Many people take an interest in improving their body's capabilities through sports and exercise. These people are called athletes. There are different levels of athletes, from someone who plays the occasional game of soccer with the kids or mountain bikes for fun, to the devoted goal driven athletes that take time to work out every day. There is a common denominator for all types of people, even the non athlete and that is: Proper function equals maximum health and performance.

This is why chiropractic is important to everyone, especially an athlete. An athlete trains his/her muscles, tendons and joints to be strong, agile and efficient. Their bodies grow and change to adapt to the stress their particular sport places on them. We believe that it is important for everyone, especially athletes to receive chiropractic care. For athletes chiropractic care will reduce the stress and tension you put on your body. During sporting events, muscles cramp, joints swell and nerves become pinched to name a few. This can severely hinder your performance on the field, court or mat. This is why in Atlanta 1996 there were as many as 200 chiropractors from all across the nation invited to offer adjustments to all the athletes, not just from the U.S.A.

When you as an athlete practice and play, you acquire motor and sensory abilities that are not as developed in sedentary people. These are: hand to eye coordination, balance and agility. These abilities develop due to repetitive impulses sent from the brain to the limbs and back again. Back and fourth over and over again until you become proficient in the action. Like a golf swing, or a touchdown pass that was once impossible becomes possible through the bodies ability to remember repetitive motion and react to feedback through your nervous system. The brain and spinal cord which is called the "central nervous system", controls all movement and function of every organ muscle and nerve in your body. The central nervous system controls everything even down to a cellular level. Nerve roots transfer messages from the brain and the spinal cord to the limbs and organ systems allowing you to run, walk, golf, bike, swim and even live. These nerve roots are protected and located between the spinal joints, the function and health of the spine itself becomes vital to your ability as an athlete. When these vertebrae (spinal bones) become subluxated (misaligned) your body can not function at its optimum level. These nerve roots are responsible for relaying the coordinating, controlling messages from the brain to every organ cell and gland in your body and if the messages are disrupted, due to a subluxation, performance and health suffers. Not only does your ability to run, bike and swim suffer but also your bodies ability to rest, recover, heal, grow, digest, fight and resist disease suffers. All of which are vital to an athlete.

Chiropractors are experts in performing spinal adjustments which allow joints and nerve roots to be structurally positioned, so your body can function and perform at an optimum. Ask yourself, "How important is it for me run faster, swim farther, drive and putt more accurately?" Now ask yourself "How important is it for my family’s heart, liver, lungs and immune system, to function properly to keep us healthy and alive?" Either question CHIROPRACTIC is the answer!

How does chiropractic create a "competitive edge?"
Much like a high performance race car, the human body must be in proper alignment to operate at its peak performance. Regular chiropractic care keeps the body functioning at optimal capacity, neurologically and by maintaining proper spinal alignment, which helps to eliminate the biomechanical and musculoskeletal factors that often lead to injury.

Many sports-related injuries involve the spine.
Spinal injuries can restrict range of motion, reduce strength, slow reflexes, shorten endurance, and decrease performance. Chiropractic care for these types of injuries has become increasingly popular. Professional sports teams, Olympic trainers, and competitive athletes are employing chiropractic doctors - because they demand results.

Chiropractic care helps restore function to the spinal joints that are "locked up", fixated, and not moving properly. Besides helping to relieve pain chiropractic care can also help reduce inflammation. Muscles, tendons, and ligaments depend on proper joint movement and nerve supply for peak performance. Injuries to these tissues can reduce range of motion, affect delicate nerves, decrease blood supply, and take you out of the game. Normalizing spinal function helps speed up the healing of these soft tissues and reduces the deconditioning effect of being on the sidelines. From sprained ankles to frozen shoulder we work on all sport injuries and apply affective rehabilitation to reduce re-injury. Proper spinal function is essential for peak performance at work or play. Whether you golf, play tennis, football, soccer or walk, the best treatment for sports injuries is prevention!
We'll give you a care plan based on your age, condition, and health objectives. Find out if chiropractic care can restore your health, improve your performance, and increase your competitive edge.

Helping Athletes Create a Competitive Edge
As more athletes discover the benefits of chiropractic care not only for injuries but also additionally for increased balance, muscle performance, and increased response time an increasing number of professional athletes, as well as professional and Olympic coaches agree, chiropractic is an important part of their teams "competitive edge." If you're like most athletes, you'll want to be at the "top of your game" for as long as you can.

An evaluation of Chiropractic care and the affect of Athletic ability in a group of 50 completely asymptomatic (symptom free) athletes.
Results
In randomized trial, the controlled group improved overall 4.5% at the end of 6 weeks. 8 of 11 test scores improved, none declined. The group receiving Chiropractic care showed significant improvement, At 6 weeks overall improvement was 10.57% or 2.35 times better than control groups. 20 of 24 athletes were adjusted an additional 6 weeks and were 16.7 better then the baseline at that point.

Conclusion

Chiropractic care quantitatively improved agility, Balance, speed reaction time, kinesthetic perception, and power. This resulted in normalized proprioception and fine motor tuning
This was done, by identifying and correcting altered biomechanical patterns of activity.

Which if not corrected leads to:

Decreased mechanical efficiency
Increased energy expenditure
Decreased performance
Altered load distribution
Increased risk of injury

Many professional, olympic, and college athletes are seeing chiropractors to improve their performance

Sept. 29, 2003 -- The best time to prevent arthritis may be decades before it strikes-with regular exercise in childhood to build joint cartilage during the "wonder years."

Researchers in the newest issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine say that vigorous child exercise can reduce the risk of osteoarthritis later in life by building up cartilage. Loss of cartilage -- the firm, rubbery cushion between bones -- is believed to be a principal cause of osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative arthritis.
In reviewing previous research, Australian researchers report that child exercise has been shown to increase knee cartilage between 7% and 15% in boys and between 4% and 10% in girls compared with less active kids. Building cartilage through child exercise may carry over into adulthood, making knees and other joints less vulnerable to osteoarthritis.

HOW THE NERVOUS SYSTEM INCREASES STRENGTH WITHOUT EXERCISE

When a muscle becomes stronger it’s usually attributed to an improvement in the size or quality of the muscle. The truth, however, is that strength upgrades can occur without any change in the muscle at all. A key study discovered that, when a subject’s elbow-flexor muscle strength was increased by 35% in one arm, the untrained arm became more than 20% stronger too!

The nervous system had taken the pattern of muscle control from the trained arm and adapted it to strengthen the untrained arm.

The lesson? The nervous system plays a critical role in the development of strength and can boost strength in completely untrained muscles.

Increased strength is obtained by altering the way the muscle is controlled by the nervous system. Forces can be maintained for a longer period of time, permitting the muscles to carry out more work. Forces will develop more rapidly, converting strength into power. Coordination is enhanced, activating motor units in the most energy-efficient production of strength and power.

Dr. Carlson specializes in sports enhancement and offers the NeuroEdge program