Why Athletes Rely on Chiropractic Medicine

We have touched this month on sports chiropractors, how important they are and why they are already valued by professional and world class athletes. It goes much deeper than that, according to the National University of Health Sciences (NUHS), where, as one Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) and a member of the sports medicine staff at the 2016 Olympics reported:

“Many athletes were referred to us for neck, lower back, and extremity conditions. We helped them achieve their goals by getting them back into play after an injury, or helping them increase their strength and flexibility so they could perform at their optimum level.”

Chiropractic adjustments are relied upon by professional and amateur team teams, and an increasing number of athletes are seeking treatment in private practices. This was a conclusion reached by NUHS more than two years ago in a revelation that appears to be truer than ever as we embark on 2023.

Sports chiropractors free up the musculoskeletal system and attendant nervous system to achieve optimal performance in proportion to their fitness level. This is critical when rebounding from pain and injury and the inflammation that tends to be the cause behind it as well as the major barrier to subsequent healing.

What is it that athletes find so valuable in the hands of sports chiropractors, also known as chiropractic sports physicians?

• Improved Range of Motion…

Athletes not only put tremendous strain on their bodies when they compete, but training is often as intense in their quest for peak fitness. Joint stiffness and pain are often the results, limiting their range of motion. The culprit will often be traced to spinal alignment issues where painless chiropractic adjustments have been proven to resurrect restricted bodily movement.

• Reducing Pain…

Taking lower back pain— something that 80 percent of adults have experienced some time in their lives—as an example, evidence and studies continue to show that spinal manipulation is an effective form of pain relief. The same claim can be made for various types of joint pain. According to studies cited by none other than the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH): participants undergoing spinal manipulation, along with recommended exercises, experienced less pain and were not as reliant on as much medication which was prescribed for a shorter amount of time,.

• Less Reliance on Prescription Drugs…

Chiropractic care is a drug-free alternative the reduces pain for athletes with the promise of eliminating pain altogether. This means that you don’t have to deal with the assortment of side effects that come with pharmaceuticals ranging from painkillers to cortisone shots. It also removes the threat of drug dependency that has become all too real during the ongoing opioid epidemic.

• Alternative to Surgery and Other Invasive Options..

Of course, spinal manipulation is an option for back and neck injuries, but chiropractic care also offers other options to surgeries and the prescribing of the aforementioned drugs. It also is a viable alternative to more invasive treatments with procedures such as dry needling, electrical muscle stimulation and other techniques.

The bottom line is that a growing number of athletes are turning to their chiropractors for quicker recovery through regular care and to lessen the risk of future injuries.