Why do Athletes Need a Chiropractor?

Did you know that chiropractic care is perfect for athletes of all levels? Not only can Dr. Kite’s treatments prevent injuries, but your athletic performance potential can be increased as well! Chiropractic adjustments can benefit anyone, of any age or fitness level, but it’s especially effective for bodies under the constant stress of sports. In fact, a whopping 90% of world-class athletes swear by chiropractic care You may be wondering, what about chiropractic care is so particularly effective for athletes?


Chiropractic actually improves athletic performance. Sports, especially contact sports, have a tendency to cause subluxations in the spine by knocking it around and putting stress on the muscles. The subluxations, or misaligned vertebrae, interfere with the body’s ability to function at its highest capacity. By correcting these subluxations with chiropractic adjustments, studies show that the average athlete will notice a 6.12% increase in performance. Not only that, but it has also been proven that athletes could notice an incredible 30% increase in hand-eye coordination after 12 weeks of chiropractic care. These increases in performance inevitably lead to more effective training. 100% of runners have reported that, by using a chiropractor, they’ve been able to not only maintain but increase their training mileage comfortably.


In addition to improving performance, chiropractic care is extremely important for preventing injuries. Misalignments in the body cause unnecessary stress on joints and muscles and the musculoskeletal benefits of chiropractic help keep the body flexible and running smoothly. Adjustments in posture and alignment prevent the movements that cause injuries. Also, chiropractic treatment decreases the irritation in the joints and between the vertebrae, which helps the body heal itself faster and leads to quicker recovery.


Overall, every aspect of the art of athletics can and will benefit from regular chiropractic! So get your sporty self in to see Dr. Kite at 303 Denver Chiropractic today!



Muscular Treatment and Chiropractic

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Chiropractic care is a crucial tool for pain relief, no matter the location of the pain. The benefits you can reap from our chiropractor are innumerable, including; preventing joint pain, better posture, improving the intensity and dropping the frequency of headaches, relief from symptoms of pregnancy, and much more. However, adjustments are not the only method our chiropractor uses to help decrease pain and heal your body. Treating the muscles that support your skeleton is just as important to us as adjusting the spine and the joints.


So, what effect does muscle treatment have on your chiropractic treatment?


Without our muscles our spine and skeleton would be useless! Without muscles, we couldn’t move. Without healthy muscles, we can’t move to our full potential and run the risk of creating harmful movements in our joints, which can lead to more pain. One way Dr. Kite can help improve your muscular health is by providing you with rehabilitation exercises to strengthen muscles directly related to your pains. The exercises our chiropractor can provide you will be tailored to your specific diagnosis to ensure the best results.  


Dr. Kite also specializes in what is known as Active Release Technique (ART), a muscular focused treatment that enables unhealthy muscle to break down so that the tissue can heal itself. ART is a soft-tissue and movement based massage technique that is focused on muscle, tendon, ligament and nerve pain. Everything from headaches to foot pain will notice drastic improvements with the specialized therapy that is ART. A surprising amount of painful conditions in the body are related to overused or damaged muscles, and our Lone Tree chiropractic office is happy to help you find pain relief forever!

What is causing your knee pain?


The number of Americans living with severe joint pain is on the rise! In 2012 a startling 6.6 million people reported feeling knee pain specifically. Chronic knee pain is described as pain, swelling or sensitivity in one or both knees, and the cause of your knee pain can determine how your symptoms will present themselves. The good news is that chiropractic care can help to decrease, or even eliminate, knee pain! So what different things can cause knee pain?


Acute knee pain will be caused by injuries or accidents. This type of pain generally resolves with rest and therapeutic treatments, such as rehabilitative movement and treatment from a chiropractor. However, when it comes to acute injuries, the body is capable of healing itself rather well. Chronic knee pain is a little bit different. Chronic pain is generally attributed to a number of causes and conditions. These causes can range from arthritis to torn ligaments, or from inflammation with overuse to a buildup of uric acid. Between sprains and strains, improper ergonomics with movement and improper stretching, those chronically painful knees always run the risk of getting worse! Additionally, factors such as age, previous injuries, or weight can also affect your knees. Although movement and exercise are one of the healthiest things you can do for your joints and your body, overuse and muscular imbalances are the number one cause of different knee related problems. Knee pain can cause hindrances in activity, as well as daily life, and who wants to live with that?


Well, whether you’re suffering from arthritis, cartilage issues, or any other knee problems, there’s hope for improvement! Regardless of your knee problem, a chiropractor can help you. When treating knee pain, all mechanics need to be examined, including your walking gait, lower back, hip and pelvis health and alignment. This is because any sort of dysfunction in any of the lower body joints can cause extra stress on the knee, these mechanics can be fixed with regular chiropractic adjustments. Also, by treating these other areas, your chiropractor is able to maximize the long term improvement of your knee pain or injury. Of course, your chiropractor will treat your knees directly as well. With a variety of joint-specific manipulations and various other treatments to decrease pain. So, what can you expect from these chiropractic treatments? Reduced inflammation, healing of the soft tissue supporting the knee, more knee stability, and normalized joint function. Chiropractors will also provide you with a rehabilitation program to not only speed your healing, but keep your knees healthy and pain free for life!


No one wants to live with pain or limitations. With the abundance of treatment options available through chiropractic care, a pain-free life is not only possible, but probable! Chiropractic care is also great in that it is non-invasive and totally natural. The human body craves alignment, and by achieving that alignment through chiropractic adjustments, you’ll be well on your way to a fulfilling, mobile and comfortable life!

What Can Chiropractic Care Do For You?

Chiropractic medicine was developed in 1895 by D. D. Palmer, proving its innumerable benefits right away when Palmer manage to cure a man named Harvey Lillard of deafness in one ear. Hearing is an important sense, and it’s amazing to think it could be restored by a simple spinal adjustment!  Once Lillard’s vertebrae was adjusted back into place, his hearing was restored. Vertebral subluxations, or displaced vertebra putting pressure on nerves, can cause a wide array of disruptions within bodily systems. These disruptions can be corrected and cured with regular adjustments. While effective, corrections and adjustments are just one of many ways that a chiropractor will treat their patients.

Chronic pain is the most common cause of long term disability in America. It is estimated that one in every four people suffers from some kind of acute or chronic pain. That is a whopping 76.4 million people!

The good news is, there is a cure!

Chiropractic care has proven to be even more effective at treating pain than medications. A 2012 study on spinal manipulation proved that adjustments were more effective in treating acute neck pain than any medication on the market. Not only was it more effective, but a similar study in 2013 revealed that the patients that chose chiropractic also paid less for their treatment overall. There is also research that supports a drastic improvement in conditions such as headaches, lower back pain, sciatica, scoliosis and ear infections. The reason chiropractic care is such an effective treatment for pain is because chiropractors treat the root cause of the pain rather than the symptoms. While it’s not necessarily a miracle treatment, it can’t cure everything after all, often it can reverse the actual cause of the pain. Unlike pain medications, which just mask the pain until it wears off, a chiropractor can straighten out the spine in a way that opens the channels for healthy nerve synapses, which can eliminate the pain. Your nervous system is one of the most important parts of your body, because it controls everything from active movement to involuntary actions like breathing. Since the spine is the vessel and protection for the nervous system, spine health is extremely important in maintaining health and comfort in your own body.

Another bonus of chiropractic care for pain management is that the doctor generally chooses to take a drug free approach. Medications in general, but especially pain medications, can cause a wide array of side effects that put unnecessary stress on your body. By focusing less on the symptoms and more on a holistic system, chiropractors achieve and maintain total body health and eliminate the need for drugs. Also, chiropractic care is safe to use in complements with any other treatments you may be receiving from any other health care provider. It is also unique in that it is a very low-risk treatment option. The most common side effects of adjustments would be slight soreness or aches at the adjustment site. Seems pretty mild compared to the nausea, dizziness, constipation and even addiction that can be caused by painkillers, doesn’t it? While some patients may experience fatigue or headaches post-adjustment, these are just indicators that the treatment has encouraged your body to heal itself from the inside; as it is intended to. Not only are chiropractic treatments generally efficient and quick, they’re a wonderful non-invasive treatment option. Your chiropractor can also provide you with several exercises to continue your care beyond the office and help you see the best results. Holistic treatment options are greatly encouraged in a chiropractic office. Allowing the body to heal itself is our #1 priority.

Back and neck pain are some of the most common complaints chiropractic patients seek care for. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health conducted a study and, of the four million Americans that receive chiropractic care, over sixty percent perceived a “great benefit” from  their treatment. This is because instead of drugs or surgery, a chiropractor will treat you by manipulating your spine and getting your nervous system back in order. Healthy nerves synapses keep the whole body functioning at full capacity.

Yet another piece of good news, chiropractic care is also an effective treatment for chronic conditions. There is a large community of patients suffering from “invisible” conditions such as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome. Adjustments benefit the nervous system, and those benefits affect the entire body. They can ease or even cure pain conditions. It is also an effective tool for pregnant women to relieve back and foot pain caused by pregnancy weight gain and the stresses of growing a baby. Restoration of the alignment of the Atlas (a.k.a the top cervical vertebra just below the skull) has been proven to lower blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Treatment works just as well, and in some cases better, than two-drug combination therapy. Your chiropractor can even aid in sleep disturbances and insomnia in children and adults. reducing pain and regulating hormones

Your chiropractor can help with common dysfunctions, but can also relieve symptoms from treatment for cancer patients. Cancer treatment is very intensive and can cause a lot of stress on the musculoskeletal system. It can cause aches, pains, headaches and other physical limitations. Chiropractic care can make the battle with cancer more comfortable for the patient.

Reducing joint dysfunction is another example of how chiropractic care plays a huge role in preventative health. Just because you are not in pain does not mean your body is healthy. Any abnormalities in joints, resulting from any number of mini-traumas, can cause compensation movements that can affect normal body movement. By the time pain presents itself, the actual dysfunction could have been present for a long time. This can cause damage that could be avoided with regular adjustments by a chiropractor.

Poor posture has become an epidemic in modern society. The human body was not designed to sit in a chair for long periods of time, as our culture has started do rather regularly, it was designed to move! Posture problems can cause shoulder, back and neck pain and a host of other side effects, including: worsening of depression symptoms, putting stress on the body, disrupting cardiovascular circulation and lymph drainage, and even constipation. Chiropractic adjustments and personalized home-care suggestions can fix these posture problems by making sure your spine is straight and strong. It’s amazing what it can do for issues you probably wouldn’t normally associate with spinal health.

Obviously, the body’s immune system is very important; it’s your body’s defense system against disease. Research has proven that chiropractic patients have significantly stronger immune systems due to high-functioning nervous systems, Not only can chiropractors help your bodily health, but also your mental health. Since the messages the brain sends and receives are all transmitted through the nervous system, it stands to reason that chiropractic treatments can benefit mental health. Regular adjustments have been proven to relieve symptoms of depression, especially as it relates to chronic pain. When pain is a part of your daily life, it impairs focus and motivation. This makes it hard to be social and partake in activities once enjoyed by the patient, which can aggravate symptoms of depression. Patients suffering from anxiety disorders are likely to suffer from migraines, jaw pain and neck pain; especially if they hold themselves in a “protective” stance. Chiropractic adjustments can open up the chest, which can improve confidence and allows the body to support itself in a healthy way. A chiropractor can also teach a patient to understand the signs of tension and stress and provide home-care options to prevent flare-ups in the future.

Every athlete should know that the stability and self-healing provided by chiropractic care is invaluable to performance in sports and intensive activities. The body takes a real beating in most sports, and adjustments can serve to undo a lot of that damage and also help heal injuries. By reducing pain symptoms and increasing healthy nervous function, the actual athletic performance will be increased, while the solidity and body awareness garnered from care reduce chances of injury.

Everybody knows that healthcare ain’t cheap, and yet another bonus of choosing a chiropractor to guide you on your journey to health is that it costs less. A physician may recommend you visit a specialist, who will recommend physical therapy, and chances are someone is going to mention a prescription. All of a sudden you’re out hundreds of dollars and the root cause of your pain or health concerns still looms over you. However, a seven year study proved that chiropractic patients cut their drug costs by 81%, had 62% fewer outpatient surgeries, 60% fewer hospital visits and 59% fewer days spent in the hospital versus the general population that does not regularly see a chiropractor. Not only can we make you feel better, for life, but we can save you money while we do it!

Do you see anything other than back pain?

At 303 Denver Chiropractic we specialize in treating a host of pain syndromes. The most common issues  that are brought into our office include knee, and shoulder disorders. The  reason being, people having issues with these two joints in particular relates back to the individual’s favorite hobbies. People who engage in running activities often times experience knee pain. The interesting phenomena that we have learned after working with so many athletes is that the knee is subjected to the poor biomechanics from the hip or ankle. That is why it is so important to get a full lower extremity evaluation if you are experiencing knee pain. If you are looking for more information on the causes of your knee pain visit the following link to the Mayo Clinic.  If you have more questions about your results from the website give us a call so we can help!

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