the group that got nothing but rest. The group that got only a rest period did show an average decrease in reaction time: 58 milliseconds, an 8% faster reaction time. The group that received the chiropractic adjustment showed a decrease in reaction time of 97 milliseconds, representing a 14.8% faster reaction time. The implications for these findings are far reaching for any activity in the game of life, and the data can objectively support anecdotal evidence of enhanced athletic performance under chiropractic care. The ability to react more quickly to any of the demands life can provide added performance enhancement benefits for athletes, who rely on optimum reaction reflexes to perform at their maximum competitive capacity. Field based practice experiences indicate that chiropractic care appears to both enhance an athlete s ability to perform and to recover from injuries when they occur.

More than 700,000 children under the age of 15 are taken to the hospital emergency room for treatment of sports-related injuries. In fact, children between the ages 11-15 account for 55% of all sports-related injuries that require hospitalization. Sports and recreational activities account for 4.3 million or 36% of all injuries to children in the United States. The increase in emergency-related injuries for children includes well-known injuries such as broken arms and twisted ankles-these injuries are certainly not new. What is new; however, are the types of children s sports injuries seldom seen in past generations. They are overuse injuries caused by small, but repetitive injuries to the body’s tissues, joints and spinal column resulting in chronic health conditions. Chiropractic adjustments for children of all ages are of tremendous benefit for the treatment and prevention of injuries and to maximize performance potential.Chiropractic’s focus on the spine and nervous system is also important for children, since it is their nervous system, which controls their entire growth and development process.

Do you want to prevent injuries, heal quickly from your injuries, and preform to your highest potential?Get a Chiropractic evaluation today to see how Chiropractic care can maximize your athletic endeavors.   Contact us at (803) 818-0034 to schedule an appointment!

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