When you think about chiropractic care, your first thought is likely to be about treating chronic pain and illness. And chiropractic care is effective at treating long-term pain conditions, but it can also help people at the other end of the extreme - athletes in peak physical condition. In fact, most professional sports teams employ their own chiropractor to help support their athletes, and chiropractors are part of the healthcare teams at the Olympics. Let's take a look at how chiropractic care can help to improve athletic performance.
1) Chiropractic care can improve range of motion
For athletes to be at peak performance, they often need to be able to achieve their top range of motion. As well as this, training hard can put strain on athletes' joints that can lead to stiffness and reduce their range of motion. This can lead to a lowered performance and can also increase the risk of injury.
Chiropractic care can help to improve athletes' range of motion through a combination of joint adjustment and manipulation, soft tissue techniques to improve blood flow/reduce adhesions (scar tissue), and help with stretching.
2) Chiropractic care can decrease recovery time
When the season is busy, athletes often don't have the luxury of taking as many recovery days as they need to fully get back to their full potential. Muscle fatigue, soreness, and stiffness can all interfere with performance but, without treatment, the only way of fixing these things is to take time that athletes often don't have.
Chiropractic care can help to decrease recovery time through soft tissue massage/soft tissue instrument-assisted techniques. These techniques can relax the muscles, improve blood flow, and decrease lactic acid.
3) Chiropractic care can help with injury recovery
Injuries are a fact of life with any sport. Athletes are pushing their body's to their extreme and injuries can happen at any point. The type and location of injury can vary depending on the sport itself, but any injury can interfere with performance.
Chiropractic care can help athletes to recover from injuries. For example, adjustments and manipulations to the joints can help to restore function and the range of motion. Soft tissue techniques can help to increase blood flow to the injured area, assisting healing, and it can also help to break down any adhesions (scar tissue) in the muscle that have been created by the injury.
4) Chiropractic care can help athletes stay healthy
Athletic performance doesn't just stem from the ability of the muscles to achieve their top range of motion or power. It is much more complicated than that. All sorts of lifestyle factors can influence athletic performance, so athletes and their coaches are often looking for ways to best support the athlete to be in their best condition throughout their body and mind.
Chiropractic care can help to support athletes overall wellness in a variety of ways, including:
* advice about nutrition
* advice about sleep
* training techniques and exercises
* posture advice
* gait analysis
* body mechanics evaluation
* ensuring that the spine is in its proper alignment
Chiropractic care can help to support athletes to reach their peak performance in several ways. Chiropractors can help to improve athletes' range of motion, decrease their recovery time, recover from their injuries more quickly, and achieve their best overall wellness.
Learn the difference between a physical therapist and chiropractor
