Raising Chiropractic's Value in Pro Sports

Through Vision, Management and Communication

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The final phase of care consists of whatever treatment and conditioning is needed to maintain the level of wellness which has been reached. With the work and effort that was put into the first two phases of care, it's important for an athlete to protect that investment and do whatever is necessary to maintain it. Frequency of chiropractic treatment will vary case to case, but will typically be a varying frequency. The benefits from a full rehabilitative program consist of less chance of re-injury or any new injury, a quicker recovery from injury and a greater ability to perform on a functional level.

Strength and Conditioning Program

Every athlete is like their own fingerprint. Recognition of weaknesses and strengths will greatly help in setting up a quality strength and conditioning program. A very successful program, working on order of development, was put together by Coach Al Vermeil, Head Strength Coach of the Chicago Bulls. This system works from a pyramid (See Fig. 1), and begins at the base with Work Capacity. A sub-heading under this group is Body Composition. Many athletes come into camp with too much adipose tissue. They immediately begin on "the complex". This is a series of six exercises that are performed in succession with nominal weights. They include:

Slow Movement/High Pull
Muscle Snatch
Good Morning Exercise
Squat
Push Press
Bent Over Row


These are done for 6 repetitions, in succession. An athlete will do a series of these ballistic movements, such as a squat and a push press, and they'll then come back immediately and perform a Saigon Squat, which is nothing more than just a squatting down exercise. Some athletes may have to grab a supportive rack for balance, but this set of exercises helps to dramatically open the hips, to the point where the athlete can get down to the ground.

Also in this base phase of conditioning are the aerobic and anaerobic categories. Of the two, the anaerobic is far more important. There are four parts to this program. There will be different types of runs performed and integrated with a core of exercises that are ballistic in nature with static stretches of 10 second durations. Once these are performed, a 40 yard run, such as a step over drill, will be done, and on the way back, the athlete will perform a backward skip. Another series of exercises will be done, and then another 40 yard run, this time, a side slide, which is just a straight legged slide movement. As the athlete becomes more conditioned, the number of repetitions will be increased.

With these exercises, an athlete will create more flexibility as well as small fiber work that can't be gotten in the weight room. With this, stability is greatly improved, which is important for all athletes. The key is to work in short bouts with repetitive numbers. This significantly cuts down on the fat of an athlete while improving flexibility.

The Work Capacity phase of the pyramid system sometimes takes an athlete 12 weeks to complete before moving on to the Strength Phase. If an athlete cannot perform the necessary moves, stretches and exercises required at the initial phase, it would be counter productive to move them to the second level of strength training. Many of the athletes who hold out on contracts miss this critical phase of development and ultimately end up injured. With proper time, discipline and willingness, an athlete will quickly move up the ladder to the ultimate phase, which is Speed.

Conclusion

An athlete is like a balloon. The stronger, faster and sometimes bigger they can become, the more successful they are. Unfortunately, when you blow up a balloon, there is a point where the balloon breaks. The same applies to athletes. The key is to push the envelope without breaking the athlete. Do everything that can be done so the athlete can tolerate the conditioning as well as the sport itself. And use successful techniques to do this.

Chiropractic is the leading profession capable of recognizing and correcting structural defects. Based on the protocol outlined in this article, any athlete is capable of making significant improvements with most structural defects.

When these benefits are coupled with a solid conditioning program, either by a strength coach or a knowledgeable chiropractor, all athletes will have the potential to reach new heights. For chiropractors to treat purely on a symptomatic level and establish no relationship with strength coaches nor provide conditioning information to an athlete is insufficient. This is truly the time for all sports minded chiropractors to become far more involved with all local teams and establish the protocol that will provide the benefits that will help all athletes. It's time to improve both communication and management with the athletic community.


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Dr. Tim Maggs
Coach Al Miller, Head Strength Coach for the Atlanta Falcons
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