Greater Range of Muscle Motion
Sports athletes can benefit from chiropractic care by increasing their muscle motion range. Using both manual techniques and instrument-supported techniques, a professional chiropractor can increase an athlete’s range of motion. Why is this important? Well, when parts of the body are stressed beyond their normal range, it can result in sprains, torn ligaments, and other injuries. By safely increasing your muscle motion range, though, you can avoid injuries such as these.
Improve Muscle Recovery
Another reason why sports athletes should seek chiropractic care is because it stimulates muscle recovery. Athletes often experience body aches and pains after a strenuous game or practice. Known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), this phenomenon is the result of small tears in the muscle fibers. Most experts recommend waiting at least 48 hours between high-intensity training workouts to allow the muscles to heal. Chiropractic care can reduce the impact of DOMS by reducing the amount of time that’s needed for the damaged muscle fibers to heal.
Treatment of Shoulder Injuries
Chiropractors can treat a wide range of sports-related injuries, including those involving the shoulder. Two separate studies, one published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and another published in the British Medical Journal, found chiropractic shoulder manipulation to offer improved outcomes and less pain for athletes suffering from shoulder injuries.
Relief of Tennis Elbow
It’s estimated that roughly half of all tennis players will develop the injury known as tennis elbow during their lifetime. One third of these players will experience a “severe” cases of tennis elbow, in which the condition is characterized by pain, stiffness, and limited mobility. Thankfully, a skilled chiropractor can relieve the symptoms associated with tennis elbow through soft tissue manipulation of the affected joint, cold laser therapy and bracing after or with manipulation of the elbow joint.
Relieves Headaches
Certain contact sports like Football place athletes at risk for headaches. A study conducted by Duke University found that spinal chiropractic manipulation offered immediate relief of headaches originating from the neck. When the headache is caused by a vertebral subluxation, a chiropractor may treat it by guiding the misaligned vertebrae and/or supporting structures back into place.
Improved Strength
Last but not least, chiropractic treatment can yield improved muscle strength in sports athletes. During a typical chiropractic session, the chiropractor will manipulate the client’s soft tissue and vertebrae. Subsequently, this manipulation stimulates blood flow – and when blood flow to the muscles is increased, the client will experience faster muscle growth.