Chiropractic Treatments Get You Back Into Competition by Nick Messe

Chiropractic care concentrates on keeping the body in tune with itself by maintaining alignment of the spine and joints. A chiropractic treatment might consist of a chiropractor massaging the muscles and soft tissue along the spine searching for subluxations, which are misalignments of the bones in the joint. When they find a subluxation, they manipulate it back into line. This is called an adjustment. Subluxations can pinch or block nerves, causing pain and poor communication between brain and muscle.

While it is obvious that a vertebral subluxation would cause pain, a chiropracter would believe that all physical maladies originate in these subluxations. Their belief is that if the vertebra is kept in alignment, the body will regulate itself and maintain health on its own, naturally. If you interrupt the flow, bad things will happen.

Sports chiropractic works in two ways. First, it is a preventive treatment. Regular adjustments and massages enhance the flow of blood, oxygenating all the muscles. This might be the most important use of chiropractic for athletes, as a proactive treatment to prevent injuries from occurring in the first place. When incorporated into a training regimen, chiropractic boosts the results of training and helps to prevent injury by increasing joint health and range of motion.

Famous professional sports superstars turn to chiropractic because it is non-invasive and does not include drugs. Tiger Woods, Martina Navratilova, Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong had chiropractors who traveled with them for treatments before and after competition. When an athlete does suffer an injury, adjusting any subluxations that occurred during the injury will help speed the body back to its normal, healthy state.

Studies have shown that injured athletes treated with chiropractic recover faster than those who healed on their own. Football superstar Joe Montana said he recovered from a possibly career-ending injury to his back thanks to chiropractic treatments. In fact, before winning the 1990 Super Bowl, seventy-five percent of the San Francisco football team had chiropractic treatment.

Additionally, continued chiropractic treatments will keep the vertebra aligned and improve posture. Good posture has numerous health benefits itself, several of which overlap the benefits of chiropractic, so you get double the rewards. Chiropractic treatments will strengthen the immune system and increase concentration and focus. There is a reduced chance of injury and increased flexibility in the joints with continued chiropractic treatments and overall health is improved, since the body can efficiently regulate itself.

Find a sports chiropractor who understands that athletes want to recover and continue toward their goals. Find a chiropractor who knows that athletes want advice on keeping their body in top condition, ready for the challenges of competition. Work with your doctor to establish good training habits. Your body will give it all back to you, if you give it some preventive care.