Athletes Need Chiropractic Care For More Than Just Pain.
Athletes are master compensators. They can ‘cheat’ and power through movement patterns, pulling from all the wrong places. Movements appear easy and effortless in spite of underlying dysfunctional patterns.
Just because an athlete looks good on the outside does not mean they function efficiently on the inside.
They can only rely on talent for so long before the movement engine breaks down and the durability factor takes a nose dive: potentially ending a career. The body craves stability (motor control) and will find it anyway possible, whether it’s functional or dysfunctional. It’s usually dysfunctional!
Athletes don’t like to slow down. They play hard and train hard. Their mind is bigger than their body’s ability to keep up. Going hard or going home is the paradigm. That paradigm is a breeding ground for dysfunction.
Athletes are covert at hiding dysfunction. Count on it! There are many assessments and evaluation procedures specifically designed to spot dysfunctional patterns and compensations. However, subtle signs of compensation chaos may be overlooked by an untrained eye because the athlete is so good at ‘cheating’ movement. So what can you do to look for the hidden signs of dysfunction that athletes are so great at covering up? How can you find the kink in the armor? Search for neurological signs of compensation the body uses as a fall back mechanism for stability.
The best part is an athlete has no idea they are doing these compensations, so it’s a ‘tell’ of instability (poor motor control). These five signs are extremely valuable for divulging central core dysfunction. An athlete must have central (proximal) stability to achieve optimal distal mobility. If this relationship is altered, they will ‘bleed’ energy and move inefficiently with loss of power, speed, endurance, and performance. That’s bad.