What a Combo-Platter...
Chiropractic and Strength and Conditioning
Let me qualify the above title...our brand of chiropractic at Marchese Sports Therapy...not the blind gorilla manipulators.
That said, why do the two go together?
In the recent past a large emphasis in strength and conditioning has been focussing on what is termed CNS fatigue. What's disturbing is that the majority of coaches using this mystical term have no idea what components of the human nervous system make up the CNS. Briefly put it is comprised of the brain and spinal cord.
With that said, how do we evaluate for CNS fatigue? Why is chiropractic care an essential part of strength and conditioning, yet may be the only subspecialty kept off a professional teams health care staff (that part still puzzles me to this day). I cannot go into the testing, that would be akin to giving a loaded gun to a mass murderer. "I had them close their eyes and they fell over and busted their wrist...his post didn't say anything about that". What I can talk briefly about is why chiropractic is actually very good for athletes who value the most important "muscle" they have...their brain!
A former patient of mine who has been in the NBA for several years once said "it is only a matter of time before this s--t is in every locker room in the NBA". he went on to say "if I ever become a GM or something, my players will be getting this kind of work". Me being the eternal pessimist replied "not likely".
What he was referring to was a systematic stimulation of the nervous system utilizing multiple bone and joint, as well as soft tissue, and therapeutic exercise/neurological re-education techniques. You are probably asking yourself what is special about this?
Why should we be impressed by this? The simple answer is that we as chiropractors have the ability to perform an extensive orthopedic, neurological, and biomechanical evaluation and then have the ability to interpret the findings in a way that no other therapeutic profession is doing now, to come up with a set of tools to put to work restoring the lost function as indicated by the examination. The most important to the athlete concerned with the state of his or her CNS "fatigue" is the neurological aspect.
The human body after all is a system of neurochemical exchanges which pass for communication. Chiropractors can affect the communication utilizing input into the central nervous system (adjustments, soft tissue manipulation, therapeutic exercise/neuro re-ed, ems, etc) for the soul purpose of changing the central integrated state (level of functioning of the central nervous system) of the CNS.
If the central integrated state (CIS) of the athlete is improved, and monitored before and after the implemented therapeutic intervention, the athlete should be able to respond to the stressors they face during their competition in a competent and effective manner. This seems like a no-brainer eh'?
Devils advocate here. There is no all encompassing term to describe the function of the central nervous system. Let's just use the term central integrated state to mean a compilation of the neurological findings accumulated by the chiropractor during the evaluation. It is merely the sum of all the excitatory and inhibitory potentials occurring in the nervous system. Too much inhibition in the system and the CIS is low and far from threshold (achieving its task). this has been referred to as "global dampenning" by Thomas Culleton DC, DACNB. Too much excitation and the CIS is too close to threshold, possibly allowing for an escape of function. Furthermore...how does the CIS get affected by the various techniques and interventions put forth by the treating chiropractor? One example would be to increase the sensitivity of a muscle found to be difficult to bring to threshold (contract/activate), compared to others which may lead to muscular imbalances, and potential injury. How is this achieved? First identify the muscle(s) via evaluation procedures. Next pick the appropriate intervention to increase the ability of the muscle to fire, then implement it. An example could be, if a muscle is too close to firing (maybe described as "tight" or "cramping") then the appropriate intervention would be to "relax" the muscle and decrease the activity of the muscle spindle, using a "fast stretch technique". The common response would be to statically stretch the muscle, but unfortunately that would lead to increased muscle spindle activity, and potential for injury to the athlete.
A simple neurological approach towards keeping athletes on the field. Not mysticism, which is what the non-self-informed majority believe goes on during chiropractic treatment sessions.
For the sake of the athletes health, chiropractic (remember the caveat, and find and support the good ones) is an essential part of a whole health care team. Not just adjunctive fringe!
