With all the rugby teams around the world getting back into training, it’s made me think how their bodies must be feeling with the extended period off. I have played rugby since I was 10 years old and I knew what it was like trying to get back into it after a short break, and that was nothing compared to the giants that are playing professionally. One thing I love about rugby is how well your training conditions you for the sport.
Because of this, we often find that it’s when we stop that things start to hurt and niggle. Why though? Why are we ok when we’re exhausting and battering ourselves daily, but when we stop we start to feel like we’ve aged and slowed down? One major reason for this is how amazing the human body is at adapting. When we have an injury or decreased function to an area in the body, other areas work harder to both “pick up the slack” as well as protect the injured area. In a sport like rugby where we ask so much of our body in every aspect, there is a lot of “slack to pick up”.
The Gonstead System of Chiropractic is deeply founded in its specificity to finding the cause of the problem. This is crucial in both finding the cause amongst a body that has been compensating and protecting itself for an entire season, as well as finding the cause before it actually becomes a problem. Both of these scenarios are greatly beneficial in focusing care and attention to the original issue and leaving the rest of the body alone.
I’d like to talk a little more about finding the issues before they become problems. Often when training, athletes find that one particular area, side, muscle that seems to niggle no matter what they do. Advice from their coaching staff is often to either rest, stretch or strengthen the area itself; but what if the problem is something completely different? If there is altered nerve function from one side compared to the other, or one muscle compared to its opposing muscle, this will drastically change the co-ordination and performance of the body when asked to activate. Using the Gonstead system of chiropractic we can accurately identify areas of weakness and correct the cause of this lack of function before it causes greater injury.
This mindset allows athletes and sports teams to be proactive and take an active role in HEALth and performance care. It also fits in well with the rest of the “medical” team within a sports team, as it does not interfere with the reactive care of physiotherapy, rehabilitation and medicine.
In a world where every inch and half a percent counts, functioning at your optimum and preventing injuries can make a huge difference to a player and a team.
Being accurate counts, both on and off the field.
Hugs,
Caley Chiropractic