As any fitness enthusiast would know, taking care of the body both before and after workout is just, if not more, important than the actual workout. Although soreness is a sign that the workouts are strengthening the body, it can also be more that the patient isn’t aware of chalking it up to normal soreness. Making sure the patient understands the difference between post workout soreness and something more will save them an injury in the long-run. Chiropractic care is recognized as a beneficial treatment option for dealing with workout-related soreness and increasing recovery speed and efficacy. Giving patients the knowledge of how chiropractic care can benefit their workout routine could be a game-changer for their health journey. It is important that patients understand recovery as well as its importance in their fitness regime, and patients will be thanking you for their optimal performance in addition to decreased injuries.
Recovery 101
Recovery is the time it takes for the body to heal, recharge, and return to a resting state after exercise. It also encompasses the physiological activities that happen during this time.
Recovery is essential for:
- Hydration – lack of hydration can cause headaches, muscle tightness or cramping, and fatigue.
- Muscle Restoration – the body repairs the small muscle fiber tears during the recovery stage.
- Metabolic Health – insulin sensitivity can be improved with recovery which in-turn decreases the risk of conditions like diabetes.
In addition to these things it is important for a patient to prioritize stretching, balanced sports nutrition, rest, and if we educate them on the benefits, chiropractic care. Recovery is the key ingredient to enhance athletic performance.
Common Issues of Athletes/Gym-Goers in Recovery:
- Injury – this happens when the muscles don’t fully recover, and then begin rigorous exercise again right away.
- Muscle Soreness – muscles that are sore or tight too long after exercising.
- Plateau in Exercise Performance – this is when exercise results level off or even decrease because the muscles have not recovered fully.
- Fatigue – a feeling of exhaustion throughout the body and in the muscles.
All of these are not only frustrating to those who regularly exercise, but also can slow down their progress or decrease the effectiveness of their workouts. Being that a big part of what chiropractic care helps with is the muscles in the body, adjustments before or after a workout can gain a great deal from regular sessions along with their workout routine. It is important for patients to understand also that there are different methods used with sports chiropractic.
Chiropractic for Exercise Recovery
The benefits of regular exercise are pretty self-explanatory, but how does chiropractic care come into play? The two main goals of chiropractic care when it comes to exercise recovery is to address pain and soreness and prevent injury. It is difficult to keep up the habit of regular exercise, and we want to ensure that something like soreness does not discourage patients from continuing to do so. Chiropractic adjustments help to keep the nerves firing off properly enabling peak performance and pain relief in workouts and sports.
Motivation for Patients to Add Chiropractic to Their Exercise Regime:
- Increases stability and balance – when it comes to exercise, having strong stability and balance is indicative of having a strong core, and is critical for not only exercise enthusiasts, but also to function day to day. Essentially, chiropractic care ensures that the body can safely exercise long-term.
- Increased energy and better sleep – a decrease in both of these areas can cause an issue in exercise as it can lead to poor motor control, weight gain, and stronger susceptibility to illness and injury. By removing subluxations from the spine and aligning it properly, the body is able to relax and achieve more sound sleep at night leading to energy during the day.
- Decreases chronic pain – so many people across the country suffer from chronic pain in general, and that doesn’t exclude athletes. Chiropractic helps to build strength in the spine and joints, and boost the immune system.
- Whole – body health – many exercise enthusiasts may be under the false impression that chiropractic care only helps with spinal health, and this couldn’t be further from the truth. We must educate our patients in the fact that chiropractic care, although treatment is centered around the spine, the entire body receives benefits from it.
- Decrease post-workout soreness – it is common amongst those who exercise regularly to feel tightness or soreness after an intense workout. While this is most often a good sign of muscles strengthening, it can also be something more serious or create a potential injury problem when the patient goes to a hard workout again. Chiropractic can help lower the recovery time.
- Strengthen the body – though chiropractic adjustments, we have the ability to relieve tension in the body, hindering athletic performance, by allowing the nervous and skeletal systems to work in tandem.
- Range of motion – with chiropractic adjustment, any joint subluxations or restrictions and relaxing the muscles, therefore improving pain and range of motion in the joints.
Chiropractic care can be beneficial, but it is also important that we encourage patients to utilize an integrative approach to exercise recovery. There are other methods at our disposal as chiropractors, and using one or more of them will only optimize their recovery results.
Additional chiropractic methods for exercise recovery:
- Myofascial release – this can be in office, but also give them the knowledge of what to do at home with things like foam rollers and massage balls which can relieve trigger points and muscle tightness. Additionally, educate the patient on both static and dynamic stretching.
- Anti-inflammatory diet – recommend healthy fats such as omega-3 fatty acids to decrease inflammation, incorporate foods high in antioxidants like fruits and veggies to fight inflammation created by exercise, and prioritize an adequate amount of protein to rebuild muscle tissue.
It is our job in exercise recovery treatment to consistently monitor any structural shifts in the body’s soft tissues (where many issues occur in athletes) as well as maintaining correct biomechanics to decrease the risk of injury.
Chiropractic Before or After Workout?
Discussing whether chiropractic treatment should be done before or after a workout has been a great topic of discussion amongst those that receive treatment for exercise recovery. Combining exercise and chiropractic is beneficial because each brings out the best in the other, so in short, it doesn’t really matter when the patient gets the adjustment, and there can be benefits to both. If the patient gets the chiropractic adjustment before a workout, this will ensure that the spine is in proper alignment, and will decrease the risk of injury and improve the workout result.
On the flip side of the coin, getting chiropractic treatment after a workout means that the muscles and ligaments are loose from the exercise, which better prepares the body to receive chiropractic treatment. Truth be told that most chiropractors would agree that getting adjusted prior to the workout is the better option as the body moves better, and if there are any misalignments, exercising first can throw them further out of whack. However, although the general consensus is it is most beneficial before a workout, for the most part, it is really dependent on the type of exercise that the patient is going to engage in.
All in all, whether the patient is a regular everyday gym-goer or an active or professional athlete, prioritizing exercise recovery including chiropractic care can mean the difference between achieving fitness goals and being set back by soreness or injury.