Spring is here at last! After a tougher than usual winter, we can now look forward to gardens, beaches, fresh air, and getting outside. A lot of patients are talking about dusting off their bikes, running shoes, and gardening tools, which is great news — if your body is ready. Have you been out preparing your body for outside exercise, like taking walks as soon as the ice cleared? Doing your stretches? Seeing your chiropractor?
One thing I do see a lot of in April is spring high school athletes coming in for pre-season tune ups and alignments. These young athletes know the difference chiropractic can make in their performance and their resistance to injury! (If you think you don’t need chiropractic care as an athlete, please see what Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, and Jerry Rice all have to say about how much chiropractic improves their sports performance.) With athletes it is vital to have soft tissue resilience so you can bounce back from any injuries. It is vital to have an optimally performing nervous system so your body can perform at its fastest and strongest. It is so important to have your body aligned so you can move freely and strongly. For now, let’s focus on movement.
Take the example of a golf swing. If any part of your body is out of alignment, your swing will suffer. Tiger Woods knows this, as do many other professional golfers. They see chiropractors to keep their swing as good as possible. They don’t base this on how they feel, they let a professional — their doctor of chiropractic — determine this. Most people would correctly guess that the hips and low back are the most important part of the golf swing, but even ankle and wrist issues can affect accuracy and drive power. And yes, chiropractors work on those, too!
How about all you baseball and softball players: do you want to bat better? The most important part of that is reaction time, or your reflexes. Chiropractic care helps to improve reflex time. For a great demonstration, check out this Instagram clip of a chiropractor working with an NFL wide receiver: https://bit.ly/FootballReflexes (this link is case sensitive).
But the important thing to remember is that you don’t have to be a professional athlete to benefit. You just have to want to be your best.
What if you’re not an athlete? What if you just want to move better? What if you’re getting older and you want to move like your younger self? Chiropractic can still help you. Research on range of motion of the neck, low back, and even jaw has shown improvement with regular chiropractic care. Along with chiropractic care, functional medicine can improve the health of your joints by helping cartilage regrow in damaged joints. There are a number of supplements that can help rebuild and restore damaged joints and soft tissue even in older adults. Calcium, magnesium, vitamin D3, glucosamine, and chondroitin have all shown restorative qualities, as long as you use quality products.
Think about that the next time you are hurting after doing something as simple as working in the garden or mowing the lawn. More importantly, think about that before having surgery! The next time an old injury starts to show itself, get right back to your chiropractic doctor for correction and improvement before things get out of hand. And then take it to the next level by using functional medicine to re-create your body to a healthier and younger quality. Your future self will thank you.
Dr. Burtis, D.C., M.S., CFMP, has been providing natural healthcare to the Fairmont area at Burtis Chiropractic Center for over 30 years. He uses a combination of chiropractic, nutrition, and functional medicine to help individuals restore and maintain health and healing through individualized care plans. The mission of Burtis Chiropractic Center is to provide transformational healthcare that takes an individual’s life to the next level. We strive to be a solution for families to experience transformational healthcare and help create vibrant and resilient lifestyles that can be passed to future generations.