As parents, we do everything in our power to keep our student athletes healthy and improve their game. From sports camps to daily vitamins, we nurture their growing bones and help give them the best possible chance at succeeding in their sport of choice.
But, in between searching for training centers in the area and calendaring when talent recruiters will be in town, have you stopped to search for a “sports chiropractor near me?” If you answered no to that question, you might want to begin rethinking your priorities.
If you have a student athlete on your hands, you need to know these eight reasons why every student athlete needs chiropractic care.
There’s nothing worse than when your student athlete is forced to miss a game because of a cold, the flu, or tummy troubles. But when you consider that they spend half of their time in a classroom full of other sniffling kids and the other half sweating it out on the court or field, it’s not hard to imagine that sickness is always creeping around the corner.
According to state figures, almost one in 10 South Florida students miss a month or more of school every year. With the flu becoming more of a prominent issue – killing unvaccinated children each year – keeping the immunity and digestive health of your student athlete in prime shape is paramount.
Chiropractic care is a safe and effective method of naturally boosting the immune system, helping your child fight off potentially life-threatening illnesses and helping them keep their head in the game. Not to mention that chiropractic adjustments aid digestive regularity, eliminating sluggish feelings and keeping their tummies happy.
Bones are the framework for your student athletes developing body. Childhood and adolescence are critical times for the bones, and the health habits your kids are forming now can make – or literally break – their bones down the line.
Bone mass attained in childhood and adolescence is an important determinant of lifelong bone health, and for most people, their amount of bone mass peaks by their late 20s. Up to 90 percent of peak bone mass is acquired by age 20 in boys, and age 18 in girls. The physical trauma inflicted by sports – while not always evident to the naked eye – can detrimentally harm developing bones, stunting their growth or affecting their density.
Chiropractic keeps the bones healthy, ensuring that your student athlete is not only healthy now, but when they’re 40, 50, 60, and so on.
When your South Florida student athlete is injured, chances are that unless the pain is unbearable, they’ll push through until the end of the game. And when soreness or muscle fatigue set in, they might just blame it on a tough workout or training session.
However, tight muscles, radiating pain, and soreness can all be signs of an underlying injury that could potentially take your child out of the game for good. Chiropractic allows your child’s injuries to be immediately identified, assessed, and treated.
In the case of many over-use or stress injuries, the writing is on the wall long before an actual injury occurs. Regular appointments with a sports chiropractor allow your student athlete to address any aches or pains before they develop into an issue. Likewise, a chiropractor is trained to identify subluxations, or misalignments, in the spine and spinal joints.
Routine chiropractic visits allows your sports chiropractor to immediately identify when something is beginning to go awry with your child’s muscles, tendons, or bones. Then, together you can plan a course of treatment that will alleviate the potential for injury.
Typically, all student athletes warm up with their teammates before a game or practice. However, these warm ups don’t take each student’s individual needs into consideration. Does someone have muscle tightness? Does one player lack flexibility?
A sports chiropractor can work with your child to develop a fitness and stretching routine that will benefit their body and get them in the best shape before a game.
Each student athlete pushes their body to the limit. While their general doctor can address any fever, cold, or rash they’ve developed throughout the season, they can’t address sports specific positions.
For instance, repeatedly squatting or diving for volleyball, reaching the arm back for overhand throws, or swinging the shoulder to hit a golf ball can cause wear and tear on the joints and cause detrimental harm to the spine. Sports chiropractic care allows for a targeted approach to therapy that addresses the specific muscles, joints, and bones used to follow through with these positions.
Plus, soothing therapies like electrical stimulation (E-stim) and kinesiology therapeutic tape (KT Tape) can help decrease swelling, loosen tight muscles, and promote recovery after an intense training session.
Did you know that athletes reported a 30 percent increase in hand-eye coordination after just 12 weeks of chiropractic care? If you want to give your student athlete an edge, it might be as easy as searching for a sports chiropractor near me.
Basically, when a subluxation or injury impairs nerve communication from the brain to the body, coordination and balance can suffer. Chiropractic adjustments free those blockages and improve nerve flow, improving hand-eye coordination and reflexes.
By now we all know that budding athletes will do just about anything to emulate the pros. So, consider this: 90 percent of all world-class athletes use chiropractic care to prevent injuries. Team U.S.A. has won over 750 medals, including 314 gold medals, since sports chiropractors joined the team in 1980. If chiropractic is the key to winning for Olympians, we bet your student athlete will be game to try it too.
To a parent, the health and wellness of a student athlete is top priority. But a student athlete is more concerned with beating their best and improving performance. Sports chiropractic not only addresses the overall wellness of student athletes, but also gives them the edge they need to own the game.
If you have a student athlete in your home, now is the time to search for a sports chiropractor near you. If you’re in the South Florida area, ChiroCare of Florida has 11 convenient offices, all with chiropractors ready to aid your student athlete. Contact us today or view our locations to make your appointment. We look forward to seeing you soon.