Issue 8 - June 2004

Creating credibility as a sports DC
By Alan Palmer, DC

Traditionally, healthcare for collegiate, semi-pro and professional athletes has stayed in the realm of physical therapists, athletic trainers and team medical doctors. Until recently, chiropractors have remained on the “outside” of athletic healthcare.

But fortunately, traditions change. Just as chiropractic is gaining acceptance with the general public, so it is with athletic management. Athletes in all types of sports, at all levels — youth, high school, college, Olympian and professional — are enjoying the benefits of chiropractic care for injury prevention, faster recovery and better performance.

If you desire to put your passion for sports to use in your practice, I suggest you follow three basic steps:

1. Become known as a sports-medicine chiropractor;

2. Build credibility; and

3. Foster professional relationships.

Here are some suggestions on following each of these steps:

BECOME KNOWN
To work in sports medicine, your name should be the one an athletic trainer thinks of when chiropractic care is needed for the team.

Brand yourself as a sports-medicine chiropractor and put your brand (logo) on everything — stationary, e-mail, T-shirts, business cards, invoices, golf shirts — that your patients and potential patients see.

Branding is part of the process. Branding by itself is not enough. Marketing is essential. It gets the general public to associate your face and your name with sports. Marketing does not have to be expensive, but it does have to be consistent.

Some ways in which you can create your own sports-marketing opportunities include:

• Become an expert to the media. Develop a list of local media contacts and provide them with information on your credentials and accomplishments. Inform them that you are available to speak on issues concerning sports medicine.

• Issue press releases. Send media contacts press releases about your training, accomplishments and continuing education. These press releases not only inform the public (your potential and current patients) about your accomplishments, but they also reinforce your expertise to the press.

• Talk to your patients. They are your diamond in the rough. They know a lot of possible contacts within sports and sports medicine to help you make inroads.

• Get involved in networking groups. Join business and service clubs and use them to build your network. Some people say that we are only six people removed from anyone. Ask people you meet in networking groups, “Do you know anyone who knows someone associated with [the team]?” Eventually you’ll make contact with the team.

• Develop gym contacts. Virtually all athletes work out. Join the gym and get to meet them in their venue.

• Visit gymnastic schools and training facilities. Introduce yourself to the instructors and owners. Provide information on your chiropractic services.

• Get involved in local charities. Volunteer at their events. Offer to help them raise money and donate gift certificates for silent auctions. Volunteer at charitable or community races, triathlons and tournaments. Offer to do flexibility therapy or chair massage at the finish line.

• Talk to local athletic trainers. Start small to work your way into the “big league.” Contact your local high schools or community colleges and offer your services to the team. Consider starting at the youth level and working your way up to other levels of athletic competition.

• Book speaking engagements. Speak whenever you can. Use videos and PowerPoint presentations to show the benefits of chiropractic care.

BUILD CREDIBILITY
No one achieves instant credibility. Training, certification and methods of practicing all affect — and build — credibility:

• Get certified. Become certified in sports medicine through an appropriate chiropractic association.

• Volunteer for a sports medicine internship. Volunteer at the U.S. Olympic Training Center for its two-week sports medicine internship program. Getting involved in this program identifies you as someone who is serious about sports medicine and provides you with additional qualifications.

• Get involved in a chiropractic sports group. “Rubbing shoulders” with those who have common interests and goals can help you get achieve your own goals concerning working with teams. Get involved with national chiropractic sports groups. (See sidebar on page 62 for contact information.)

• Provide proof of insurance. Show your malpractice coverage and its limits.

• Use safe and proper equipment. It goes without saying that you should check your equipment prior to every team visit.

• Stay current. Know and master the latest and most appropriate techniques.

FOSTER PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
As you establish yourself as a sports chiropractor and get “in the door” to a sports team you have targeted, you will need to develop relationships — and maintain them.

Relationship building takes time. Just because you come with credentials does not mean that you close the credibility gap.

Here are some things that can help build relationships:

• Be on time. Your time is important; so is the trainer’s and athletes’. Respect schedules.

• Be courteous and respectful. Remember that you are a guest playing on the team’s turf. Trainers, athletic directors and team doctors are our peers.

• Don’t ask for favors. And never bring unauthorized guests to the games.

• Leave when you are done. Don’t hang out and get in the way.

• Ask about protocols. The athletic trainer (AT) is in charge of the athletes’ well-being. Respect his/her position and training and find out the protocols and courtesies you are to follow. Ask the athletic trainer how he or she wants to handle any recommendations you may have for the athlete concerning stretching or exercise. The AT may personally want to make your recommendations to the athlete.

• Provide full contact information. Give the trainer all of your emergency and after-hours contact numbers. Be available when the team needs you.

• Discuss all of the specialty techniques. Talk to the trainer about these techniques before you use them.

• Become another set of eyes and ears. Relay appropriate and pertinent information about the player to the trainer.

• Report as requested. Provide all reporting in the format that the team wants you to follow.

• Be appreciative. And remain humble. You are doing a job, but you are also a guest of the team and the trainer.

Sports medicine is extremely fulfilling. Not only do you get to see the games and meet the players, but more importantly, you know that you are helping them do their best by keeping them healthy.

Alan Palmer, DC, CCST, practices in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is the treating chiropractor for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Coyotes and San Francisco Giants. He can be contacted at 480-443-2584 or through e-mail at drpalmer@wellnessdoc.com.