Boosting Sports Performance with Chiropractic

We treat many athletes in our Arlington, WA clinic, because chiropractic is a great way to speed recovery times and enhance performance. Almost every professional athlete uses chiropractic care to keep themselves running at maximum capability, and the US Olympic Team has an entire crew of chiropractors for their athletes.

In a 2011 study, researchers evaluated the impact of chiropractic adjustments on 18 professional judo athletes in Brazil. Half of the athletes received chiropractic adjustments of their cervical spine. The other half received a fake treatment. Since judo heavily relies on the arms and hands, researchers evaluated athletes' grip strength with a device that measures muscle force.

After three treatments, those in the chiropractic group had substantially increased grip strength. While the chiropractic group improved their grip intensity by about 15%, the athletes in the sham treatment group had only gotten better by about 5%. The study came to the conclusion that chiropractic made a significant difference in the grip strength in these athletes.

While more investigation is required to understand the full benefits of chiropractic on athletic performance, this study is encouraging. A 2010 study found that chiropractic care lessened the risk of lower-limb injury in football players. Regardless of whether you’re needing to recover from an injury or you’re just looking to augment your performance, Dr. Ernst can help you achieve your best.

Give our Arlington, WA office a call today at (360) 659-8464 for an appointment.

Botelho MB, Andrade BB. Effect of Cervical Spine Manipulative Therapy on Judo Athletes' Grip Strength. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapies. 2011; 35(11):38-44.

Hoskins W, Pollard H. The effect of a sports chiropractic manual therapy intervention on the prevention of back pain, hamstring and lower limb injuries in semi-elite Australian Rules footballers: a randomized control trial. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2010;11:64.