…article continued:

“Interestingly enough the first patient I saw was a world cupper on the Canadian ski team, Dave Irwin, who was a patient of a good friend, Dr. Dan Gleason in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Soon after, I saw Dave Murray, another Canadian skier with a very high performance level. He was followed by the manager of the Canadian ski team who himself had been an Olympic skier in Poland; he is now a Canadian citizen. We also saw the physician for the Canadian ski team, Dr. Bernie La Long, who was very interested in the chiropractic care of the athletes under his supervision. We saw a number of US athletes and took pictures during treatment. We saw Gary Crawford and Kerry Lynch, both who are ski jumpers in the combined Alpine events and did very well; and we saw briefly Lisa Marie Allen, a very fine figure skater from California who had some difficulty with an anterior thoracic on her very first days. The manager of the Canadian ski team was a former Polish Olympic skier, Andrzej Kozbial. Most of these patients had structural faults as well as muscle imbalances and they were very interesting to treat, I also treated John B. Kelly, vice chairman of the US Olympic Committee, who was extremely interested in chiropractic care for our United States athletes and who may very well be the next president of our US Olympic delegation. (Editor: He was!) I saw a member of the United States luge team, John Fea. These patients responded very well.

“I was present at the time Randy Gardner (partner to Tai Babilonia) was examined and treated and my opinion was requested (Editor’s note: after the fact) as to how I would have treated him but the initial agreement that was made by Dr. Dardik, Dr. Dailey and myself was a fair one I feel; if the Olympic athletes requested chiropractic care it would be given to them and there would be a fine level of cooperation between the Olympic medical staff and my own section. This I think should change in the future so that the athletes are given the opportunity for a good diagnostic examination and treatment, by all physicians on staff, that this initial beginning required at least this type of activity. The facilities and services afforded by the Williams Manufacturing Company, manufacturer of the Zenith table which was the electric model with the drop pelvic section, was invaluable and their assistance in securing transportation was also extremely valuable in a time when transportation was difficult in the first 3 or 4 days.

“I established good relationships with Dr. Tom Daley a superb physician, Dr. Cal Abley, a very fine physician from Alabama, and Dr. George Stedman, who I think should have received a silver medal for his orthopedic activities in helping Phil Mare, the silver medal skier of the United States. I also established a good relationship with the trainers and at an upcoming meeting in Boston and in Colorado Springs in the future as a post- Olympic wrap- up, I am making some suggestions as to procedural patterns that may be followed to insure [sic] better care for the athletes in future US Olympics.

“I welcomed the opportunity to provide chiropractic services to our Olympic athletes. The addition of chiropractic services by the Olympic sports medicine committee will doubly serve our national athletes. Many people have contributed to this healthy situation and since the athletes deserve the best of all types of heath care, all the health professions can contribute to their well- being and maximum performance. Chiropractic is uniquely related to the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system and can provide therapeutic and preventative support, as well as improved performance potentials by some of its more recent developments in Applied Kinesiology.

“Chiropractic on the sports medicine council has been a tremendous breakthrough. We were asked to visit the laboratory training center for the American athletes preparing to compete in the 13th Olympic Winter games at the Lake Placid sports medicine center by Dr. Robert Burns Arno, M.D. who is the director. Many doors have opened and are opening and it’s a matter of building personal relationships on mutual trust and confidence and as time goes on I am sure that the inclusion of chiropractic at this level will precede the inclusion of chiropractic in many other levels of our daily activity. I received a call while on duty at the chiropractic center from Dave Diles of ABC to do a TV film spot on chiropractic and treatment but it was the opinion of Dr. Dardik and also Dr. Daley that this would re-kindle animosities that were being put to rest and despite the effort on the part of Dave Diles, I did not attempt to effect that type of liaison; and as I said to Dr. Daley when I left and we spent many an hour talking waiting for athletes not to hurt themselves, I felt this was a very strong beginning and although the publishing would have been favorable it would have come at the wrong time and in the future. I’m sure we will get the proper public recognition we need.

“The care of Olympic athletes is unusual in that you have to check athletes during active motion. Many of them have reactive problems unique to applied kinesiological techniques and many of them require very subtle investigation of the relationship of muscles, one to another, as well as the more straightforward techniques. In kinesiology we are developing these techniques and with the aid of many of the men and Applied Kinesiology at different levels, we will be able to provide chiropractic care at the training center level for the Olympics.

“The transportation problems as you read were enormous for the first 4 or 5 days. The food at the Olympic Village was fantastic. The overall activity of the New York State police was the most efficient I’ve ever seen. The hospitality and good will that was evidenced by all members of the staff toward me is very much appreciated and I welcome this opportunity to give the readers of Chiropractic Economics a little bird’s eye view on a very interesting 2 weeks in my life and a very strong event in the history of chiropractic services for our nation.

“Treating Olympic athletes who are in superb condition and superbly trained is a little different than having a regular practice and a great deal of time is spent in waiting in a paradoxical situation in which you hope the athlete does not hurt himself but if he does you hope you can be of service and the Olympic medical staff which is obviously far more enormous than the single chiropractic member was busy, but when compared numbers we had about the same number of active patients. The athletes need reassurance and repeated treatment, something a little different than one would practice in ordinary general practice; but I was very pleased with the response, as was Dr. Dardik, and certainly the ability to provide a good chiropractic and future potential.”

– Dr. George J. Goodheart, Jr. 1980

Dr. Leroy Perry was an essential early figure in the AK and sports chiropractic movements, and he worked with numerous Olympic and professional athletes and teams.³² He treated such world-famous athletes as Dwight Stones, Bruce Jenner, Tracy Austin, and Stan Smith. Many other AK physicians have worked with professional athletes and sports teams as well. Dr. Evan Maldenoff, for example, was with the Kansas City Chiefs for 13 years.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Meersseman was the leader of the sports physicians taking care of the professional football (soccer) team AC Milan. Dr. Meersseman created the MilanLab that served AC Milan and dozens of very high-profile professional football players. At AC Milan there was a 43% reduction in days off from injuries: a 70% reduction in drugs and an overall reduction of injuries by 80%. In the long term (three years), the physical performance average of the AC Milan players had increased by 50%. Meersseman and Milan Lab also enabled Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta to play into their 40s, with Serginho and Cafu not far behind. David Beckham was also served by Dr. Meersseman at Milan Lab, and “responded exceptionally well to what we did.” After AC Milan Dr. Meersseman then began working with Premier League footballers in London.³³

Tens of thousands of world-class athletes around the world have optimized functional performance using AK methods to maximize their performance. Dr. Wayne Steiner helped Michael Johnson, track-and-field star. Thanks to chiropractic and AK, Johnson won the European Grand Prix by a margin of 4 meters.

Dr. David Leaf was also with AC Milan and served individual New England Patriot players. Dr. Tom Roselle was with the Washington Mystics for 3 years and treated individual Washington Redskin players and Olympians. Dr. Tom Palic is a former U.S. Ski Team chiropractor and a medical provider for Red Bull Athletics. Dr. Kirk Johnson was the personal chiropractor for professional tennis star Jack Sock and traveled the world with him. Sock was a member of the 2016 USA Olympic Team and won a gold medal in mixed doubles and a bronze medal in men’s doubles.³⁴ Dr. Don McDowall was Ivan Lendl’s chiropractor.

Dr. Craig Buhler was the AK chiropractic physician for the professional basketball team Utah Jazz for 26 years:

 “As a result of his techniques, the team had the lowest player missed games due to injury (PMGI) rate in the NBA — 61 player-missed games due to injury  within a 20-year long span, compared to the league average of 171 in the same timeframe.

“Then, between 2001 and 2006 when I stopped having access to the players, we had the most rapid increase in player missed games due to injury rates in the league in the 25-year period,” he says. “It validates what happens when you use the technique and integrate it with good quality medical and training care.”³⁵

Dr. Dan Duffy worked with the Cleveland Indians Professional Baseball team and recounts, “In 1997, the best of sports medicine failed to recover Albee Lopez, a Cleveland Indians pitcher on the disabled list for 15 days. Since I had relieved Kevin Seitzer of his career long knee and shoulder pain and fixed Orel Hershiser’s (LA Dodger Pitcher) groin problem, they both advised Mike Hargrove to call me in to see if I could turn the trick. So I drove 50 miles to Jacob’s Field to treat Lopez there. I explained every move I made to the orthopedic surgeon and the two physical therapists, who were worriedly watching me. These are good people, genuinely concerned about the players under their care, but viewing the world from a totally different perspective. When I was done, Lopez demonstrated full range of motion with no pain, and subsequently went back to work. This created quite a stir in the clubhouse, encouraged by Seitzer and Hershiser, I also relieved Chad Ogea of a long-standing elbow problem, among other things.”