Dynamic Sports Chiropractors

Chiropractors have been treating top athletes back to the heydays of Rocky Marciano and Babe Ruth.  Many of the top athletes in the world have used Chiropractors ever since. While the spine remains the focus of DCs working in sports, many augment their work with other areas of expertise. The following Chiropractors have worked with the biggest names in sport.

Keith Pyne DC has been treating the Washington Nationals Baseball team since 2011, and was recently named chairman of their medical services advisory board. He has treated over 1300 professional athletes from treated over 1,300 professional athletes across all major sports (including: baseball, basketball, football, hockey, boxing, golf, and track & field). His treatment concentrates on the neuromuscular structural integration that resolves injuries and biomechanical discrepancies by addressing the problem in the body’s kinetic chain. 

Troy Van Biezen DC looks after a group of PGA golfers including three in the top ten in the world.  His group has won four majors in the last three years. Van Biezen is a certified Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) coach who relies heavily on movement analysis to augment his hands on work. He describes his approach, “Players get a functional assessment including muscle testing and joint range of motion testing two hours before tee-times, we follow it up with hands on treatment and a dynamic warm-up. Each player’s individual tendencies and imbalances are checked and addressed to stay on top of them. After the round, corrective based exercises are employed.”

“Troy Van Biezen has been an integral member of my team since high school, I trust him fully and he now tours with me. Chiropractic care with a goal of achieving better postural balance and injury prevention, has been invaluable to my health, performance, and success.” Jordan Spieth

Niagara Falls based Chiropractor Mark Scappaticci has travelled extensively with the biggest stars from track and field, ice hockey, and baseball.  He developed the Fascial Abrasion Techniques (FAT-Tool™) soft tissue treatment instrument, and had it put it to the test by researchers at the University of Zagreb, Croatia.  They  compared the effects of foam rolling and FAT-Tool therapy on the knee and hip range of motion of soccer players. In the study, both interventions improved thigh muscle flexibility, but only the FAT-Tool’s effect were seen 24 hours later.  Scappaticci combines Chiropractic with a acupuncture, taping, and shockwave therapy.

“My focus had been improving function and performance through understanding the repetitive strains and biomechanics of the individual sport, finding the specific restrictions that were limiting the athlete, and then removing these.” Mark Scappaticci

Gerry Ramogida DC has held the Lombardi trophy with Seahawks and struck Olympic gold working for UK Athletics. I wrote about his work helping chronically injured Greg Rutherford win long jump gold in London 2012.  Ramogida combines fascial work, Active Release Techniques® (ART), acupuncture and movement analysis to improve athlete performance and reduce injury. 

“I first met @DrGerryRamogida at @ALTISworld. He is the model for the provider of the future.” Supple Leopard author Kelly Starrett recently tweeted

Ramogida and athletics super coach Dan Pfaff work together at their facility in Phoenix, where they  combine training with therapy – they call it “Performance Therapy”. Ramogida explained performance therapy by saying: “What is required is an understanding of the mechanics required for an athlete to perform their skill or event most effectively. We call it the “athlete-coach-therapist trinity”. The formula is working- if the ALTIS group of 17 athletes were a nation at the 2015 World Athletics Championships, they would have ranked 11th in the medals table.