Exercise: Before or After Your Adjustment?
By Sara Butler
A common question your chiropractor at The Joint often gets is if patients should get adjusted before they work out or after. There tends to be a bit of confusion about which is best, so here’s what you need to know about exercise and how it relates to your chiropractic adjustment.
The Consensus
The conventional wisdom about exercise and adjustments is that adjustments should be done before you work out. This is for a few reasons.
First, if you’re seeing your chiropractor for pain relief, then removing pressure on the spinal nerves before a workout is going to help you to feel better. When misalignments are corrected in your body, it will allow for a more efficient workout, and you might even feel a little more flexible too!
Second, muscles attached to the spine should be balanced in order for you to be healthy. If you’re having painful symptoms that your chiropractor is working to alleviate, then working out before the adjustment may make the pain or discomfort you’re experiencing worse. When you come into The Joint to get treated before a workout, then your joints should have their proper motion restored.
Finally, when you’re adjusted before exercise, it helps your muscles to relax, which can then help you to avoid injury. Chiropractic adjustments allow your body to work at its best, and the less pressure there is on your central nervous system, the better your overall health. When proper communication is restored between your central nervous system and the rest of your body, then your whole body will work more effectively.
Exercise Can Be Stressful
Another important point is that exercise can be recognized by your body as a stressor. But when you get adjusted before a workout, you are helping your body to recognize exercise as a benefit rather than something that activates a stress response. This helps you to get the most from your workouts, helping you to feel better overall and feel like you’re firing on all cylinders!
The verdict? When in doubt, you should get adjusted before a workout. Talk to your chiropractor at The Joint about measures you should take to ensure you’re staying healthy after your adjustment and what you can do to help keep your body healthy through activity. No matter what exercise you participate in, it’s important simply to keep your body moving in order to stay healthy as you get older!