Chiropractic care has been around since the late 1800s, but it wasn’t until 1980 that the first chiropractor was added to the United States Olympic medical team. Since then, spinal adjustments have become an important element in sports training and their medical teams. Athletes from many sports are starting to grasp the long-term benefits of chiropractic care.
Chiropractic care can benefit any person, regardless of age or ability. Often with competitive sports, the difference between winning and losing can be measured in microseconds. Athletes need every little bit of strength, speed and flexibility they can gather.
How Chiropractic Can Benefit Athletes
- Improve athletic performance. Chiropractors can clear imbalances and alleviate stressors on the body’s nervous system and restore the general health of your body. Apart from housing the nervous system, the spinal column assists in anchoring muscles throughout your whole body. Having good posture, muscle strength, and spinal health are all interconnected. Simply put, whatever impacts your spine also impacts physical performance. A healthy spine can support your body weight and the stressors of daily life, however, if your body, nervous system and spine fall into disrepair, the less trauma and stress it can take.
- Improved range of motion. One of the greatest benefits of routine chiropractic treatments for athletes is the improved range of motion. Athletes put so much pressure on their bodies when training and these physically intense activities can create problems with spinal alignment and movement. An athlete can quickly end up with stiffness and pain in their joints. In return, may cause their range of motion to be limited, thereby inhibiting their overall athletic performance.
- Decreased recovery time. Chiropractic adjustments may help to relax the muscles and correct any vertebrae that may have shifted during injury. As the muscles relax, fluids in the body are stimulated to travel towards the spinal area, when this happens oxygen and other necessary and essential nutrients are delivered to the injured site and promote healing. Adjustments and soft tissue manipulation can help break up scar tissue to increase flexibility, elasticity, and strength throughout recovery.
- Pain reduction. The spine is an impressive structure containing numerous tissues that are highly sensitive to pain. Common areas that are notable are the discs, ligaments, joints, and nerves. Any form of abnormal misalignment in the spinal column is capable of placing a varied level of strain and stress on any one of these areas causing pain. The goal of Chiropractic care techniques is to restore or improve joint function while resolving inflammation and reducing pain.
The Chiropractic And Athletes Takeaway
If you’re an athlete, you understand the numerous demands of participating in a sport such as running, jumping, pushing or pulling. Putting your body through these activities can at times result in injury. Often when injuries can’t be prevented, Chiropractic care can help to shorten healing time for a variety of ailments
Conclusively, if you’re an athlete who is interested in maintaining your physical strength and range of motion, or if you need to recover from an injury without the use of prescriptions and invasive treatments, consider seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis.
