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Chiropractic-Care-for-Runners

5 Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Runners

 

What is Chiropractic Care?

Chiropractic care is a form of alternative medicine that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of musculoskeletal system disorders, especially of the spine. For runners, chiropractic care can be an effective way to prevent injuries, speed up recovery, and improve overall performance.

Runners often put a lot of stress on their bodies, especially on their joints and muscles. The repetitive motions involved in running can cause muscle imbalances, joint misalignments, and other musculoskeletal issues. These problems can lead to pain, discomfort, reduced range of motion, and ultimately, injury.

Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Runners

Chiropractic care can help runners overcome these issues by providing targeted adjustments, manipulations, and other therapies. Here are some of the ways that chiropractic care can benefit runners:

  1. Improved joint function: Chiropractic adjustments can help realign joints that may have shifted out of place due to repetitive motions. This can help reduce pain, improve range of motion, and prevent further damage.
  2. Enhanced muscle flexibility: Chiropractic care can help improve muscle flexibility by loosening tight muscles and reducing muscle tension. This can help reduce the risk of injury and improve overall performance.
  3. Faster recovery: Chiropractic care can help speed up recovery time by improving circulation, reducing inflammation, and promoting healing.
  4. Better posture: Chiropractic care can help correct postural imbalances that can contribute to pain and discomfort while running.
  5. Customized treatment plans: Chiropractors can develop individualized treatment plans for runners based on their unique needs and goals. This can help ensure that runners receive the care they need to stay healthy and perform at their best.

Find the Right Chiropractor for You

If you are a runner and are considering chiropractic care, it is important to find a qualified chiropractor who has experience working with runners. Your chiropractor should also work closely with your primary care physician and any other healthcare providers you see.

In addition to chiropractic care, runners can also benefit from other forms of alternative medicine, such as massage therapy, acupuncture, and yoga. By combining these therapies with regular exercise, proper nutrition, and adequate rest, runners can achieve optimal health and performance.

If you ask a random person on the street what a chiropractor does the most common response you will hear is “they help with back or neck pain”. Unfortunately, many people have become accustomed to using this response, which has pigeonholed my profession to focusing solely on the back and neck. Removing pain from a persons life is the smallest outcome a chiropractor produces based on the grand scale of how many physiological changes that are happening as the spine is corrected.

By the time someone feels pain usually a problem has been underlying for many years and has now begun to manifest as symptoms. This mentality is far from the typical thought process of the average American as we only think there is a problem when we are symptomatic. If this was true, then people would feel their heart hurting years before their heart attack or feel cancer cells replicating in their body once the cancer hits phase 1. Unfortunately for both those examples most people do not feel the problem until it is too late whether it is at the heart attack or in phase 4 cancer.

The focus of a corrective chiropractor is to find the problem early and get the problem corrected before it becomes painful. Sadly some people are in pain by the time they come to a corrective chiropractor but this only means the timing of care may be longer. The first phase of correction is eliminating the pain, and the second phase is correcting the problem, which is why getting checked by a corrective chiropractor is crucial as soon as possible. Therefore, you can see if the spine has lost its natural curves before it is too late.

The picture on the right represents a normal neck and shows a beautiful C-shaped curve. Most healthcare providers call this curve the ‘arc of life’ as it sends down millions of impulses and signals through the spine every day to communicate with the rest of the body. When kept in this position, this curve can function at 100% and clearly communicate with the body. From hours in front of the computer, old sports injuries, car accidents over 8 mph, poor postural patterns at work, sleeping improperly, and many other normalbiomechanical issues, we lose these natural curves and let them go through the phases of degeneration. The chart below represents the different phases and what would happen to someone if he/she did not see a corrective chiropractor. What most people think of as ‘due to old age’ or ‘genetics’ can be corrected or prevented based on taking proactive measures towards your health.

The first step is to call a corrective chiropractor and schedule a structural examination. If you live in Atlanta, we would be happy to evaluate you. During our time together, our team will determine how we can help and get you the best results.

The second step is scheduling your Report of Findings. At this time, you will review your x-rays with Dr. Cohen and see if you qualify for our care. If so, we will determine the length, time commitment, and costs of your personalized careplan. There are no hidden expenses and you would know all the numbers before beginning any care at our facility.

The third step is to enjoy the process. Our Community Wellness Advisor, Jessica, and Dr. Cohen are on a mission to change lives through living a proactive life, so please use them as resources to maximizing your care and health.

Below are examples of how we can correct the spine using the tools we have in our practice Atlanta:

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