How Can Chiropractic Help My Athletic Performance?
One of the most common misconceptions I hear as a chiropractor is that chiropractic is only for people who have aches, pains, and injuries. The reality is that couldn’t be further from the truth! If you have a spine and a nervous system, then chiropractic can help to maintain, restore, and optimise your function.
As research and awareness increases surrounding the benefits of chiropractic for optimal function and performance, increasingly more professional sports teams are beginning to utilise chiropractic to gain a cutting edge in performance and injury prevention. Every single NFL (National Football League) and MLB (Major League Baseball) team, 72% of PGAtour golfers, and 75% of Premier League football teams now have a chiropractor on their staff or regularly receive chiropractic care.
So, how can chiropractic help athletes beyond injury prevention and pain management?
Reaction Speed
Reactions are a key component of many competitive sports. To be able to make split-second decisions and movements is key to gaining an upper hand. Whether that be on a starting line of a race or to hit, kick, or stop a ball, the faster the brain and the body can act, the more successful you are likely to be.
Research by Haavik found that adjusting the cervical spine yielded a 14.9% improvement in cortical drive and a decrease in the time the brain takes to process and respond to a stimulus (1). In a competitive setting, this could be the difference between winning and losing!
Power
Whether it be a jump, kick, squat, or a race, many sports require some form of power. If your body can generate more power, then you can gain a huge advantage! Athletes spend hours weightlifting and plyometric training to get even the tiniest improvements in their power output.
What if you could improve it even further by simply maximising the potential of what your body already has? Research has found chiropractic care to increase leg muscle power by 16% (2), bite force of the jaw by 11% (3) (demonstrating neurological optimisation in the body), and improving vertical leap height by 1.12 inches (4)!
Recovery
From sleep and nutrition to physical therapy, athletes focus on every variable to ensure they can recover and be at their best. This is important as it allows constant progression, intense training, and better results while minimising the risk of injury and fatigue. By helping your brain and body to regulate better through chiropractic care, you can increase your body’s ability to recover even more!
Research has found that regular chiropractic care can lead to a 6.5% increase in heart rate variability (HRV), a key metric of recovery and adaptability (5). Recent research has also concluded that chiropractic care can even improve modulation of inflammatory markers such as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) and IL-6, which are vital for tissue repair and recovery (6). Recover better, train harder, perform better!
Did You Know?
Usain Bolt is a big advocate for chiropractic and was known to get checked and adjusted by his chiropractor right before stepping onto the track to improve his performance!
Want to find out if chiropractic can help improve your athletic performance? Book a Consultation
Find out more about how we use CLA scanning technology to assess how well YOUR nervous system is performing: Read our CLA Blog
References:
- – Haavik H, Niazi I, Jochumsen M, Sherwin D, Flavel S, Türker K. Impact of Spinal Manipulation on Cortical Drive to Upper and Lower Limb Muscles. Brain Sci. 2016 Dec 23;7(1):2. doi: 10.3390/brainsci7010002. PMCID: PMC5297291.
- Christiansen TL, Niazi IK, Holt K, Nedergaard VG, Meyer K, Marshall P, Haavik H. The effects of a single session of spinal manipulation on strength and cortical drive in athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2018 Apr;118(4):737-749. doi: 10.1007/s00421-018-3799-x. PMID: 29327170.
- Haavik H, Özyurt MG, Niazi IK, Holt K, Nedergaard VG, Yilmaz G, Türker KS. Chiropractic Manipulation Increases Maximal Bite Force in Healthy Individuals. Brain Sci. 2018 May 4;8(5):76. doi: 10.3390/brainsci8050076. PMCID: PMC5979313.
- Shelton Sports & Spine. Question and Answers with Doctors Q & D, chiropractors at Shelton Sports & Spine [Internet]. Shelton (CT): Shelton Sports and Spine; [cited 2026 Apr 8]. Available from: https://www.sheltonsportsandspine.com/question-and-answers-with-doctors-q-d-chiropractors-at-shelton-sports-spine/
- Zhang J, Dean D, Nosco D, Strathman D, Costantino M. Effect of chiropractic care on heart rate variability and pain in a multisite clinical study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2006 May;29(4):267-74. doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2006.03.010. PMID: 16690380.
- Amjad I, Niazi IK, Holt K, et al. The effects of 12 weeks of chiropractic spinal adjustments on physiological biomarkers in adults: A pragmatic randomized controlled trial. PLoS One. 2025 Dec 11;20(12):e0293701. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293701. PMCID: PMC12697962.