For athletes, maintaining good health and physical shape is vital to longevity and high-performance levels in their chosen sport.
At Papakura Chiropractic, our clients come from all walks of life. That’s because we focus on the delicate and crucial relationship between the brain and the body. The spinal cord and nerves are essentially the “information highway” connecting your brain with your entire body. With that in mind, we aim to maximise performance by enforcing good posture habits and spinal maintenance.
Athletes that are fully committed to maximising their performance levels will visit a chiropractor for many reasons. Amongst them, we’ve narrowed it down to 5 benefits of seeing a sports chiropractor:
- Improved range of motion and flexibility
- Reduced risk of injury
- Faster recovery from injuries
- Reduced pain and muscle soreness
- Mental boost and muscle relaxation
1. Improved Range of Motion and Flexibility
As an athlete, your body is pushed to the limit in order to achieve success. Maximising your range of motion and flexibility is a competitive edge in most sports and athletic activities. Not only does it reduce your risk of injury, but it can also be the difference between winning and losing.
Regular stretching exercises are the most effective way to maintain your full range of motion and flexibility. However, even the slightest injury can affect your stretching routine and thus impact your range of motion.
Natural chiropractic can help improve joint mobility and function. Having healthy and strong joints will improve your overall range of motion and flexibility. A chiro at our clinic can also recommend exercises, stretches, and other techniques that can help improve range of motion.
2. Reduced Risk of Injury
Pushing your body to the limit often leads to an increased risk of injury during your sporting career. We’ve seen it many times, in professional basketball, rugby, football, triathlon, or skiing. Teams will spend millions of dollars hiring the best training and coaching staff. And yet, injury in sports and athletics is almost unavoidable.
A doctor of chiropractic will assess areas of the body that are most vulnerable to muscle and joint injury. Sometimes, a chiropractor will spot weakened areas you aren’t even aware of. By helping to identify weaknesses, you are less susceptible to injuries before they occur by taking preventative and recovery measures.
Shoulders, neck, knees, and elbows are all susceptible to injury due to overuse. Misalignment and imbalances in the body can lead to increased stress on these joints and related muscles. Identifying and strengthening any weak points will help avoid major injuries later down the line. Overuse injuries often lead to people seeking a chiropractor for shoulder pain, knee pain, or a chiropracor for hip pain.
3. Faster Recovery from Injuries
As mentioned, injuries are unfortunately part of being an athlete. However, your recovery regime can have an impact on the length as well as post-recovery performance. Even subtle changes in your recovery process can make a huge difference in the long run.
Chiropractic care will focus on your spinal and nervous system functioning at optimum levels. If your system is misaligned, it will take longer for your body to heal. Because of this, visiting a chiro can be helpful in speeding up your recovery and reducing the likelihood of re-injury. In addition, chiropractic services help reduce inflammation and muscle spasms which promotes your body’s healing quicker.
If surgical correction can be prevented, chiropractic therapy may be the quickest way to get you on the pitch again.
4. Reduced Pain and Muscle Soreness
Muscle soreness and feeling stiff a few days after exercise are part of pushing yourself harder than normal. As long as you are exercising correctly, it is essentially an indication that your muscles are getting stronger.
5. Mental Boost and Muscle Relaxation
Because your body and mind are so interconnected, a healthy body often leads to an improvement in mental health. Successful athletes at the peak of their game talk about mentality and its importance to your chances of success. Many patients report improvements in their sleeping habits, mood, and overall outlook during the course of natural chiropractic care. A study has shown a correlation between spinal manipulation triggers (through chiropractic adjustment) and stress reduction throughout the body.
If your posture and spine are aligned correctly, your muscles are at their most natural and relaxed state of being. This means that your muscles aren’t working overtime even during your recovery phase and thus leads to quicker recovery. A doctor of chiropractic can help identify any irregularities and help bring you back to optimal levels.
Conclusion
Improved athletic performance is hard to be attributed to one single factor. Oftentimes, it’s a combination of things you do that help athletes recover quicker, feel better and stronger.
Our South Auckland chiropractor clinic is composed of a team specialising in sports and athletic performance. We have clients beyond the borders of a chiropractor Manukua or Papakura based. Athletes from all over Auckland can benefit from chiropractic therapy and spine adjustment care.
Even the most skeptic can benefit from an initial consultation where no spine adjustment or other manipulations are done. The first visit is all about assessing your current condition, restrictions, and goals. A chiropractor X Ray is done if necessary. Thereafter, a plan is put in place to get you feeling and reaching your maximum physical potential.