Chicago Athletes Seek Chiropractic Treatments – Here’s Why:

Top Benefits of Chiropractic Treatments for Athletes in Chicago

From marathon runners training on the Lakefront Trail to amateur softball players competing in local leagues, Chicago athletes are discovering a game-changing advantage in chiropractic care. As sports performance demands increase and recovery windows shrink, more competitors are seeking natural, non-invasive ways to boost muscle function, prevent injuries, and speed up healing. Chiropractic treatment offers all of that—and more.

With targeted spinal adjustments, soft tissue therapy, and biomechanical corrections, athletes can run faster, recover quicker, and train harder with less risk of overuse injuries. It’s no longer just about pain relief—it’s about optimizing performance and staying in peak condition year-round.

>Chicago Sports Chiropractor for Pain Relief & Sports Medicine

2-Most Impactful Benefits of Chiropractic Treatment for Athletes:

1. Optimize performance
2. Pain relief or prevention of overuse injuries

95% of my patients were shocked when they discovered that chiropractic care also speeds up their recovery period.

Sports Chiropractic Treatment: Additional Benefits

That’s not all, though. If you’re training for the next Chicago marathon or want to find ways to improve your muscle endurance and run longer & farther with less effort, chiropractic care can benefit you. But first, let’s take a different angle and look at…

Why Chicago Runners Struggle Without Chiropractic Care

The one concern I hear from patients who regularly run 3 to 4x a week?

Lower back pain. Followed by muscle tightness and pain in their glutes/hamstrings.

How does this happen? Several reasons:

• Weak glutes
• Overpronation
• Imbalanced hips
• Overstriding or weak core engagement
• Tightening of the psoas and iliopsas muscles

Of course, the pain doesn’t show up overnight, or even after a few weeks.

This happens through microtrauma, which we’ll talk more about later.

Yes, running takes a toll on your body whether you’re training for the next Chicago Marathon or just jogging along the Lakefront Trail.

Running may seem like a natural, healthy activity, but if mismanaged, it’s incredibly demanding on your joints, muscles, and posture.

Over time, the repetitive impact on your knees, hips, and back can lead to:

• Misalignments
• Muscle imbalances
• Compensating for reduced performance (injury risk)

Most runners don’t realize how subtle changes in gait, hip stability, or spinal posture can affect their entire kinetic chain.

Have you ever:

• Noticed your stride feels shorter after a long workday?
• Felt your knees or lower back ache after increasing mileage?
• Dealt with recurring calf tightness or hip soreness that keeps returning?

These are early signs your alignment or mechanics may be off—and chiropractic can help.

5 -Ways Chiropractic Treatment Sessions Assist & Support Runners

1. Loosening Muscles That Hold You Back

Earlier, we talked about the risk of overuse injuries.

How does this happen, though?

You’ve heard about this a thousand times actually: tight muscles, specifically your hips, calves, and hamstrings.

The golden rule before any workout is to stretch for a minimum of 5 minutes.

This facilitates proper blood flow circulation, and loosening muscles to allow freer movement. More importantly, it prevents strains and injury.

But what if we could take that a step further without spending months doing yoga before seeing results?

This is where soft tissue therapy comes in.

Most people believe they’re born with tight hamstrings or tight hip flexors.

But the truth is, if you haven’t stretched those muscles or performed the appropriate stretching exercises to target those muscles, you’re bound to always feel tightness in these areas.

Tight muscles in the hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors reduce stride length.

Not to mention, you’d be more injury-prone.

Soft tissue therapy, a form of chiropractic treatment, isn’t just stretching. It’s to help you understand why you’re tight in the first place.

A few sessions is all you need to break that tension.

2. Recovery Becomes Less of a Battle

Post-run soreness or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), especially after a longer/harder training session is a common issue.

Most people wait it out.

Me? I’ve had to tolerate limping to work on several occasions. And that was before I became a chiropractor and understood the science behind it all.

Chiropractic treatments that accelerate the recovery process aren’t limited to manual stretching either. There’s:

• Active Release Technique (ART)
• Cold laser therapy or electrical stimulation
• Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
• Rehabilitative Exercises combined with therapeutic stretching

With a faster recovery time, you can get back to running much sooner – with less stiffness, improved circulation, and enhanced joint mobility.

3. Balanced Movements by Improving Joint Alignment & Biomechanics

Remember all the muscle soreness you felt the first time you started running?

That happens because every stride made in running is a micro-impact, sending shocks to your body starting from your ankles to your hips and then your spine.

All of this should be fine as long as your joints are aligned.

If they’re not, those micro impacts send shocks unevenly throughout your body. And that misalignment leads to your knees aching and tightening of your lower back.

When your joints—especially in the hips, knees, and ankles—aren’t properly aligned, the impact can throw off your entire biomechanical chain.

Chiropractic adjustments correct these misalignments, supporting better biomechanics and keeping your movement balanced.

4. Prevent Injuries Like Runner’s Knee of Plantar Fasciitis Ahead of Time

One of the most eye-opening insights: gait and posture assessment.

A good example of this would be striding harder on one side (or leg) and overusing certain muscles.

How would you know you’re overusing certain muscles?

Even with meta-awareness, it’s impossible.

Seeing a chiropractor is the fastest way to catch early signs of runner’s knee, sciatica, or plantar fasciitis.

Or even better, prevent them from happening.

A lot of people think chiropractic care is a reactive approach to pain. But really, the whole point of chiropractic checkups and treatments is to help you stay two steps ahead of injury/pain.

5. Running Feels Lighter on Your Body, and You Feel 2x Stronger

Regular chiropractic treatments lead to one major benefit: body alignment.

Your muscles are loose, your joints are well-oiled, and your nervous system is firing on all cylinders.

>Core Strength is the least beneficial outcome.

What I hear most patients rave about is how much lighter they feel and being able to run longer distances with less effort. Recovery time is cut in half, and even your strides feel more fluid and natural. Better bodily alignment, reduced tension, and improved movement patterns = better performance.

In fact, this doesn’t just apply to runners. Chiropractic care can even boost swimming performance, or for sports performance like hockey for example.

Chiropractic vs Other Treatments for Runners

Treatment	What It Helps	Where It Falls Short
Massage Therapy	Muscle tension relief	Doesn’t address spinal misalignment
Physical Therapy	Rehab after injury	May not focus on long-term performance
Rest & Ice	Temporary pain relief	Doesn’t fix biomechanical issues
Chiropractic Care	Joint alignment, soft tissue therapy, gait correction	Works best when proactive

This shows how chiropractic fills a critical gap in your recovery and performance toolkit.

Chiropractic Treatments, Personalized for Chicago Runners

If you’re considering regular chiropractic care, here’s a list of treatments worth asking more about:

Active Release Technique (ART)

Active Release Technique (ART) is a form of soft tissue therapy.

It helps break down scar tissue, adhesions in tight muscle groups, and micro trauma.

ART isn’t just specific to runners, but one of the most common reasons it’s beneficial is because it’s effective for:

• Calves
• Glutes
• IT band
• Hip flexors
• Hamstrings

Freeing up tissue promotes oxygen delivery and reduces inflammation.

Custom Rehab Exercises

Rehab exercises, whether it’s through physical therapy, stretching, or even yoga all improve your mobility & recovery.

In addition, they’re ideal for post-run soreness and reduce the chances of recurring tightness.

For runners, rehab exercises can release tension and improve your range of motion in:

• Hip rotators
• Calves and achilles
• Quads and hamstrings
• Lumbar spine and sacrum

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all all exercise when it comes to physical therapy.

Treatment sessions are personalized depending on your diagnosis and recommended treatment methods here at Advanced Spine and Sports Care (ASSC).

Full-Body Spinal Alignment Adjustments Utilizing Advanced Chiro-Techniques

Spinal adjustments have been a fundamental aspect of chiropractic care for many years. These adjustments can serve as complementary or supportive therapies that enhance blood circulation, alleviate muscle tightness, and ultimately facilitate improved communication between your nervous system and muscles.

Sciatica Relief

Chiropractors relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve caused by muscle tightness, especially in the hips and glutes. There are several ways chiropractic centers provide sciatica relief. Here at ASSC Chiropractic Clinic of Chicago (Lakeview), we use instruments and holistic treatments, such as spinal decompression, for the most effective relief and proven results.

>Discover How Physical Therapy Can Help You Train — Not Just Recover!

Chicago Sports Chiropractic Treatments – (FAQs) Frequently Asked Questions

Does chiropractic care help athletic performance?

Chiropractic care improves athletic performance through various treatments like soft tissue therapy to improve joint alignment, enhance recovery time, prevent injuries, and loosen muscles for freer & stronger movement.

What running injuries can chiropractors treat?

Chiropractors can treat several running injuries, but it also depends on the services they offer. At ASSC, we treat conditions and injuries such as runner’s knee, plantar fasciitis, shin splints, hip flexor tightness, and sciatica.

Is chiropractic care only for injured runners?

Not at all. Many runners use chiropractic care to proactively stay in peak form, prevent injury, and enhance performance. This includes any health conditions you have that you’ve noticed during your day-to-day activities.

What is gait analysis and why is it important?

Gait analysis evaluates how you walk and run. It’s a detailed assessment of how you move. How it works is a chiropractor assesses your foot strike pattern, step length & cadence, hip stability and rotation, knee alignment, and more.

A lot of runners don’t realize they’re compensating, either by overstriding, favoring one side or leg, or foot pronation issues. Long-term, these issues create uneven wear on your joints, increasing your chances of injury.

How often should runners see a chiropractor?

Runners should see a chiropractor regularly, however the frequency depends on your mileage, goals, and current pain level. Some runners benefit from weekly adjustments, others from monthly maintenance care.

Chiropractic Is Not Just for Injuries—It’s for Performance

Whether you’re running to train, destress, or compete, your body deserves the right care.

Schedule an appointment at ASSC for a consultation at our state-of-the-art Sports Chiropractic & Biophysics Clinic in Lakeview and a more thorough walkthrough of how chiropractic treatments can help your running performance.

Last Updated on June 12, 2025 by Chiropractor Dr. Jason Ingham DC, CCSP