Chiropractic care has come a long way of late in terms of the areas it has begun to play a role in. These days chiropractic care is available to anyone, and many individuals pursuing strength training have turned to chiropractic assistance, instead of simply hitting the gym alone.

How Chiropractic Adjustments Help in Strength Training

Chiropractics work on the basis of the nervous system, and that working with the nervous system puts the body in optimal shape. The same principle is used when working in the strength training field. Chiropractic adjustments done on various parts of the body work to activate parts of the nerves that are responsible for causing contractions of the muscle. These contractions work the muscle, thus causing muscle strength to increase. You can compare this to lifting weights. Each time the muscles flex, you are contracting that muscle and releasing it. So, in essence, activating the neural receptors (known as mechanoreceptors) assists in building the muscle up and strengthening it.

In addition to stimulating the nerves, chiropractic adjustments set the joints and bones right, aligning them into the best position possible. This not only makes movement easier, but assists in decreasing injuries that may be associated with strength training. This is especially important since continuing to work-out on misaligned muscles can cause long-term wear and damage to the area. Furthermore, working out on misaligned muscles may reduce the amount of muscle strength you’re able to build since muscles do not tend to contract properly over misaligned joints. This means that you may work-out for hours with very little result. By properly aligning the joints, muscles are more likely to contract, and are thus better able to increase in strength.

Clearly, chiropractic care can do a lot to assist in strength building exercises, but this isn’t the only way that chiropractic care can help in exercising. Exercising puts a great deal of stress on the body, especially extraneous exercises. In strength training, you’re constantly reaching for new heights, pushing yourself to the next great marker. Chiropractic care can help your body cope with the stress that this exercise puts on it by adjusting the body to benefit from the work-out, instead of tensing up and becoming sore. This benefit also allows you to get out the next day and exercise more. Those who do not properly care for their bodies before and after exercise not only risk injury, but may not be able to engage in regular exercise (which is the most beneficial to muscle strength and weight loss) because they are too sore to do anything the next day. Positive experiences when exercising also motivate you to continue to work hard, so the psychological benefit is there as well.

Lastly, a chiropractor can assist in exercising and strength training because they can work to advise their clients on what stretches/exercises are best to enhance the work-out they get in the gym or through the adjustments they receive at the chiropractor’s office. Stretching readies the body and prevents injury, so this is an extremely important step to any sort of exercise and intensive work-out training.