Pro Sports & Chiropractic: The Winning Edge
The difference between winning and losing is razor thin - athletes are consistently trying new therapies and products to give them a competitive advantage over their opponent. It’s worthwhile to evaluate what over 90% of world class athletes routinely use chiropractic care to prevent injuries and boost their performance all do.
Athletic success depends first, on staying in the game, and second, performing at peak levels. Luckily, increased performance and decreased risk of injury can be correlated, but their ability is reflected in how the athlete trains.
Traditionally, healthy athletes focus on strength, flexibility, or cardiovascular training, however, new research is revealing agility, balance, and coordination is becoming the goal of athletic development. Training should be centered around training movement, not specific isolated muscles. Consider the SAID principle, which states that training gains are specific to the movement that is trained. Therefore, an isolated movement that is trained repetitively does not necessarily transfer any benefit to a functional task.
In other words: Spending your time on the machines at the gym, isolating specific muscles to try to stress them for growth, actually perpetuates muscle imbalances that alter effective movement.
Thus, as training not only becomes more functional, it begins to overlap with clinical rehabilitation. When training is geared upon improving, restoring, or strengthening movement, the athletes thrive. This also reduces the risk of injury, because the body has less of an imbalance, which frequently overloads tissues. Therefore, movement efficiency (functional and sport-specific), is a cornerstone to improvement and injury prevention.
Consider the following:
In a 1991 study by Dr. Lauro, when tested on their reaction time, the chiropractic group reported 18% faster reaction times than their peers.
Another study by Dr. Murphy found an on average, 97 millisecond faster reaction time following adjustment.
A 2015 study showed that athletes significantly increased their vertical jump height following an adjustment.
One study found a 30% improvement in hand-eye coordination following an adjustment.
Multiple studies have shown that chiropractic aids in more effective training, fewer injuries, reduced recovery times, and increased performance.
When our spine’s become subluxated (restricted in movement), the body loses the ability to coordinate the joint, and functional stability is lost. When the body cannot stabilize, larger muscle groups must do the work, robbing them of the power they could have exerted elsewhere.
Proper interplay of mobility, stability and strength in the spine, with efficient movement is imperative to training power within the muscle groups. By allowing the body to be more powerful and better trained for the stressors it faces, we can increase the load capacity and raise our tissue’s tolerances.
There is a reason why 90% of world class athletes use chiropractic care. Team USA’s Olympic medical director is a chiropractor. 72% of PGA golfers have a private doctor of chiropractic, and 93% of MLB clubs have a team chiropractor. Every NBA and NFL team have a chiropractor on staff.
Your chiropractor should be able to evaluate your kinetic chains to assess the weakest link. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. At Thrive, we follow protocols taught to us by Dr. Juehring, an olympic coach, and Dr. Liebenson, Kobe Bryant’s personal chiropractor. We have the training and expertise to give you the winning edge.
The 90% quote was from Exercise Physiologist, Sean Atkins, Ph. D.
Reaction time article: Lauro, A. & Mouch B. (1991) “Chiropractic Effects of Athletic Ability” “The Journal of Chiropractic Research and Clinical Investigation” pp. 84-87
Murphy’s article: Kelly DD, Murphy BA, Backhouse DP, Journal of Manipulative Physiologic Therapeutics 2000 May; 23(4):246-51.
Jump Height: Wontae Gong, Ph. D., :The Influence of Pelvic Adjustment on Vertical Jump Height in Female University Students with Functional Leg Length Inequality” “The Journal of Physiology and Therapeutics Science” 2015 January; 27(1):251-253.
Hand eye coordination: Baarbe, K. Julianne (2018) February. “Subclinical recurrent neck pain and its treatment impacts motor training-induced plasticity of the cerebellum and motor cortex.” PLOS One.
