Kansas City Chiropractor Helps Sports Injuries from Running

Foot pain while running? Nagging knee pain? Stabbing hip pain or back pain? Feel like your gait is off and you can't run as smoothly?
These are all reasons that runners need a great Chiropractor. In over a decade of practice, I have treated a wide variety of sports injuries, especially in runners and track athletes.
Here are the Top 5 Reasons Every Runner Needs a Chiropractor
1. You want to cut time/improve speed:
Chiropractic Care is used by athletes around the world, and gaining in popularity each day. There are Team Chiropractors for nearly all professional athletic teams including the Kansas City Chiefs. Did you know that Chiropractors will be headed to the Summer Olympics to take care of our competing athletes?
Why would these famous professionals use Chiropractic for Sports Injuries?
Olympic and professional athletes understand that Chiropractic Care improves the communication of their nervous system, improves the alignment of their joints, and helps relax tense muscles. All of these components are critical for achieving the maximum potential of your body. Receiving Chiropractic Adjustments help improve the speed at which their body performs, and even a tenth or a hundreth of a second can make the difference between a gold and silver medal.
Even if you are just a weekend warrior, run for fun, or are training for a 5K or marathon, Chiropractic Adjustments can help increase your speed.
2. When you run, sometimes your gait feels off.
Gait is a term used for the coordination of your body movement. When you walk or run and pay attention to how you move, over time you can tell if your gait is off. Misaglinments in the hips, knees, and ankles will alter your gait, and can also result in injuries and pain due to the abnormal pressures on the joints.
Just imagine your feet keep hitting the pavement with a bone out of place in your foot. Now think about how many times that happens during the course of a one mile run. How long do you think it will take before you start to notice pain or try to adjust how your foot hits the pavement? Very minor changes in how the bones in your feet are aligned can make a huge difference with how easily you can run or walk.
3. You sit a lot for work.
Seated posture for long periods of time without a break can cause postural changes and changes in alignment of your joints over time. For example, if you sit at your desk and cross your legs, the top leg has an extreme amount of torque placed on the knee. If you sit like that for very long, that increased torque on your knee joint can result in a misalignment of the knee. Imagine running on that torqued knee. You may not even feel pain at first, but how many miles will you run before all of a sudden you start feeling twinges in your knee? What if it happens in the middle of a half marathon (and you have been training for months)? This is why it is important to see a Chiropractor who has experience with runners and treating feet, ankles, knees, and hips.
The same can be said for hunching over at your desk, leaning to one side on your armchair, or sitting crooked in the seat of your car. Any kind of poor posture that increases pressure on joints has the potential to set you up for running injuries.
Seeing a Chiropractor during your training phase and about a week before your run will set you up to have a better running experience, improve your speed, and reduce your potential for running injuries.
4. History of Previous Injury
Whether your previous injury was caused by a running injury, a car accident, or a slip on the ice, a history of previous injury makes you more likely to re-injure that area in the future. If you have never received Chiropractic Adjustments for a prior injury, it is critical that you are evaluated for proper spinal and joint alignment. Misalignments of the spine can be painless, and only over time, and with cumulative trauma, do some patients actually notice pain. Once the prior injury has been stabilized, it may require a periodic Chiropractic Adjustment to support the stabilization of that injury. I have countless patients that had never seen a Chiropractor for a previous injury, but call my office years later with chronic pain. Many times during the Initial Consultation and Exam we uncover a previous injury that has destabilized joints and contributed to their current state of injury or pain.
If you do not have history of prior injury, Congratulations! Stay ahead of the curve by establishing a relationship with a Chiropractor now for several reasons. First, it is valuable to have a Chiropractor that knows your body, and knows what you look like when you are not injured. Second, if you do get injured down the road, you will typically respond faster to treatment than someone who has never received Chiropractic Care before. Why? Because the Chiropractor has helped remove any irritation or compression to your nervous system from prior injuries, and now just has to focus on your current injury.
5. You are committed to being well and staying well for the long term.
Most runners I know follow a regimen for physical fitness including diet, water intake, rest, sleep, and of course running! Runners that understand the importance of muscle balance and alignment will use a Chiropractor to improve their performance. A Chiropractor can be a valuable part of your health care team, keeping you running longer and faster than you ever thought possible.
Ready to improve your speed and performance? Ready to up your game? Call me at 816-256-3603 to schedule your appointment.
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Better Health Is Just A Phone Call Away.
Kristine Baker, D.C.
816-256-3603

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