Maybe you’ve never thought about chiropractic care. After all, as a regular runner, you’re pretty healthy. You’ve never sustained any lasting injuries and you don’t feel constant pain. What would be the point of paying for chiropractic care?
You’re not alone in your thought process. Athletes and non-athletes alike assume that chiropractic care is only beneficial if you are experiencing pain. Not so. In fact, many athletes and sports teams employ the services of a chiropractor on a regular basis. “Why,” you ask? Well, the answer is simple, really. It is much easier to keep a healthy person healthy than it is to treat a person already in pain.
Ideally, if you had perfect alignment, your body could handle almost anything. However, few people, if any, have perfect body alignment. While running, the musculoskeletal system may absorb up to 250-300% of the runner’s weight on the heel strike, and this exerts stress on the body. Additional issues in the feet, like flat feet or high arches, can also contribute to the problem. Running can put you at very high risk for conditions ranging anywhere from pain in the feet, shoulders, and lower back, to pinched nerves and sciatic pain.
Of course, the problems don’t occur overnight. Alignment problems take time to develop. It takes even longer for the pain to set in. Once you actually start feeling pain from your alignment issues, you are already in pretty poor shape. Now, instead of preventing injuries, your chiropractor will have to help repair injuries. While it doesn’t have to be this way, it is sadly all too common.
In addition to preventung injuries, athletes have discovered that chiropractic care allows them to achieve an optimal level of performance when training and competing in their respective sporting event. A proper biomechanical structure allows athletes to achieve and maintain their optimal level of performance-safely and naturally. There is a growing body of research and case studies, which clearly show the relationship between chiropractic care and athletic performance.
If you are a runner and you have never seen a chiropractor, now is the best time to start taking advantage of chiropractic care.
“You obviously can’t compete at your fullest if you’re not in alignment. And your body can’t heal if your back is not in alignment. Every track and field athlete that I have ever met has seen a chiropractor at one time or another. In track and field, it is absolutely essential.”
– Dan O’Brian, Olympic Gold Medallist ~ Decathlon
belfast, back pain, neck pain, hip pain, headaches, sciatica, running injuries
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