Poorly fitting athletic shoes can hurt your stride and therefore your spine. This information was reported in a Dec. 6, 2005 release appearing on PRNewswire. According to the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), footwear plays an important role in the functional biomechanics of the human body.

The article also reports that improperly-fitting shoes can do more than hurt a runner's stride, they can upset a person's overall biomechanics and lead to pain throughout the body.  Dr. Jeffery Solomon, president of the ACA's Council on Sports Injuries & Physical Fitness noted, "Your feet are the foundation of your body, and if they are not properly supported you can have problems anywhere from the bottom of your feet up through your neck."

The article posted several tips to consider before a runner should purchase their next pair of running shoes. These are:

- Be sure to match the right shoe to the right activity. If possible, purchase running shoes from a specialty store or from someone knowledgeable about matching the correct type of running shoes to your foot type and stride pattern.

- Select shoes with adequate cushioning in the soles, which helps absorb the shock of your feet hitting the ground. Cushioning is especially important when running on hard surfaces, such as pavement or sidewalks.

- Check for adequate room at the widest part of your foot. The shoe shouldn't be tight, but your foot shouldn't slide around, either.

- Consider custom made orthotic insoles. Orthotics can address structural abnormalities in the feet and the resultant biomechanical faults.

As more athletes discover the benefits of chiropractic care not only for injuries but additionally for increased performance, more athletes and teams are using chiropractic to gain an important edge. A recent study published in the March/April 2002 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, (JMPT) examined the usage of chiropractic care by National Football League teams throughout the US.

The Journal article reported on the results of a survey of NFL trainers on their usage and referral to chiropractic care. Participants of the survey were head athletic trainers of the 36 National Football League teams. They were all men, and all had at least 17 years of experience and had served with their present team in their current position for a minimum of 1 year.

The results of the survey showed that 45% percent of the trainers themselves have been treated by a chiropractor. Presently 31% of NFL teams use chiropractors in an official capacity as part of their staffs. However, even though not necessarily on the staff of the NFL team a full 77% of the trainers have referred to a chiropractor for evaluation or treatment. Probably the most telling result of the survey is that 100% of trainers agree that some players use chiropractic care without referral from team medical staff.

Several other questions were also asked in the survey and the answers were as follows:

Should trainers refer players with suspected spinal subluxations to chiropractors? - Five percent of trainers strongly agree, 48% agree, 24% disagree, and 19% have no opinion. Is there a role for the doctor of chiropractic in the NFL? - Eighty-one percent agree that there is a role for the chiropractor in the NFL, 5% strongly agree, 14% have no opinion, and none disagree.

Is the role of the sport chiropractor different from that of the team physician? - All (100%) of the trainers see these roles as different from each other. In addition to NFL players, many athletes from many sports depend on chiropractic care. One such athlete is John Stockton, a professional basketball player and future hall of famer with the Utah Jazz. In an April 2, 2002 article that appeared in the Toronto Star, writer Doug Smith asks and answers the question concerning John Stockton's longevity, "What is the secret to John Stockton's continued success on the NBA basketball court at age 40? A Good Chiropractor." When asked to explain his usage of chiropractic John's response was, "I'm not a good enough expert on what that (chiropractic) entails, but it's not just adjustments, it's balancing muscles and overall health." John then added, "it's been great for me, and for my family."

The article reports that along with chiropractic, Stockton says that a love for the game and fun with his family are two other secrets to his continued success.

Thomas Bjorn is a professional golfer from Denmark who made a bit of sports history at the 87th PGA Championship when he shot a round of 63 and tied the record for the lowest score in a major PGA tournament. However, this accomplishment of sports history and Bjorn's second place finish in the 2005 PGA Tournament might not have been possible without the chiropractic care Bjorn received during the practice rounds prior to the start of the tournament.

The August 15, 2005 Daily Record of New Jersey tells the story of how a local Morris County chiropractor can take at least partial credit for Thomas Bjorn's record-setting round Saturday at the PGA Championship.  Dr. Patrick Ryan was seeing patients when he received a call from a colleague in London who was the chiropractor for Bjorn. Shortly after this Bjorn, drove straight to Ryan's practice in Randolph NJ, complaining of a restriction in his neck that kept him from turning his head properly in his swing. According to the Daily Record, Bjorn had been forced to stop practicing after six holes prior to the tournament because of pain in his neck that affected his swing.

Dr. Ryan performed scans on Bjorn and reviewed information from his London chiropractor and came to the conclusion that Bjorn was suffering from a subluxation of the first thoracic vertebra, the point where the head and shoulders meet. This created severe muscle spasm at the base of Bjorn's neck and prevented proper rotation.

Bjorn then received an adjustment, and asked to return the next day. On the following visit a new scan showed Bjorn's imbalance had improved from severe to mild. Bjorn reported that he felt terrific. On Saturday, Bjorn shot a 7-under-par 63. That score tied the record for the best round of golf ever in a major tournament. In interviews after the tournament, the Danish pro credited a new pain-free swing.

A feature story appearing in the June 30, 2005 edition of the Catonsville Times in Maryland celebrated the 10 year anniversary that a chiropractor had been helping the Baltimore Ravens Professional Football team. Ten years ago the Ravens came to town.  At that time Dr. Doug Miller (right) started his relationship with the team that has lasted since then.

Dr. Miller became the team's chiropractor by contacting the Ravens shortly after their move from Cleveland and telling officials about the services he provided to other sports teams in the area. He was on the playing field when the Baltimore Ravens won the 2000 Superbowl.  He can also be found in the locker room and on the field on most Sundays during football season.

Raven's trainer Bill Tessendorf, refers most of the players that Dr. Miller sees for chiropractic care. Tessendorf, who has 32 years of experience as an NFL trainer explained, "A player favoring a knee or an ankle can cause alignment problems elsewhere. A chiropractor can help with a lot of those issues."

Dr. Miller explained that chiropractic care still remains misunderstood. Most of his services are not necessarily related to the treatment of injuries. He explains, "It's not just about relieving pain from backaches and injuries," he said. "It's about achieving optimum health. We can do a lot to help with the conditioning of muscles and joints."
The article notes that presently almost every NFL team has a chiropractor on staff.

The above headline excerpt is from the June 10, 2006 "Giants Notebook" section of the San Francisco Chronicle. This story reports on Dr. Ron Mitchell, a chiropractor who travels with the San Francisco Giants baseball team as their team chiropractor. The story starts by noting that Dr. Mitchell loves to watch Bonds hit home runs and during Bond's recent chase of Babe Ruth's record, Mitchell would stop adjusting, and run outside to see Bonds at bat. (Photo by Agncia Brasil)

Dr. Mitchell is present at the games adjusting players.  The story also notes that pitcher, Jason Schmidt, also loves to get adjusted and typically does so during the games to avoid the rush of other players who get adjusted before the games. Ironically, Dr. Mitchell missed both Barry Bonds' 715th and 716th home runs as he was in the clubhouse adjusting Schmidt.

The story noted that Jason Schmidt offered to halt the chiropractic session when Bonds was at bat chasing home run number 715, but Mitchell showed his dedication and responded, "No, let's do what we've got to do. Let's get you treated and get you ready."  The article reported that a few pitches later Bonds hit his 715th home run. After missing seeing the historic home run Dr. Mitchell commented, "Schmidty looked and me and laughed, and I laughed, and we kind of blew it off and that was it."

It was a few days later when Dr. Mitchell was once again adjusting Jason Schmidt while Bonds was at bat that Bonds hit number 716. After this repeat performance all Dr. Mitchell could say was, "There goes the next one."
In typical baseball superstition, the players even joked about it saying that they were going to schedule Schmidt for an adjustment with Dr. Mitchell whenever the Giants are behind so that Bonds would hit a home run and win the game.

Even Barry Bonds himself found the situation amusing saying, "I'm going to have to get on the table with him." Jason Schmidt, however, felt bad having caused Dr. Mitchell to miss two historic sporting events. Schmidt commented, "I kind of felt bad. ... He takes a lot of pride on working on Barry, so I felt kind of bad he wasn't able to be out there at the time. He's been out there so many times, and it's like, it's not going to happen this time, so let's take our chances."

From the March 12, 2003 TCPalm.com new website comes a short feature story on chiropractic care for professional golfers. According to the story there are currently 10 chiropractors who take turns staffing the medical teams of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA). During a tournament, the staff chiropractor will often work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and care for between 25 to 40 golfers each day.

Dr. David Kassay is one of the chiropractors on the tour. He commented, "Each day, it's not unusual for a third of them (golfers) to seek some kind of medical attention. Over the course of a tournament, probably 80 percent of the players come by." The medical teams and chiropractors are housed in large, expandable trailers that have full care facilities and exercise equipment. They also have televisions with both network and closed-circuit tournament coverage.

Dr. Kassay noted where the golfers experience most of their problems during a tournament, "Most are in the neck, the upper and lower back, shoulders, elbows and wrists; areas involved in the golf swing. These guys are hitting a lot of golf balls through the day, not just in the tournament but in practice, too. All that repetition is demanding on the body. If they're not in good shape, they'll be hurting"

No less than a dozen different news stories recently appeared reporting on chiropractors going to London to assist the athletes in the 2012 Olympics. In many of these articles, the various doctors from around the nation are working with the athletes to help them maximize their performances and giving them the competitive edge.

In one of the articles on August 1, 2012, in the Lake Forrest Patch, Dr. Dustin Glass is described as the official team chiropractor for the United States women's indoor volleyball team. "I am very proud and honored to be a part of Team USA," stated Dr. Glass. "They are representing the country on the biggest athletic stage in the world and I am fortunate to be a part of it." Later in the article Dr. Glass continued, "Having helped out in practice and sitting courtside while traveling, to see the athleticism these athletes bring to the sport is an awesome experience," he said. "These are the top 12 players in the country competing for the pinnacle of success in athletics—the Olympic gold!"

A number of the other articles focus on a team of chiropractors helping the USA martial arts, Judo, wrestling, weight lifting and sitting volleyball teams. In a July 28, 2012 article in the online edition of the Erie Times-News, Dr. Tom Stetson, a chiropractor from North Carolina expresses his enthusiasm by saying, "It's incredibly exciting to take the true principles of health to the world stage of London. The principles we teach help athletes win, but they can also help people in this community achieve the health they've been looking for."

In addition to the excitement that many doctors are feeling, the athletes, coaches and directors are also glad to see the chiropractors at the Olympics. Jose Rodriguez, USA Judo executive director, commented in a July 29,
2012, Examiner article, "This is about making our athletes stronger, faster and sustainably successful." In the same article, Terry Steiner, the USA Women's National Wrestling Team coach added, "I have seen a tremendous value in our partnership (with the chiropractors) as it pertains to the performances of our Olympic team. I can further see the positive, life-long effects these doctors can have on their lives after London."

One chiropractor, however, is at the Olympics for a different reason. Dr. Josh Binstock a 6-foot-5-inch athlete, is competing in his first Olympic Games as part of the Canadian Volleyball team. In a July 30, 2012, article in the Algemeiner, Dr. Binstock said, "[This] was what I had been dreaming about since I started playing this sport and what I put my chiropractic career on hold to pursue."

Virginia Tech's football team has had an impressive record over the last several years.  Head Coach Frank Beamer took the "Hokies" to a Big East Conference championship where they finished number 2 in the Associated Press. Some of the credit for their physical health and recovery from injuries is attributed to chiropractic care.

Dr. Greg Tilley, a chiropractor from Blacksburg Virginia started caring for various members of the team after approaching the team physician to discuss how he could assist the team. "In the beginning there were times when I only saw one or two patients," says Dr. Tilley. "Now I have been allocated an office in the sports complex where I have my own portable table, and they have a schedule where the trainers can schedule times for their athletes to see me.

Junior quarterback Grant Noel began receiving adjustments in July of 2001. He feels that chiropractic gives him better flexibility and range of motion. "Just getting my back adjusted and loose helps with my trunk mobility as far as twisting and throwing."

With the success and testimonials of the football team, other athletes have also begun chiropractic. Athletes from the schools swimming, diving, lacrosse, soccer, and basketball programs have begun regular adjustments.  Mike Gentry, the assistant athletic director for athletic performance, summed it up by saying, "I see chiropractic as having two functions from my perspective. It helps our athletes return to competition faster if they have sustained some injuries, and secondly, it seems to be preventative, in the sense that it keeps our athletes more mobile and flexible and feeling better."

In a July 15 PR-Newswire release from Denver is a story of two local chiropractors recently hired as team chiropractors for the two-time NFL champion Denver Broncos. Dr. Dan Hill and Dr. JT Anderson became the official team chiropractors after being appointed by the team trainer Steve Antonopulos. The two doctors had been taking care of several of the players for several years in their private practice. Last year head coach Mike Shanahan integrated chiropractic into the Broncos full-time fitness regime.  From the results, it obviously helped, so the decision was made to have the chiropractors with the team again this year. Drs. Hill and Anderson will provide chiropractic to the players at least twice per week during the regular season and off-season.

A research project published in the September 2005 issue of the peer reviewed scientific journal, The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, JMPT, showed that "Spinal Dysfunction" (more commonly known as subluxation in chiropractic) is related to slower and/or less accurate reaction times and therefore to cognitive function.

The double-blind, randomized, study was performed on thirty volunteers who had evidence of what the researchers called "cervical spinal joint dysfunction". Researchers at the New Zealand Chiropractic College examined the volunteers to determine areas of spinal dysfunction. It was then noted how many areas of spinal dysfunctions were found on each subject and this information was compared to the results of the reaction times testing done later.

A range of computer-based tasks were then performed by the volunteers in order to determine various types of reaction time. The reaction times of the volunteers was then compared to their number of areas of spinal dysfunctions to see if there was any relationship.

The results showed that there was a connection between the number of areas of spinal dysfunction and certain types of reaction times. Researchers noted that the types of reaction times affected by multiple areas of spinal dysfunction were therefore related to impaired cortical processing and significantly less accurate response selection. In fact, they found that the more areas of spinal dysfunction, the more it affected reaction times.

The researchers concluded that certain types of reactions times could be good indicators of the effects of "cervical manipulations" (adjustments) in people with spinal dysfunctions, (subluxations). The ramifications of this study could not only affect general health, but could offer great benefits for athletes.

From the May 8th, 2006, issue of the Ventura County Star comes an interesting article on rodeo cowboys and chiropractic. The article starts off by reviewing the harsh incidents rodeo cowboys endure. The article describes how they get tossed around on the back of an angry 1,800-pound bull, they leap off a galloping horse, many times into the spiky horns of a charging steer. Often they get hurt and then pick themselves up, dust themselves off and endure the pain.

The article continues and notes that even the roughest, toughest cowboys need help. That's when they mosey over to the Pro-Sport Chiropractic tent to get some TLC and Chiropractic care. At the the Conejo Valley Days rodeo, the cowboys would slip just beyond the spectators site into a tent where they would get adjusted.

A local chiropractor who cares for the cowboys, Dr. Terry Weyman said, "I've seen guys with noses splayed open, and they still talk to you like nothing is wrong. It's the world's roughest sport, bull riding. If you can handle these guys, you can handle anybody."

The article goes onto say that every time ProSport Chiropractic sets up a tent at professional rodeos around the country, the cowboys come to get care.  One rodeo cowboy, bull wrestler Kevin McKinney noted in the article that his pain was a "nine" on a scale of one to ten. "I'm hurting," was his comment as he came into the tent for care.

McKinney's wife, Tammy, who was wearing a T-shirt that read, "Every girl loves a dirty cowboy," agreed that he must be hurting if he says anything. She added, "He'll ride if he's hurt. That's how much he loves it." After getting evaluated and receiving chiropractic care, McKinney walked away. Then, referring to his aches and pain, he commented, "It's always worth it."

A pair of stories from the October 26, 2002 Dallas Morning News and the October 28, 2002 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, report how chiropractic care is helping professional football players such as Emmitt Smith, play longer with less injuries.  The story notes that Smith is only five foot nine inches and weighs only 212 pounds but has missed only seven regular season games, and only four on account of injury. Because of this longevity and ability to remain relatively injury free Emmitt Smith has become the National Football League's all-time leader in yards rushing.

Early in his career Smith did not have the work ethic that the team though he should have.  He was also suffering from a nagging hamstring injury. He then decided to turn things around. He told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, " After that season, I decided to invest in me, to keep me going."He went on to say, "You can have a Ferrari body, but your wheels need balancing. I felt if I took care of my body, I could still function when I got older."

Smith now believes so much in chiropractic that he asked his chiropractor to relocate his practice closer to the practice field. Presently Emmitt sees his chiropractor, Dr. Rob Parker two or three times per week. His chiropractor even flies with the team to take care of Emmitt, and a number of other players right up till game-time.

Emmitt Smith, a professional athlete who has first hand knowledge of the benefits of chiropractic concluded by saying, "Some of it may seem hokey to some people, but if you traveled where I've traveled, done what I've done and seen the results that I've been getting, then you'd understand where I'm coming from."

Several international stories have reported about a top Tour de France cyclist from Australia, Bradley McGee, and how chiropractic care kept him from dropping out of the Tour de France. One story appears on the International Fox sport network on July 6, 2004, and another on the Geo network on July 8, 2004.

The Fox story starts off by stating, "Australia's Bradley McGee has survived to fight another day at the Tour de France." The Geo story started by reporting, "McGee survived to fight another day at the Tour de France on Monday, after the work of a chiropractor reduced the pain in his hip which almost forced him out of the race."

McGee himself noted, "Thanks to the work of the chiropractor I was a lot straighter on the bike, that's the important thing but unfortunately I still haven't got a lot of power and so I couldn't help Baden Cooke in the sprint and I was just another number in the main field." After seeing his chiropractor, McGee felt more optimistic about his chances of being able to make it through the rest of the three-week race. He stated, "I'm a lot happier now and should be okay to carry on."

A story in the July 2004 issue of Chiropractic Economics magazine reported on a July 6, 2004 press release from the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). The USOC press release stated, "A 47-person medical staff has been announced by the U.S. Olympic Committee to provide health care for more than 540 American athletes in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The USA Medical staff consists of medical doctors, certified athletic trainers, massage therapists, chiropractors and pharmaceutical experts."

Notable is the fact that two chiropractors were included in this list. Dr. Ira A. Shapiro of Old Bridge, N.J., and Dr. Marc P. Jaffe of Summit, N.J., are the chiropractors who were selected to join the other health professionals who will care for more than 540 American athletes in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens Aug. 13 through Aug. 29, 2004.

The Chiropractic Economics article notes that these Doctors of Chiropractic are only the eighth and ninth chiropractors ever selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee to represent the United States at any Olympic event in an official capacity.

In order to be selected, Drs. Shapiro and Jaffe had to pass an initial assessment process. They were then allowed to adjust athletes at several events prior to the Olympics. Dr. Shapiro worked with nearly 200 American athletes at the 2003 Titan Games in San Jose, Calif., while Dr. Jaffe worked with more than 150 American athletes at the 2003 Summer World University Games in Daegu, South Korea.

Chiropractic has been used by athletes for some time to not only help them when they may be injured, but more importantly to help maximize their performance abilities.

Jim Scherr, the USOC's chief executive and chief of sports performance, speaking in generic terms about all the care the athletes will receive stated, "We feel that our athletes get the best medical care in the world.  We go to every length to care for these athletes who have accomplished their goals to get here. We want to make sure they take that next step with the best medical care available."