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fitbody
ALIGNING
FOR FITNESS
Chiropractic Care Prevents Injury, Boosts Performance
What do distinguished athletes
like Jerry Rice, a Hall of
Fame retired wide receiver
and Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour
de France winner, have in common?
To withstand the rigors and intensity of
each of their sports, these champions
have both used the services of a chiropractic
doctor skilled in chiropractic
sports sciences and rehabilitation.
As more athletes discover that chiropractic
care goes beyond rehabilitation
benefits to further enhance performance,
they are coming to rely on it as a
tool to support the healthy structure and
functioning of their skeletal and muscular
system. A 2002 study published in
the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological
Therapeutics noted that 31 percent
of National Football League teams
include chiropractors on their staff.
Doctor of Chiropractic Jeff Ludwick
assists players of the Harrisburg Stampede,
a semi-professional Pennsylvania
football team. “Improper spinal alignment
creates muscular imbalances and nerve
interferences,” advises Ludwick, owner
of Camp Hill Family Chiropractic, in
by Linda Sechrist
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. “With properly
aligned skeletal and nervous systems,
an athlete’s body doesn’t have to work
as hard,” which is why team members
receive spinal adjustments before hitting
the field for this high-impact sport.
Ludwick notes that football is
known for stressing hip joints, because
when a player’s hip turns out even a few
degrees, especially from sudden changes
in direction, falling or violent contact
with another player, tendons and muscles
become tighter on one side than the
other. “Chiropractic adjustments anticipate
and prevent this, so that the body
doesn’t have to waste energy compensating
for imbalances,” he explains.
Traditionally, chiropractic care is
known for focusing on postural adjustments
to minimize abnormal stresses and
strains that affect the function of the nervous
system and act on joints and spinal
tissues. But active exercises and stretches,
extension traction and ergonomic education
are frequently added as preventive
protocols to help athletes avert injury.
The spinal cord operates like a
switchboard for the body, transferring
22 Greater Charlotte AwakeningCharlotte.com
electrical impulses via a network of
nerves. It works properly as long as there
is no interference between the brain
and tissue cells. But when nerve endings
swell due to misaligned vertebrae,
injury is more likely. Research reported
in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine
and The Physician and Sportsmedicine
indicates that chiropractic sports science
helps find and correct the underlying
causes, and thus helps prevent and heal
injuries.
During one research project, Chung
Ha Suh, Ph.D., and his team at the University
of Colorado demonstrated that
even, “minuscule amounts of pressure
on a nerve root (equal to a feather falling
on the hand), resulted in up to a 50
percent decrease in electrical transmission
down the course of the nerve supplied
by that root.” The resulting biomechanical
misalignment causes a domino
effect: It exerts abnormal pressure on
the nerve root, causes interference in
the brain’s impulses to tissue cells, and
alters the performance of any muscles
and organs that the nerve serves.
Dr. Nicole Galiette, owner of Chiropractic
& Rehabilitation Center, in
Cheshire, Connecticut, believes that her expertise
as a marathon runner helps to guard
athlete clients from fatigue and stress that
affect joints as a result of repetitive motions.
“In any sport, there is a tendency to use one
side, one joint or one movement more than
others,” advises Galiette.
For example, cyclists and runners’
repetitive stress injuries most often occur
in the knees and back, while swimmers
and baseball pitchers experience them
in the shoulders. When Galiette treats
cyclists that overwork their leg muscles
and lean forward in an awkward spinal
position for extended periods, she
emphasizes strengthening exercises.
“Injuries that heal properly are less susceptible
to future flare-ups,” she notes.
“Anyone that pushes their body hard
needs to be in proper alignment, to keep
the muscular system balanced,” Galiette
asserts. “Strengthening the muscles
around body mechanisms that are most
frequently used means that the integrity
of the surrounding structures won’t be
compromised and cause other problems.”
Linda Sechrist is a senior writer and
editor for Natural Awakenings.