Chiropractic care can improve your athletic performance

Australia has such a strong sports culture and we know the value of sport, from the weekend warrior to the competitive athlete! Before we knew the value of sports and exercise for mental health, blood pressure, weight control, insulin sensitivity and all of that, we knew the value of a good healthy game.

Whether you’re an elite athlete striving to win a final, or you just want to smash that volley down the tramlines, you know you gotta keep those joints moving. You know you have to be able to elevate your shoulder and put in some power without flinching or tensing up!

If you’ve been sitting at a desk for 50 hours a week, but the golf club championship is on all day Saturday and Sunday, are you confident you can rotate every spinal joint in sequence? Along with the shoulders, elbows, hips and wrists?

Do professional athletes utilise chiropractic care?

Did you know that in the USA all 32 NFL teams, 30 of 32 major league baseball teams as well as many of the NBA and NHL teams all employ chiropractic care for their athletes?

While it’s taken longer for Australian teams to get on board, the AFL and WAFL are starting to employ chiropractic care for their athletes and chiropractors have accompanied our olympic athletes to the olympic games, treating gold medal winners along the way!

So what are these elite professionals getting from chiro care? And can suburban athletes have access to the same results?

The benefits of chiropractic treatment for athletes

When it comes to science, the chiropractic adjustment has some very distinct advantages over other modalities. Chiropractic care and specifically chiropractic adjustments have been shown to quickly improve joint pain, as well as joint range of motion, so if you’re in training or your competitive performance is being held up by an achy lower back, a tight shoulder, a neck twinge or a headache then a gentle, precise chiropractic adjustment could help get you back on the field again fast.

But that’s just starting to scratch the surface. The last fortnight in our clinic can give you an idea of the sports injuries a chiro might manage, with or without an adjustment!

Whether it’s the 7 year old girl who was dropped on her head at cheer, feeling stiff in the neck developing headaches, and getting cranky at mum. Who really just needed a few days off her devices, ie mental rest, to get back to normal. 

Or the adult who had a fall while exercising the polo cross ponies, who had a big palpable bone out of place at the back of her neck and needs an X-ray before any treatment at all. 

Or a 13 year old tennis player with shoulder pain during his serve, in the excellence programme at school and winning men’s opens on the weekend. 

Sure an adjustment helps a lot! But in the long term getting in touch with the coach, limiting the total number of overhead serves and volleys during the week, giving him some supporting exercises for home ALONG with the adjustments in the clinic can make all the difference.  

There’s more than one runner who has moved to Paddington and had plantar fasciitis within a month of hitting these hills. 30km/week for runners is a lot, especially walking barefoot on hard floors at home. Or in unsupportive shoes at work. Relative rest, or fewer kilometres for a few weeks, calf stretches and hip releases can get your body moving much more quickly, especially compared to going it alone.

Looking to improve your athletic performance?

Whether you’re chasing podium finishes or simply chasing your kids around the backyard, sports chiropractic care can help you move better, recover faster, and keep doing what you love, pain-free and with purpose.

At our clinic in Paddington, Brisbane, we love to combine precise chiropractic adjustments, with tailored advice and support that an athlete of any age or ability might need to keep them achieving.

If your body is holding you back, don’t wait for it to get worse—get it assessed, get it moving, and get back in the game.

Dr. Amanda O’Doherty

Hi, I’m Amanda. Chiropractor, mum, human body nerd, keen walker (with stroller of course) and social butterfly. I work with mothers and babies to help with underlying musculoskeletal issues of pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding; so that mothers can gain confidence in their body for their birthing and breastfeeding journey.