How Chiropractic Can Help With Running Injuries

Chiropractors who are sports trained are probably the best manual therapists for preventing injury and optimizing sports performance. That’s why there’s always a sports chiropractor on Olympic and professional sports teams. For runners, chiropractic can be used for injury prevention because it emphasizes proper alignment of the spine and pelvis.

The most common running-related injuries at Jermyn Chiropractic, range from recreational runners to Marathon gold winners. These conditions are plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, ITBand Syndrome, patella (knee) tracking problems and hip bursitis. When you walk, you transfer 3 to 4 times your body weight through your associated achilles muculature and tendon.

When you run, you transer 10 to12 times your body weight through this same region. Malalignment of the spine can cause unnecessary tension on one particular body part, and this affect the equal distribution of pressure. Ie. You simply can’t take care of anyone’s eg. plantar fasciitis or chronic IT band problem without making sure their pelvis is in as perfect alignment as it can be. Otherwise, it’ll continue to wear, tear, and put strain on that one particular body part.

What Causes Improper Alignment?

Major causes of improper alignment include running in the same direction on the same course every day, running on cambered surfaces, and not replacing shoes every few hundred kilometres. There are lots of factors that contributes to improper spine or pelvic alignments, and sometimes it has nothing to do with running, and it has to do with every day activities or your job, where you sit in one particular position all day and then go for a run. Chiropractic addresses the primary functional cause of your misalignment, and corrects the underlying biomechanical issues that are resulting in your symptoms.

If you think Chiropractors simply “crack” backs, you’re not alone. I am accustomed to hearing this misconception.