| Yes, they do have them present during games. One of the things that has increased the number of chiropractors with NFL teams is free agency [in which players move from one team to another]. You have players who have been used to receiving this kind of treatment at their previous team. They’ve seen its value and they want to continue to receive it. Most of the chiropractors are on staff and travel to games with the teams. It involves treating the athletes before the game, then going in at halftime if somebody has an issue where they need help in order to compete in the second half, and then after the game as well.
What are your goals in your career at this point?
I work with the track and field team at a major university. I went with them to the regionals and national championships this past year and I am going to continue to do that in the future. The coaching staff knows how valuable this work can be, and they’ve seen what we were able to do. Their athletes competed better than they would have been able to do otherwise. So my goals are to be able to work with the collegiate track team, and to get through my trial period with the pro team.
But honestly, I just want to have my private practice to the point where it’s a full practice, not because of any monetary gain, because that will take care of itself. I want to be the best that I can be. I want to eventually teach seminars for ART and I want to help as many people as possible. I’ve had a thing my whole life where I want to please people. That’s not always good. But this is a manual, hands-on way that I can get someone feeling better, and improve their quality of life, short-term and possibly long-term as well. If I do that, then a lot of other things will fall into place. I think that taking that route, with that mental outlook on things, should also overflow into other parts of my life. In my opinion, that’s the right way to do things.
Are there any other stories of experiences you’ve had working with athletes?
I’ve had a number of athletes who have a lot of trouble running full-out without having pain in their hips. You treat them, and then a week and a half later they go and win two or three events in a state meet. Or, you have someone who comes in that has a problem with their throwing shoulder, and you give them two or three treatments and they’re back throwing full-go. It’s not necessarily any one story, but that when you see people one after the next, and treat them, and then they’re all of a sudden back to working full-go with no restrictions. And then you get the next person coming in and saying that they heard how you helped their teammate. And then the trainer starts sending athletes over. The word spreads. It feels really good.
It sounds very satisfying. I’m very happy to hear what’s happening with you. We’re coming up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing very soon. Chiropractors have been part of the U.S. Olympic sports medicine team since 1980, and for many other countries as well. It has seemed to me that chiropractors working with high-level athletes—and other athletes, too, amateur, Pop Warner football, whatever it is—is a really important area where chiropractic can provide a needed service. And it’s also a way of chiropractic expanding its value to the society. Does this seem to you to be an area with great potential?
Incredibly so. Sports is so very mainstream in our society. Think of the Super Bowl. There was a chiropractor, an ART provider, who was on TV treating someone on the sideline at the Super Bowl. People think, “If it’s good enough for them, it’s obviously good enough for me.”
Daniel Redwood, DC, is Editor-in-Chief of Health Insights Today.
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