Chiropractic and athletes - a winning combination
“I don’t always win gold medals but when I do I get adjusted first. Stay healthy my friends!”
- Usain Bolt
In competitive sports, fractions of seconds or millimetres are what separate the winners from the losers. Athletes need every ounce of strength, speed and flexibility to be on top of their game or they could be left behind.
For years now athletes, both professional and amateur alike, have recognised the value that chiropractic care can add to their overall health, and the significant improvements to recovery and performance it can make without the need for drugs or surgery.
In a study conducted in 1991, Lauro and Mouch found “athletic performance across the five categories of agility, balance, kinesthetic perception, power, and speed reaction improved by only 4.5% in the control group, whereas the group receiving chiropractic care improved by 16.7%.”
In fact, chiropractic has become essential to several top-flight teams and individuals. So much so, that world-renowned sports physiologist Sean Atkins, PhD, said, “I would estimate that in excess of 90% of all world-class athletes use chiropractic care to prevent injuries and to increase their performance potential.”
Shown to be a safe and effective form of health care, chiropractic is founded on the major premise that a properly functioning nervous system is vital to controlling and regulating the functioning of the human body. The brain acts as the major control centre of the body and dictates how every cell, organ and limb in your body works or acts by sending nerve messages via our nervous system.
Unfortunately, our nervous system doesn’t work like a Wi-Fi signal and relies on a clear nerve pathway to deliver these messages effectively and efficiently. From the brain, nerve messages travel down the spinal cord and continue through our spinal nerves until they eventually reach their end destination or cell. It is therefore vital that the nerves have a good and uninterrupted pathway from the brain to the cell, organ or limb they supply, to ensure the body can perform at its best or heal as quickly as possible.
Most of our nervous system is contained within our skull and spine, meaning misalignments in the spine can directly influence the function of the nervous system. Although unpleasant, commonly experienced sports injuries are part of every athlete’s life. These can lead to these spinal misalignments, either from overuse or knocks and falls experienced in training or competition.
Chiropractors use specific chiropractic adjustments to restore normal motion to the spine and remove interference to improve the overall function of the nervous system. Simply put, a more efficient nervous system could mean the difference between gold and silver – or making it to the starting gate at all.
At Chiro.London, we believe everyone should be able to perform at their best. Whether you’re a weekend warrior, tackling your first Couch to 5K, or competing in any sport – we want to help you!
Movement is key to your health and wellbeing, and moving well is key to performing at your best! If you’d like to find out more about what Chiro.London can do for you, simply get in touch with one of our team who’ll be happy to assist.