Benefits of Regular Chiropractic Adjustments for Active Individuals
Sports chiropractic care may seem like an obvious option for competitive athletes and elite team players due to the myriad of benefits it offers for optimizing performance and treating and preventing injury.
But you don’t have to be an actual athlete to reap the rewards of sports chiropractic care. From everyday workout enthusiasts, weekend hikers, and those who engage in voluntary or professional physical labor, all active individuals can experience greater ease of movement and less chance of injury during activity through chiropractic treatments.
That’s because many of the same motions used in athletics are performed in other ways by active people every day:
Picking up and carrying heavy objects like grocery bags, children, or grandchildren with a lifting motion
Bending, reaching, and lifting while doing things like distributing and spreading mulch or other garden activities, vacuuming in hard-to-reach places, or helping someone move a piece of furniture
Squatting low to pick something up
Pushing open a heavy door or shoving another large object out of the way
Reaching while balancing things on high shelves
Recreational pickleball, golf, running
These everyday activities require a measure of strength, balance, and flexibility to do safely, especially as you age. Lack of these fitness fundamentals is why many people regularly injure themselves performing simple tasks. When the body is strong, healthy, and fully functional, all of these activities — and many others — become more manageable.
While athletes often suffer repetitive motion injuries from performing the same activities over long periods, non-athlete, active individuals are more likely to hurt themselves using muscles in ways they are not used to using them, such as heavy Spring cleaning/gardening, occasional sports matches without training, or surprise visits from the grandkids.
Bodies that are misaligned, or that aren’t regularly stretched and strengthened to some degree, can develop stiffness in the joints, pain with movement, and impaired range of motion. By ensuring the musculoskeletal and nervous systems are working together properly, sports chiropractic care can keep your muscles and tissues softer and more pliable, and nerve communication flowing more freely.
Spinal Alignment
Spinal subluxations are a leading cause of neck and back pain and injury because when movement through the spine is impeded, other body parts are forced to compensate in unnatural ways. By ensuring proper alignment of the neck and back, the entire body will benefit from more overall stabilization and better nervous system communication.
Strength Training
The old adage “use it or lose it” is never more true than it is with the body’s musculature, and strength is necessary to perform many activities safely. Your sports chiropractic team is not concerned with bulking you up. That’s for the gym. Sports chiropractic strength conditioning is aimed at improving stability, balance, and overall functionality.
Flexibility
While many people consider stretching a pre-or post-workout activity, it really is something that should be done regularly to keep joints and tissues from becoming stiff and constricted. Loss of flexibility in the shoulders, back, and hips can result in serious injury and chronic pain.
At DTX Sports Medicine, we help athletes and non-athletes alike improve mobility, flexibility, strength, and posture to enhance the overall quality of movement and help prevent injuries.
We will thoroughly evaluate your body alignment and muscle balance, as well as analyze your posture and gait to determine any bio-mechanical issues that are compromising movement. That personalized information will be used to create an individualized treatment plan comprised of therapeutic massage, patient-specific exercises, and therapies designed to better condition your body for whatever activities you enjoy.
Contact DTX Sports Medicine today.
