Professional athletes are constantly reaching new heights in their professional careers. With each passing year, new records are shattered and the human body is pushed to new limits. Competitors train rigorously and watch their diets every day. Yet despite the conscientious care and precautions that athletes follow, most experience musculoskeletal injuries at one time or another.

Experts estimate that 90% of all world-class athletes use chiropractic care to prevent injuries and increase their performance potential. All National Football League (NFL) teams rely on chiropractors in varying capacities, and 77%of athletic trainers have referred players to a chiropractor for evaluation or treatment. You don’t have to be an athlete to benefit from regular chiropractic care. Here at Lewiston Family Chiropractic, we treat patients from all walks of life, professions and fitness levels.

Chiropractors and Sports Injuries

Chiropractic care meticulously tends to the needs of the athlete because special attention is given to the spine, joints, muscles, tendons, and nerves. Additionally, chiropractic care ensures that all pieces of the musculoskeletal system are working harmoniously in their healthiest, most natural state.

Athletes recognize tremendous value in chiropractic care because they realize that it helps them maximize athletic performance. Whether you’re an athlete or weekend warrior, receiving chiropractic care will enable you to reach an optimum level of achievement without breaking yourself.

Here’s 5 Ways that Athletes and (non-athletes) benefit from chiropractic care:

Many athletes swear by the positive effects of chiropractic when talking about their personal successes. People like Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, Dan O’Brien and Arnold Schwarzenegger, to name a few, swear by their chiropractors. Athletic performance is affected by a combination of strength, flexibility, speed and coordination. Participating in sports is encouraged because of the many benefits. Not only is a person getting exercise when playing, but they are also developing fine motor skills, learning about teamwork and fair play and of course building friendships. But their bodies are also impacted no matter what sport they are playing.

When the spine exhibits imperfections in movement and/or alignment, the resulting vertebral subluxations can create focal areas of irritation in the nervous system, which subsequently interfere with the optimum functions of all other systems. As a result, athletic performance suffers. When athletes are adjusted regularly, they often attribute their success to regular chiropractic care.

Athletes can experience many different benefits from receiving chiropractic care. Not only can adjustments help when treating injuries from sports, they offer other benefits as well. It’s been shown that high-impact sports can place the same amount of strain on the body as an auto collision. Athletes getting routine adjustments may notice improved athletic performance, improved range of motion (especially in endurance athletes), better flexibility, increased blood flow, and may suffer from fewer injuries. Because spinal adjustments will reduce the irritation of the nerve roots between the vertebrae, the healing time from minor injuries can be shortened, improving performance.

Both high-impact and low-impact athletes can benefit from routine spinal adjustments. For high-impact athletes, it increases performance and flexibility and lowers the risk for injury; for low-impact athletes (golfers, tennis players, and bowlers), routine adjustments can help relieve the strain that is being placed on the body. Chiropractic care offers a natural way to treat and prevent many different ailments that often plague athletes.

Headaches – with a current focus on head and neck injuries in sports it should be noted that a Duke University study from back in 2001 came to the conclusion that, “Spinal manipulation resulted in almost immediate relief for headaches originating from the neck.” Since 60-90 % of all headaches are linked to facet joint pain (neck), chiropractic treatments offer a significant form of relief.

Shoulder pain – Studies from the Annals of Internal Medicine and the British Medical Journal both found that adding shoulder manipulation to traditional rehab techniques improved the outcomes and reduced pain associated with certain shoulder injuries.

Ankle injuries – a joint study from the JMPT and Physiological Therapeutics found that chiropractic care of ankle sprains helped increase motion, lessen pain and provide better ankle function.

Injury prevention – An Australian study conducted in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders reported that Australian football players who used a regiment of chiropractic care had a fewer number of leg injuries than those who did not.

While seeking chiropractic care for back and neck pain caused by injuries suffered in sports like football and rugby would normal, injuries to other parts of the body can also benefit from a visit to the D.C. In fact, many studies have shown that chiropractic treatment helps athletes recover from injuries without the need for painkillers or invasive surgery.

While there are many different types of treatments that chiropractors perform on their patients, Ellen Sonnino’s report in US News and World Report discussed four methods that are often used to treat athletes:

  • Active Release Technique where massage and stretching are combined with moving the effected joint through a range of motion.
  • Graston Technique that uses stainless steel tools to break down scar tissue.
  • Functional Dry Needling where deep trigger points are focused on to release tension in the muscles through stimulation.
  • Electrical Muscle Stimulation to release tension towards the surface of the muscle using contraction caused by electricity.

Not all athletes are seeking chiropractic care after they suffer an injury. Some, like New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, find that it helps improve not only their health, but their performance, “Chiropractic just makes you feel so much better. When I walk out of the clinic, I feel like I’m about three inches taller and everything’s in place. And as long as I see the chiropractor, I feel like I’m one step ahead of the game.”

Any chiropractor who specializes in treating athletes should be prepared to treat the whole person, and tailor a comprehensive program aimed at injury avoidance. Initial evaluations should include not only traditional orthopedic tests, neurological examinations, and consideration to supplement physical exam findings with any additional diagnostic evaluations. Numerous studies support the fact that chiropractic care helps athletes achieve an optimal level of performance. A Canadian research team included chiropractic care in the rehabilitation program of 16 injured female long-distance runners. The runners recovered quickly; seven of them actually scored “personal best” performances while under chiropractic care, although there may be other contributing factors.

The spine is an important physical structure that contains many pain-sensitive tissues: Most notably, joints, muscles, nerves, discs and ligaments. If there are any abnormal alignment patterns in the spinal column, this can place an abnormal amount of stress and strain on any one of these tissues. In a recent article reviewing the effectiveness of spinal manipulation, chiropractic adjustments were consistently better than other medical options in reducing the intensity of acute low back pain, plus restoring normal function, both for short-term and long-term effects.