Chiropractic Adjustment Improves Athletic Performance

Numerous elite athletes, including Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Wayne Gretsky, Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong, and Tiger Woods, have credited chiropractic care with helping them on their path to excellence.  These athletes have experienced firsthand the benefits of getting adjusted.

An elegant research study by Smith et al in JMPT in 2006 demonstrates how a chiropractic adjustment gives an athlete a competitive edge.  In this randomized controlled study, participants were asked to perform a task before and after an adjustment.  Participants who received an adjustment had a significant increase in reaction time, while control participants who did not receive an adjustment had only nominal change in reaction time.  Click here to view the abstract.  

Additional studies on the effect of chiropractic adjustment on athletic performance are underway at Life University's Sports Science Institute (LUSSI) and will be posted here when available.

Chiropractic care has also been shown to increase proprioception, which is the communication between the brain and muscles.  Click here, here, and here for abstracts.  Additionally, a recent paper by Hubscher et al, entitled Neuromuscular Training for Sports Injury Prevention:  A Systematic Review, shows evidence that proprioceptive/neuromuscluar training reduces the incidence of certain types of sports injuries among adolescent and young athletes. Click here for the abstract for this paper.  All of these articles are available at Path of Life upon request.  These articles clearly show that chiropractic care helps keep an athlete at the top of his/her game by helping to correct the issues that result from wear-and-tear (or accidents), and by helping to maximize the brain-body connection for optimal performance.

The following video, featuring chiropractor and four-time Olympian, Dr. Terry Schroeder, describes how chiropractic care gives athletes an edge:

If you'd like to see how chiropractic care can help you improve your game, call or email us to request an appointment!