Chiropractic Care For Sports Performance

Athletes may seek chiropractic care for a lingering back or neck pain or after suffering an injury. But did you know chiropractic care can do more than just treat pain and injuries?

A review by the Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association found that chiropractic care can enhance sports performance. Today, sport chiropractors are on NFL sidelines ready to treat lower back and other musculoskeletal injuries. They also act as emergency care providers, pre-participation examiners and injury specialists who work with coaches and other doctors to make sure athletes get the best health treatment.
The review found that the benefits of chiropractic care for performance are:

• Spinal manipulation therapy restores motion with the highest level of motor control and coordination, which allows athletic performance at the highest possible level.
• Reduces muscle inhibition and optimizes muscle function.
• Restores normal joint function and increases muscle strength.
• Spinal manipulation therapy can optimize cognitive and motor skill sport performance.

According to Dr. Wilbour Kelsick, a chiropractor who is a member of the Canadian National and Olympic teams, “By correcting the deficiencies discovered in the examination, athletic performance can be improved and the frustration level (of an athlete) decreased when the etiology of poor performance is unclear.” This means that chiropractors use spinal manipulation not only to treat injuries, but to improve sports performance and prevent injuries.
Several chiropractic authors have shown support for chiropractic care and its ability to improve performance. “Where chiropractic truly excels is in its ability to actually improve performance, since it is through the full use of the nervous system that peak performance can be achieved” states Dr. Craig L Leonardi, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at St. Louis University Medical School“. Chiropractic is the only form of care available to deliver subluxation free 100 percent nerve flow,” and “peak performance is possibly only with chiropractic care.”