Athletes are constantly on the lookout for ways to gain an edge over the competition. Jumping higher, sprinting faster, and throwing further are all huge advantages to athletes. Unfortunately, sometimes athletes can feel like they’ve maxed out their potential. In these cases, some athletes may turn to illegal and harmful performance-enhancing substances.
Luckily, there are a number of effective, legal, and safe alternatives to improve athletic performance. One such tool is chiropractic care. Your chiropractor can help you improve your range of motion, increase your ability to produce force, and generally help you to become a better athlete.
How to Improve Sports Performance
While different sports have unique requirements, there are a few key considerations that relate to all (or at least most) athletes. In this section, we’ll review the top ways that athletes can improve their performance and rise above the competition.
Increased Strength
In almost all cases, being stronger is an advantage for athletes. For instance, football players who can lift more weight will usually have an easier time pushing past the other team and/or staying upright when a lineman tries to bring them down.
However, it’s not always just pure strength that matters to athletes. For some competitors, muscular endurance is more important than muscular strength. Cross-country runners and others should all focus on improving their ability to complete many sustained contractions over long periods of time as compared to increasing pure strength.
Improved Range of Motion
For athletes, the ability to reach further and move their joints through a greater range of motion (ROM) translates to better performance. This is especially true when it comes to overhead sports, such as baseball and volleyball. These athletes benefit tremendously by being able to comfortably move their arms, trunks, and legs through greater arcs.
In fact, greater range of motion typically relates to improved strength as well. This is because athletes with more ROM can often produce more torque, which is a key factor in force production in the body.
Better Coordination
All sports require a tremendous amount of coordination. Case in point, catching a football requires hundreds of muscles to all work together to produce a clean catch. If any muscles or nerves aren’t working correctly, an athlete might not be able to make the catch, resulting in embarrassment and potentially a loss of a game.
Coordination is a complex phenomenon involving many different parts of the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and the muscles required to carry out the action in question. Working on this component of athletics requires significant attention to detail and the right training plan.
How Chiropractic Care Can Improve Sports Performance
In the previous section, we outlined some of the key components that must be considered by those who wish to improve their sports performance. With consistent practice, good coaches, and the will to improve, athletes can slowly but surely improve their sports performance.
But as was mentioned in the introduction, some athletes can hit a wall, preventing them from progressing any further. In many cases, these athletes have not investigated chiropractic care, which is one of the best ways to improve athletic performance.
Chiropractors perform quick, specific treatments to the spine. These treatments, known as adjustments, push spinal segments back into place when they have fallen out of alignment. This enables for better communication between the brain, spinal cord, and the rest of the body.
Athletes who are looking to get a leg up need to consider chiropractic care. The team at Keystone Chiropractic, your go-to Plano chiropractor, is here to help! We can assist athletes of all types in becoming the best they can be. Book your appointment with us now!
