A talk with Jeff Spencer, DC
Personal chiropractor to super athletes

Is being a doctor to individual athletic stars different from being a team doctor? Jeff Spencer, DC, is the personal chiropractor to a number of superstars, including Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

Chiropractic Economics tracked him down just before the Tour de France competition to talk about his specialized practice.

CE: How did you get into treating pro athletes?

JS: I was an Olympic cyclist and maintained strong ties to the athletic world. I put myself through chiropractic school doing personal training, rehabilitation, and career planning for professional athletes.

While in school I spent as many hours as I could, volunteering in the clinics of doctors whose work I admired. I was very lucky to have spent time with some very clever, innovative, and brilliant practitioners who were willing to share their leading-edge protocols with me. I owe them a lot.

CE: Who are some of the high-profile athletes you treat? How did you transition from a general practitioner to one who specializes in these high-profile names?

JS: My pro-athlete clients have included Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, Troy Glaus, Bobby LeBonte, Chad Reed, Kendall Gill, and Garret Anderson.

The leap to my first high-profile athletes began the day I started practice because I was able to bring the chiropractic dimension to the athletes I was training while going through school. As time progressed I got requests from more and more athletes to work with them.

CE: Is going “one-on-one” with athletes different from working with teams? If so, how?

JS: I prefer working with individual athletes because it gives me the freedom to use the entire breath of my clinical skills. In the seven years I’ve worked with Lance Armstrong I’ve been able to use my entire clinical skills arsenal.

At the Tour de France, riders and medical doctors often come to me for advice on organic conditions because of what I’ve been through from my recovery from dental mercury amalgam poisoning that I experienced early in my career. Also, athletes who pay for their health services treat their relationships as a necessity rather than a luxury.

CE: Many DCs who work with teams say they just go about their business — which essentially is adjusting. How would you characterize your relationship with the pros you work with — businesslike, friendly, advisory?

JS: All of the above. It’s important to be businesslike to maintain the respect of the client. All great athletes are people first and need to be treated as such. Even the best aren’t exempt from doing the fundamental things that make and keep them great.

When top athletes start believing their own press clippings they often self-destruct. The most important thing a practitioner can do for an athlete is to keep them grounded and doing the daily things that made them great to begin with. Athletes and doctors have something in common: Once they think they’ve arrived, they’re toast. It’s all downhill from there.

CE: Is your practice based on referrals or do you seek out new clients?

JS: It’s all referral. I just do what I do with passion, integrity, and intensity and only work with people who bring out the best in me. Practice is a great adventure that offers many opportunities.

We’ve just got to decide which doors to open and do it with conviction. When you do that, the right people show up and you build the best practice for your skills and temperament. I always make my decisions based on what I stand to gain, not what I stand to lose. It’s important to trust the process.

CE: Do you use a different treatment protocol with these athletes than you would with weekend warriors?

JS: It doesn’t matter whether you race the Tour de France or mow the lawn; the principles that govern healing and health are simple, infallible, and apply to everybody equally.

The most important task in practice is to clearly define the patient’s needs, provide an accurate and rational strategy, and meet treatment outcomes on a timely basis.

CE: Is your treatment limited to adjustment only, or do you do other things, such as nutrition, physical therapy, massage, or electrotherapy?

JS: For treatment I have a cache of technologies and techniques to draw from. The tools I use most include cold laser, adjusting, elastic tape, supplements, diet, and therapeutic exercise. Other tools include frequency-specific microcurrent, and electrostimulation.

CE: Is it more lucrative to have a one-on-one relationship with professional athletes than to be in private practice or to be a pro-team DC?

JS: For me it is. My income is probably five times what it was in private practice with minimal overhead and no employees.