Olympic athletes, Major League Baseball players, National Football League players, and professional golfers are all examples of elite athletes who use chiropractic care, but you don’t have to be a world-class athlete to benefit from getting adjusted. Here are some of the ways that chiroSports and Chiropractic Care – Chiropractic Sports and Wellnesspractic care helps in sports and overall wellness for people who are living an active lifestyle.

Five Ways Chiropractic Care Helps Active People

1. Sports Injury Recovery

When you injure a joint or a muscle, your entire body feels the effects. Other muscles automatically work to keep pressure off the injured area, changing the alignment of every joint, muscle, and tendon. Recovery isn’t just about repairing the damage, but also bringing your body back into balance so it functions best and avoids more injury.

2. Soreness and Pain Relief

A properly aligned spine helps your body heal naturally. This applies even when what needs to be healed is muscle soreness from a good workout. An adjustment helps your body recover effectively, so you can return to your next workout stronger.

3. Increased Flexibility and Range of Motion

It can’t be repeated too often: misalignment in one part of the body affects all the rest of the body. When the spine is not aligned, it causes the rest of the body to compensate, making muscles stiff with the effort of doing work they’re not designed to do. Bringing all these parts back into balance helps your muscles relax, so they are stronger and more supple.

4. Improved Immune Health

Studies have shown that chiropractic adjustments improve the immune response, which is an obvious chiropractic benefit that applies to both sports and overall wellness. This is an important benefit for athletes, specifically, because vigorous exercise can stress the immune system.

5. Preventative Treatment of Potential Injuries

You may not be aware of a misalignment in your spine, but your muscles and joints are. The work they do to compensate adds strain to some parts of the body, while weakening others at the same time. Both over- and under-use puts you at risk of injury.

Workouts That Call for Chiropractic Care

While exercise is great for your body in many ways, here are some examples of how sports and working out often lead to the need for chiropractic care.

• Riding a Bike: Leaning over handlebars is an unnatural position for your neck and spine. A chiropractor may recommend massage therapy in addition to a spinal realignment to help improve joint mobility and muscle relaxation.
• CrossFit Training: This powerful workout is also rough on muscles and joints. Keeping them aligned is an important way to avoid injury, a common problem among the CrossFit crowd. A chiropractor will likely begin with a spinal adjustment to relieve tension and achy muscles.
• Dancing: Whether it’s a Zumba class or ballroom lessons, dancing twists the spine and joints. Keep them flexible and balanced with an adjustment. This will help reduce the pain in the muscles and relieve tension throughout the body.

If you’re an athlete, you could benefit from following up your sports with chiropractic care to support your body. Contact your local chiropractor today and see how we can help you meet your fitness goals.