Why top athletes rely on chiropractic care

By Dr. Eric Plasker

Winning often comes down to reacting faster than your opponent by only a few seconds. In the quest to beat the competition, there is hardly a sport which hasn’t been tar-nished by allegations of participants enhancing their per-formance with steroidal drugs. Yet, there is a chemical-free way you can improve your game that does not have the serious side effects of steroids. Whether you are a top athlete or are working on integrating some healthy activity in your life, chiropractic care can help keep your spine balanced and your nerve system functioning at 100%, improving your performance dramatically.

Famous athletes who are chiropractic advocates can be found in nearly every sport, such as Emmett Smith and Terrell Owens (football), Lance Armstrong (cycling), Ar-nold Schwarzenegger (bodybuilding), John Stockton (basketball) and Evander Holyfield (boxing).

Emmett Smith recently retired from playing professional football and is the running back who holds the record for the most yards in the history of the NFL. He began re-ceiving chiropractic adjustments in the mid-1990’s and attributes much of his longevity and performance in pro-fessional sports to regular chiropractic care. Terrell Owens even flew his personal chiropractor to his training site to help him recover from his injury and prepare for the Super Bowl.

Lance Armstrong has won the premier Tour de France bike race six years in a row. Dr. Jeff Spencer, the chiro-practor who traveled with Lance for years said, “My job with Lance and the team is to optimize the neuro-musculo-skeletal component of their training and, in the event of a crash, minimize down time and get them back in the race as quickly as possible.”

When speaking at the International Chiropractors Asso-ciation’s 10th Annual Symposium on Natural Fitness in 2002, Arnold Schwarzenegger credited chiropractic care for helping him achieve success as a bodybuilder and maintain a rigorous filmmaking schedule, saying, “Chiro-practic is about health and fitness. Chiropractic is about natural, preventive health care.”

Dr. Robin Hunter, the official chiropractor for the 2002 U.S. Winter Olympic Team said, “The fundamental princi-ples of our profession apply so well to athletics. Correct-ing biomechanical faults and misalignments, and treating injuries with hands-on work, so that the athletes can re-turn to play faster and better, is what sports chiropractic care is all about.”

A study conducted by the New Zealand School of Chiro-practic at the University of Auckland confirmed the per-formance improving aspect of chiropractic care. Volun-teers who received cervical (neck) adjustments improved their reaction time by nearly 15% while those who rested instead improved their reaction time by only 8%. This substantial difference occurred because chiropractic ad-justments remove interference to the nervous system, optimizing communication between the brain and body to reduce reaction time.

Just think about how improved reaction times can benefit you. Whether on the job or on the playing field, chiro-practic care can make the difference for you achieving your personal and athletic goals.