Throughout the years it has been widely demonstrated that chiropractic improves the way that the brain and the body are constantly communicating. The skull and the twenty-four mobile vertebrae that form the spine act as protective armour for our delicate nerve system (brain, spinal cord and nerves). The nerve system is like a big highway of nerve messages that control every single body function such as breathing, digesting, sleeping or moving our limbs, etc. Sports or daily life activities can impact the mobility of certain areas of our spine. In chiropractic we call these vertebral subluxations and these negatively affect that brain-body communication.
Elite and amateur athletes of all sports continually strive to improve and enhance their peak performance. Do you know it has been estimated that for 90% of all world-class athletes, chiropractic care plays an integral role in staying on top of their game during training and competition? So how can chiropractic care help their overall sports performance? We know that alteration in the nervous system function results in change to physiological factors important to sports performance, such as motor control and/or movement control.
Researchers have looked at specific performance parameters other than running faster or lifting heavier to objectively measure how chiropractic care can enhance sports performance. Those parameters included proprioception, muscle strength and muscle fatigue.
1. INCREASE IN MUSCLE STRENGTH
A study conducted in Brazil was investigating the effect of chiropractic care on the ability of forty-three golfers to drive the ball after 4 weeks of chiropractic care compared to a muscle stretching program. Results showed an increase in their ability to drive the ball by 8 meters as compared to half a meter of improvement for the control group that only did the stretching program.
Another study in Brazil involved eighteen professional Judo athletes. Half received a chiropractic adjustment and the other half received sham treatment. After three chiropractic adjustment sessions, the grip strength data revealed an increase of 11% on the left and 17% on the right side while no significant improvement in grip strength was noted within the sham group.
In 2015, an article published in the journal of Experimental Brain Research assessed the effect of one spinal chiropractic adjustment session on the ability to maximise voluntary contraction of the leg muscle. Results demonstrated a 16% increase in maximum output of the muscle activity recorded. Those changes have been proven by a non-chiropractic researcher and are equivalent to 3 weeks of strength training in elite Taekwondo athletes.
2. DECREASE IN MUSCLE FATIGUE
è A recent study on eleven elite-level Taekwondo athletes, who have represented New Zealand at the world championships within the last 12 months, compared the data measuring the strength of the muscles in their legs after a chiropractic session and one after sham treatment. Results showed that straight after their chiropractic adjustment they had an 8% increase in muscle strength as compared to a control group that was getting 4% weaker due to muscle fatigue.
Those findings are particularly interesting to see that chiropractic had a positive influence on those athletes by both increasing the muscle strength and reducing muscle fatigue.
3. INCREASE IN PROPRIOCEPTION
We call proprioception the body’s ability to know exactly where it is in space. It seems undeniable that optimal joint-position sense is an essential factor to perform at high level.
Some studies have been conducted on a non-athlete population to see the influence of chiropractic care on proprioception.
A study was completed in 2011 on two groups; one group of 25 asymptomatic people with a history of low-level neck pain, compared to a control group of 18 people with no history of a neck problem. Results suggest that the population with a history of neck injury had a reduction in elbow joint position sense as opposed to the population with no history of neck injury. The second interesting finding from that research showed that adjusting vertebral subluxation in those people with injury improved their elbow proprioception.
A similar study was conducted on 60 older adults living in Auckland looking at their ankle joint position sense. The conclusion of this study highlighted how proprioception significantly improved in the chiropractic group from a spinal adjustment compared to the control group.
All of these studies congruently suggest that chiropractic care may help an athlete’s brain to more efficiently produce greater physical outputs and get that extra edge to achieve optimal performance. So how about you? When was the last time your spine was checked?
4. INTERESTING FACTS – NOTABLE ATHLETES UNDER REGULAR CHIROPRACTIC CARE
- Usain Bolt – American sprinter
- Valerie Adams – New Zealand Shot Putter
- Tiger Woods – American golfer
- Mils Muliaina – New Zealand All Blacks player
- 32 out of American National Football League (NFL)
- 28 out of 30 American Baseball Teams
- Michael Jordan – American Basketball player
- Jerry Rice – American Football player
- Evander Holyfield – American boxer
· REFERENCES
Botelho, Marcelo and Bruno Andrade. “Effect of Cervical Spine Manipulative Therapy on Judo Athletes’ Grip Strength. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapies. 2011; 35(11): 38-44.
Costa, S., Chibana, Y., Giavarotti, L., Compagnoni, D., Shiono, A., Satie, J., & Bracher, E. (2009). Effect of spinal manipulative therapy with stretching compared with stretching alone on full-swing performance of golf players: a randomized pilot trial. Journal Of Chiropractic Medicine, 8(4), 165-170. doi: 10.1016/j.jcm.2009.06.002
Haavik H, Murphy B. The role of spinal manipulation in addressing disordered sensorimotor integration and altered motor control. J. Electromyogr. Kinesiol. 2012;22:768–76. doi: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2012.02.012.
Haavik Taylor H, Holt K, Murphy B. Exploring the neuromodulatory effects of the vertebral subluxation and chiropractic care. Chiropr. J. Aust. 2010;40:37–44.
Haavik H, Murphy B. Subclinical neck pain and the effects of cervical manipulation on elbow joint position sense. J. Manipulative Physiol. Ther. 2011;34:88–97. doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2010.12.009
Niazi, I. K. et al. Changes in H-reflex and V-waves following spinal manipulation. Exp. Brain Res. 233, 1165–1173 (2015).