At Precision Chiropractic & Massage Center, we work with many athletes. Often, individuals are surprised to hear that athletes seek out our care regardless whether they are experiencing any symptoms or problems.
There are a variety of ways in which we can impact athletes. The most common reason an athlete seeks our care is to improve his or her performance. Currently, every major sports franchise in football, baseball, basketball and hockey has a chiropractor and massage therapist on their staff. The use of these professionals started as a competitive advantage and soon shifted to a necessity to keep up with their competition.
You may be asking yourself “Specifically how does chiropractic impact an athlete’s performance?” Athletes need the joints in their spine and extremities to work in the most efficient manner. Picture yourself driving on the expressway at 70 miles per hour. All four of your wheels and tires are moving in a perfect circular motion. Now let’s pretend that your front two wheels are tilted inward 3 degrees and your back two wheels are tilted outward three degrees. It’s only 3 degrees. What’s the big deal?
Do you think you may have to step on the accelerator a little more to achieve the same speed? Do you think your fuel efficiency may decrease due to the extra resistance? Would your ability to control the car decrease? The same principles hold true in the joints of your body. If they are not moving 100 percent efficiently, you will not function at optimum. You may have to exert more energy to match previous performances. You may have difficulty achieving new personal records.
I recently worked with a competitive runner whose goal was to complete a 5K run in under 16 minutes. We completed a thorough analysis of his gait and running patterns, paying attention to foot pronation (falling arches), tibia and fibula rotation (knee misalignment), and the alignment of the low back and pelvis. All these structures must work perfectly in unison to achieve the best performance.
These same principles apply to all the joints of the body and are true in many specific sports such as golf, tennis, volleyball, football and basketball. In our office, we have one additional advantage to treating athletes which is our team of massage therapists. Several of our therapists have specific training with athletes.
Athletes many times develop muscles that are not balanced and equal from side to side or front to back. These imbalances in muscles patterns are not always noticeable to themselves. However, they have a major impact on performance and injury risk. Our massage therapists are trained to identify these muscles patterns and correct them through specific therapeutic massage.
If you are currently in athletics and looking to increase your performance or reduce your injury risk, feel free to contact our office to schedule an evaluation.
