Sports
Champions Use Chiropractic
Chiropractic is used by top players in sports as diverse as golf's Tiger Woods, tennis pros Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer, professional football superstars Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys, and Tiki Barber of the New York Giants. Competitors from ESPN's X Games, volleyball, surfing, rowing, running, cycling, sailing, weightlifting, handball and more are chiropractic care enthusiasts. In addition to serving athletes at the World Games 2009 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for the first time in Olympic history, chiropractic care will be fully integrated in caring for athletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics games in Vancouver.
Why is chiropractic so popular among athletes? Two reasons: 1. Chiropractic helps improve and enhance athletic performance and 2. Chiropractic helps keep athletes on the field and may prevent minor injuries from becoming major ones.
Professional Football & Chiropractic
In US professional football, 77% of National Football League (NFL) trainers refer players to chiropractors and 31% of NFL teams have a chiropractor officially on staff. Most of the Detroit Lions receive regular chiropractic care. Dr. Sol Cogan spends one or two hours adjusting players before each game and provides care for players during the games as well. The players recognize that chiropractic adjustments greatly increase their performance, said Dr. Cogan. Fifty athletes were group received chiropractic care while the control group did not receive care. They were tested for agility, balance, power, speed and hand reaction time. After 12 weeks, the chiropractic group improvement was 16.7% including a more than 30% improvement in reaction time! The [chiropractic] athlete reacts faster, coordinates better, executes fine movements with improved accuracy and precision, amounting to an overall better athlete. University baseball players were divided into a chiropractic and a non-chiropractic group. They were tested for vertical jump, standing broad jump, broad jump, muscle strength, pulse rate, electrocardiogram, blood pressure and treadmill stress testing. The chiropractic group showed significant improvement over the control group. Many amateur and professional athletes wouldn't dream of competing without first getting a chiropractic spinal checkup. That's why 75% of the San Francisco 49ers received chiropractic care the day they won the 1990 Super Bowl.? Dr. Nick Athens, their chiropractor, said: "Athletes are always looking for ways to improve their performances on the field; chiropractic care is one of the best ways to accomplish this. That's why there were 16 chiropractors from 12 countries at the 1988 Seoul Olympics."
Runners & Chiropractic
16 injured female long distance runners were placed under chiropractic care. The runners recovered quickly and seven of them later scored personal best performances.
The University of Tennessee track team won the men NCAA title after receiving care from team chiropractor Dr. Michael Petty. After an adjustment from Dr. Petty, decathlete Blake Sabo discovered chiropractic performance enhancement benefits. He actually had six personal bests out of 10 events at the meet, said Dr. Petty.
Swimmers
Olympic head coach Richard Quick of the University of Texas says: Chiropractic is playing a larger and larger role in all forms of athletics. "..[it] helps athletic performance, If you...want optimum performance, chiropractic helps with that," says Brian Campbell, DC, a chiropractor who counts USC, UCLA and USA swimming athletes as his patients.
Team Chiropractor
Let us not forget the millions of people who regularly perform aerobic workouts. Exercise workouts are much more effective when the spine is balanced. Getting in shape should always include the shaping of the spinal column by a chiropractor. You don't have to be an Olympiad, a professional athlete or a serious athlete to benefit from chiropractic care. Americans suffer from millions of sports-related injuries each year' and everyone with such an injury needs regular chiropractic spinal checkups. Even kinder, gentler sports can create damage from micro-trauma rather than macro-trauma.
What Your Chiropractor Does
Your chiropractor balances your spinal column and relieves stress on your muscles, ligaments, tendons and nerves. Sports injuries nearly always jar and misaligned your spine and the structures near it.
Severe Trauma
The orthodox medical profession specializes in the management of fractures, torn flesh, ripped tendons, dislocations, blood and fluid loss, and other damage that may need immediate emergency attention. However, most victims of trauma leave the hospital with serious spinal subluxations from their accidents because MDs are not trained to locate and correct this form of spinal damage. That is the realm of chiropractic care. Explore chiropractic and natural methods first. As superstar Joe Montana stated, I only wish I had tried chiropractic care a few years ago when I first started having back pain, and maybe this surgery would never have happened.
Need A Sports Doctor?
Many doctors of chiropractic volunteer their time to local little league, neighborhood, and school teams. Why not ask your chiropractor if he or she might be interested in donating time to your organization or sponsoring a team?
