Why Athletes Get Adjusted
By Sara Butler
The Olympics are here, and watching all of those finely-tuned athletes at the peak of physical fitness is very inspirational. Did you know that many athletes use chiropractic care as a tool in their training to help them be at their best? Well, they do! Here are just a few of the benefits athletes, both professional and amateur, get from regular chiropractic care!
Body Awareness
Athletes are incredibly active physically, and because of this they are more frequently injured than your average person. The adjustments they receive from their chiropractors help them to be more aware of their bodies and they also help to restore function to the nervous system and body as a whole. This makes athletes more in-tune with their bodies and makes it easier to clue-in when something doesn't feel right.
Enhanced Movement
The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics published a study in which people who received regular chiropractic care showed an almost 10 percent increase in response time and movement than those who didn’t receive chiropractic care. That fraction of a second can be the difference between a gold and a bronze medal in the Olympics, so it’s pretty important to athletes and shouldn’t be frowned upon by regular folks, either! If you’re driving down the road and have to make a sudden stop or swerve to avoid an accident, that fraction of a second literally is the difference between life and death.
Improved Balance
When you see a chiropractor regularly, it can help to restore balance by allowing your nervous system to function unimpeded and optimally. This allows the signals between your brain and the rest of your body to flow as freely as possible, which is great news for people like you and athletes alike. Especially in older people, a better balance can significantly improve the quality of life and reduce the chance of falls that could potentially have a large impact on quality of life.
More Flexibility
When the bones in your spine and your joints are properly aligned it allows you to move easier and with move flexibility. Flexibility is obviously really important to athletes because it helps to reduce injury and increase performance, but it’s also important to normal people for the same reason – you’re less likely to easily injure yourself during everyday activities.
As you can see, chiropractic isn’t just for athletes! It has benefits that are valuable to everyone, whether you’re an Olympic athlete or not!