Athletes have been benefiting from Chiropractic care for many years; however, it has only recently been receiving attention from the media. Athletes of all types, from the weekend warrior to the world-class athlete, utilize Chiropractic because it is a drug-free way to better health and performance.

The following is just a partial list of athletes who use Chiropractic care:

31 percent of NFL teams use Chiropractors in an official capacity as part of their staffs and a full 77 percent of the trainers have referred to a Chiropractor for evaluation or treatment. A survey of certified NFL trainers revealed that 100% of them agree that players will use Chiropractic without referral from the team medical staff.

The science of Chiropractic is founded on the premise that proper nerve supply is essential to controlling and regulating the functioning of the human body.

When the spine is in its optimal structural position, the nerves are protected and optimal communication exists between the central nervous system and the rest of the body.

The vertebra of the spine are susceptible to certain stresses and forces, which can cause them to lose their proper structural position. These minor misalignments of the spine referred to as "subluxations" cause nerve interference and weaken the entire structure of the spine.

Athletic training can often jar and misalign the spinal column, because the spine is at the center of the body. Impact to the legs, feet, head, shoulders and torso often radiates to the spine.

Doctors of Chiropractic detect and correct vertebral subluxations by physically adjusting the spine. This restores the spine and nervous system to a more optimal level of function, which maximizes the body's performance and healing potential.

There are essentially two categories that athletic injuries fall into: acute or traumatic, which is usually the result of a sudden impact or unseen force; and repetitive overuse such as swinging a racket or a golf club. In fact, virtually every workout results in micro-injuries as the body is torn down and then rebuilt through rest and recovery.

As a society, we have been conditioned to believe that symptoms are bad and that the key to health and recovery is their removal. However, symptoms are actually part of the body's healing and repair process.

Symptoms represent the body's best efforts to heal itself. By treating symptoms, you are suppressing the body's natural response and inhibiting the healing process. Instead of treating symptoms, doctors should stimulate the body's defenses to allow for completion of the healing process. - Dr. Stephen Cummings

If you had a fire in your house, you would not cut off the alarm and then relax, thinking that the fire is gone. The same thing happens to your body when you continue to ignore or mask symptoms. That is why athletes often develop chronic injuries.

Many treatments, compounds and medications claim to speed the rate of healing. I have not read a single scientific article that demonstrates the healing time can be increased artificially. You cannot beat nature. All doctors can do is to be very careful that they do not slow down the natural healing process. - William Southmayd, MD

Chiropractic's focus on the nervous system and postural biomechanics allow the body to function properly and to heal itself. The healing process always occurs from with the body, but research has shown that Chiropractic has an amazing potential to assist the body in the recovery process.

Standard medical procedures may be necessary when an athlete is injured. Traditional medical professionals specialize in the management and care of fractures, dislocations, lacerations and damaged tendons and ligaments.

However, many athletes leave the hospital with as much spinal stress (subluxations) as they were suffering from when they entered. Doctors of Chiropractic focus on the entire structure of the body rather than just the obviously injured part. For this reason, they can often detect and help to prevent an injury that might normally be overlooked or ignored.

You obviously cannot compete at your fullest if you are not in alignment and your body cannot heal itself properly if your spine is not in alignment. - Dan O'Brien, Olympic Decathlete

Chiropractic has really helped me to keep my body in line to help my body recover. - Chris Carter, Minnesota Vikings

Chiropractic has helped keep me injury free--that is half the trick to staying in competition. - Lee Labrada, Mr. Universe

As long as I see the chiropractor, I feel like I'm one step ahead of the game. - Tom Brady, New England Patriots

A proper biomechanical structure allows athletes to achieve and maintain their optimal level of performance-safely and naturally. There is a growing body of research and case studies, which clearly show the relationship between Chiropractic care and athletic performance.

A Canadian research team included Chiropractic care in the rehabilitation program of sixteen injured female long distance runners. Not only did these runners recover quickly, seven of them actually scored "personal best" performances while under Chiropractic care.

A landmark research effort from the New Zealand School of Chiropractic and the University of Auckland, has evaluated the effects of chiropractic adjustments may have on reaction times. Two groups were tested to study variations in reaction times; one group received spinal adjustments, while the other group, only receiving a short period of rest, acted as a control group for comparison.

There was a marked improvement for the group that received an adjustment over the group that received nothing but rest. The group that got only a rest period did show an average decrease in reaction time: 58 milliseconds, an 8% faster reaction time. The group that received the chiropractic adjustment showed a decrease in reaction time of 97 milliseconds, representing a 14.8% faster reaction time.

The implications for these findings are far reaching for any activity in the game of life, and the data can objectively support anecdotal evidence of enhanced athletic performance under chiropractic care. The ability to react more quickly to any of the demands life can impose provides added performance enhancement benefits for athletes, who rely on optimum reaction reflexes to perform at their maximum competitive capacity. Field based practice experiences indicate that chiropractic care appears to both enhance an athletes ability to perform and to recover from injuries when they occur; this study provides objective evidence that a vital component of athletic performance rapid reaction time is markedly improved through the chiropractic adjustment.

It is estimated that 30 million children now participate in organized sports including soccer, football, swimming, gymnastics, hockey, skating and baseball. Correspondingly, as participation increases, injuries increase. Sports injuries to young people now exceed the occurrence of infectious disease.

The increase in emergency-related injuries for children includes well-known injuries such as broken arms and twisted ankles-these injuries are certainly not new. What is new; however, are they types of children's sports injuries seldom seen in past generations. They are overuse injuries caused by small, but repetitive injuries to the body's tissues, joints and spinal column resulting in health conditions.

Chiropractic adjustments for children of all ages are of tremendous benefit for the treatment and prevention of injuries and to maximize performance potential.

Chiropractics focus on the spine and nervous system is also important for children, since it is their nervous system, which control their entire growth and development.