Supplement Your Running Routine With Chiropractic Care

Running is one of the best workouts you can do. It’s an amazing form of cardio that keeps your heart healthy, your weight down and your lungs happy. Regular runners are some of the most fit people I know, not only (literally) running circles around me during workouts, but always having great endurance no matter what exercise is underway. However, running can put tremendous stress on the body. This is especially true for the joints of the legs.

Luckily, runners can decrease their chances of suffering from injuries and improve their running performance simply by visiting their local chiropractor on a regular basis. In this article, we will review some common running injuries and demonstrate how chiropractic care can help these individuals recover from injuries and stay fit for the activity they love.

COMMON RUNNING INJURIES

Runners can suffer from a variety of ailments. That being said, in the following list, we have compiled some of the most common injuries experienced by these athletes.

Knee Pain

Our knees act as shock absorbers when we walk, jump, and run. These joints tend to wear down in runners, especially those who run with improper form. 

Additionally, wearing shoes that aren’t appropriate for running can increase the risk of developing knee pain. Poor shoe selection can alter your gait significantly, leading to many different orthopedic issues. 

Back Pain

When you go on a long run, you may feel a deep soreness in your back during and after the session. Often, this is due to your posture during the run, or muscle tightness/weakness throughout your hips and trunk.

By improving posture and flexibility, many runners can experience decreased back pain and better mile times.

Plantar Fasciitis

On the bottom of our feet, we find a stiff band of tissue known as the plantar fascia. Under normal situations, the plantar fascia helps us to spring forward when we are walking or running.

However, if this tissue becomes overly tight, we can experience pain in this area when we participate in athletic activities. This is especially true when we first wake up, after allowing the plantar fascia to tighten up while we sleep.

Generally, this condition will improve with conservative methods such as stretching and strengthening. But for some, plantar fasciitis can hang around for a very long time.

Stress Fractures

Many distance runners will develop a serious condition known as a stress fracture. With a proper diagnosis of the injury, rest, and good nutrition, many athletes recover completely from stress fractures. 

Unfortunately, some running athletes find it hard to take breaks from running, and they never allow their injury to fully recover. This is particularly problematic when it comes to stress fractures. If left untreated, stress fractures can progress to full-fledged fractures where the bone breaks completely. This injury often requires surgery and months of rehabilitation after the fact.

CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR RUNNERS

Chiropractic care is way more than just cracking bones back into place. It is a specialized way to realign the spine and pelvis back to their optimal position in the body, which affects the function of all the bodily systems, especially the nervous and immune systems. For runners, it is important to keep specific parts of the body healthy. The back, neck, pelvis, knees, hips, tendons and joints working at their optimal health levels. When there are misalignments in the body, then it can affect all these aspects.

Subluxations in the spine are the main culprit behind a lot of these issues. Also known as pockets of built up pressure, these subluxations can put tension on one part of the body, causing the other parts of the body to make up that affected area. When the healthy parts of the body are working overtime, it makes the body more susceptible to injury. By removing the spinal subluxations, chiropractors may be able to limit the injury risk for runners.

By incorporating chiropractic treatments into your training, then you may be able to successfully supplement your workout program. Chiropractic is a generally low-risk treatment that allow the body to be treated naturally, without the use of potentially harmful pain medications. Although chiropractic is a great resource for athletes, it is safe enough for any age group to incorporate into their lives.