• Sports Chiropractic

Sports Chiropractic

Sports Chiropractic

Recently having the Commonwealth Games hosted on the Gold Coast, it was an inspirational time for athletes and support teams, including health care professionals.  Chiropractic too, has begun to be recognised as being extremely beneficial in preventative and rehabilitative treatments for athletes of various calibres.

The Chiropractors’ Association of Australia (CAA) has developed a not-for-profit, clinical interest group of Sports Chiropractic Australia (SCA) that coordinates sports chiropractic care at community, state and national level sporting events. It also provides support to members who work with sporting teams. Locally, the CAA has been involved with several elite athletes, including Olympic diving gold-medallist Matthew Mitcham and champion swimmer Ellen Fullerton.

Sports chiropractic is growing rapidly nationally and internationally, and is well established at many world-level sporting events, such as the Olympic Games and the World Games.

The International Federation of Sports Chiropractic (FICS) is the peak, international sports chiropractic body and plays a dominant role in promoting sports chiropractic throughout the world. FICS is made up of many national sports chiropractic councils. These include sports chiropractic councils from Australia, The United States, The United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Switzerland, Japan, Russia, Italy, Germany, and many others.

In recent history, several  world-renowned athletes have endorsed chiropractic and its many benefits. This includes basketballer Michael Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joe Montana (NFL quarterback), Tiger Woods, and many more.

“We’ve got to let the people know that there is a necessity — it’s not even an option; it’s a necessity — to have a chiropractor. As much as it is a necessity to have a dentist. If you have a dentist for the family, you should have your chiropractor for the family.” 1

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger

At Yeronga Chiropractic, Dr Aidan is a member of the Sports Chiropractic Australia (SCA) group, and has personally treated a range of athletes involved in cycling, triathlons, swimming, football (various codes), golf and gymnastics.

What are the benefits of chiropractic care for athletes?

  1. Athletes place enormous amounts of stress on their bodies to perform at such a high performing level, and too suffer similar spinal conditions that are commonly seen by chiropractors (neck pain, shoulder pain, headaches, back pain and sciatica). Chiropractic can assist athletes in relieving such pain, while optimizing training and performance, reducing injury and supporting extremely active bodies.
  2. Chiropractic can treat a range of injuries – it’s not exclusively spinal care and joint manipulation. Chiropractors are also trained to diagnose problems and injuries to the joints and soft tissues of your limbs, to understand the relationship that one region has with others, and to manage them accordingly.
  3. Chiropractic can assist healing and recovery, as misalignment and poor function of the spine or limbs can hamper natural healing processes of the body. Much of the pain felt after an injury comes from the body trying to protect itself through muscle guarding and inflammation. These sophisticated responses are part of the body’s natural protective and healing mechanisms. Chiropractic care helps to restore normal function, which in turn can help speed up recovery.
  4. Chiropractic can assist in working to correct a lack of symmetrical function. A common cause of injuries in athletes is asymmetry throughout the body, where one side of the body is working differently from the other. This could be relating to strength, mobility and flexibility. Chiropractic management (through joint correction, soft tissue therapy, exercise and home advice) works to keep the body properly aligned, reducing asymmetry and risk of injury – as the body doesn’t have to work as hard to compensate for the deficient area.
  5. Increasing range of motion is another positive effect of regular chiropractic treatment, which assists the body to move freely as it was designed to. When the spine is out of alignment, muscles commonly tighten or spasm up, causing a decreasing range of motion. Relieving misalignments throughout the spine helps free up areas of tension, reducing pain and improving mobility.

At Yeronga Chiropractic, Dr Aidan is dedicated to working with his patients and their health management teams. Aidan regularly works with physiotherapists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, general practitioners, nutritionists, naturopaths and trainers.

Wondering how we can help you as an athlete, or someone you know? Call us on (07) 3892 1440 to speak with us. We look forward to hearing from you!

 

  1. Painter, F. (2011, March 7). Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Promotes Chiropractic. Retrieved from http://chiro.org/wordpress/2011/03/07/governor-arnold-schwarzenegger-promotes-chiropractic/

 

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