As athletes, we’re constantly searching fortheright training program, nutrition regimen or other tools that will help us to perform at our best ability. We’re always looking for what will give us an edge against our competition so we can be the best! I bet you’ve already ramped up your diet, strength training, dynamic stretching, sport specific training, or any other methods you’ve seen your favorite athletes use online. But have you tried training the system that controls EVERYTHING- including how well your body functions and performs, not only just on the field but during every second of your life?
The Nervous System: The Most Neglected Training System for Athletes
This master control center is your nervous system and it controls quite literally EVERYTHING about you! This includes your neuromuscular system and especially your sensorimotor system, which are critical parts of athletic performance. Your sensorimotor system is the input part of your body that detects the stressors around you.Whether it’s a ball flying at you, another player running towards you, or even weather/field conditions, your sensorimotor system is constantly working. This input and information is sent almost instantaneously to the brain. Your brain then sends a proper output signal to the body’s neuromuscular system allowing you to move in a coordinated pattern in response to that information. Your brain is sending hundreds of billions of neural signals each SECOND! That’s a lot of information for your brain to constantly process and communicate to your body every second of the day, including during your game.
Think about all the subconscious movements and decisions you’re making throughout a game. For instance, if you play baseball, you know the reaction time you have to process the pitch, decide to swing, and finally a proper swing to actually hit the ball (.4 seconds for a 90mph fastball) leaves little to no room for error. For reference, it takes about 0.3-0.4 seconds to blink. While most kids are not throwing 90mph fastballs, training this early and often can set them up for success as they attempt to compete at the college or even professional level in the future. No matter what sport you play, you know that in order to succeed you must have great reflexes and a fast reaction time. But how can you improve your reflexes on the field? It’s simple: Improve the nervous system’s ability to communicate and process information at its most efficient rate! Neurologically-focused chiropractic care is focused on improving your brain-body connection, so you’re able to react and respond to any curveballs (sometimes an actual curveball) that are thrown at you during practice or a game. During games, there are so many variables you have to constantly adapt to. The more adaptable your nervous system is, the quicker and easier you can adapt! In a study done by The New Zealand School of Chiropractic, they put this to the test, comparing the effects of a chiropractic adjustment on a group of athletes versus a “short rest” group who did not receive an adjustment. The chiropractic adjustment group had a 14.8% quicker reaction time (97ms) when compared to the short rest group who had a 8% quicker reaction time (58ms). These differences may seem insignificant until you remember that most sports are a game of mere inches. This is most clearly seen in olympic dash events where the difference between first and second place is on average 10ms. The better your brain and body are adapting, the better you’re performing!
Neuroplasticity: An Integral Part of Practice
Everyone has heard the saying “practice makes perfect” and even though at times we wish it wasn’t….we still know the saying is true. No one picks up a skill or a sport instantly. It is estimated that it will take approximately 4,000 to 6,000 repetitions with a success rate of approximately 80% before a physical technique will become instinctive or what we know as muscle memory.
The scientific term we use to describe muscle memory is neuroplasticity. It occurs when your brain continuously processes information and builds neural pathways that strengthen subconscious movements. It’s why you don’t have to remind yourself how to dribble a basketball, cradle a lacrosse ball, or how to simply run and make a cut during a game. What if there was a way to make your practice reps more meaningful and allow your brain to subconsciously know what moves to do, so you don’t have to waste time thinking about it during the game?? The answer is once again simple: regulate your nervous system and allow it to positively influence your neuroplasticity! Chiropractic care has been shown in numerous case studies to have a positive influence on neuroplasticity. The best part is, enhanced neuroplasticity allows for your body’s kinetic chain to stay balanced and not have variations in your movements. This is essential for preventing injuries, especially with how many variables and stressors can affect us on and off the field.
Neurologically Focused Care: A Whole Body Approach
Training isn’t the only important aspect of athletic performance. Recovery is just as, if not more important, than training alone! This includes how well your body is sleeping, digesting key nutrients, building and recovering muscle, and even your mental health/mindset. As we mentioned earlier, your nervous system is the master control system of your whole body. Not only can a regulated nervous system improve your actual game skill, but can also help make sure you’re as recovered as possible. Nervous system focused chiropractic care has been shown to restore gut function, allowing your body to absorb important nutrients, improve sleep quality, allowing your body to recover and heal properly, decrease the effects of sore muscles, aches and pains, and so much more!
The question is, what stops our nervous system from allowing our body to properly recover? The nervous system naturally balances itself out through the Autonomic Nervous System, which switches back and forth from Parasympathetic/Rest-and-digest mode (“Brake pedal”) to Sympathetic/Fight-or-Flight mode (“Gas pedal”). When our body is under too many stressors, such as physical or emotional traumas, the nervous system cannot adapt at its highest potential, keeping us stuck on the “Gas Pedal,” (fight-or-flight). As is true in real life, we can only be stuck on the gas pedal for so long before running out of gas. Your nervous system running out of gas is called dysautonomia, which means nervous system dysfunction. Dysautonomia is especially common for athletes who are under daily physical and mental stressors trying to balance practices, training, and schoolwork. Dysautonomia is typically seen as digestive challenges, extreme anxiety, fatigue, ADHD/focus issues, chronic illness, sleep struggles, behavioral issues, and so much more.
There is also a correlation between dysautonomia and injury susceptibility, with the former typically being a precursor for injuries. An especially relevant injury that many athletes have experienced or are suffering is concussions, especially the side effects that can linger for quite some time. The CDC estimates 5-10% of athletes will get a concussion each sports season. That is equivalent to 3.8 million concussions in the US each year. Another important factor in the rate of concussions isthat most kids play multiple sports, further increasing their odds of getting one or more concussions each year. Keep in mind that any time you get your “bell rung” has now been determined to be a form of a concussion. The symptoms of Post Concussive Syndrome include headaches, mood swings, behavioral changes (irritability), balance impairment, sleep issues and slowed reaction time. Chiropractic care has been found to have a positive impact at alleviating PCS symptoms including improved sensory integration. Evidence has also led us to believe that chiropractic care can help to potentially prevent concussions from reoccurring.
Neurologically focused chiropractic care restores balance to the nervous system and allows the body to adapt to these stressors by creating new neural pathways that recognize them. It addresses the root cause of dysfunction rather than managing a wide array of symptoms, along with helping to recover from injuries such as PCS.
Give your athlete an edge that will not only help them to perform better on the field, but also in all aspects of life. Go to our website to schedule an initial consultation and INSiGHT scan. Additionally, follow us on instagram to learn more about us. Let’s uncover how nervous system imbalance could be affecting your athlete and discover how our specialized care could help restore balance and function to their nervous system as a whole. Their path to better health starts here!!