A sports DC’s challenge: Maintaining balance
By Alan K. Sokoloff, DC, DACBSP

Challenge — a test of your abilities in a demanding, but stimulating undertaking — is a way of life for us chiropractors.

We face challenges in our practices in a variety of ways, such as:

• Administering appropriate and effective patient treatment;
• Managing staff and office overhead; and
• Finding and retaining patients.

One challenge that often does not get properly recognized is finding and keeping balance in life. This challenge is especially acute for sports chiropractors, because instead of just balancing home and practice life, we add a third dimension — sports. In effect, we have a triangle of responsibilities to balance, and it is not easy.

By definition, according to the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians (ACBSP), a sports chiropractor is one who “promotes the highest standards of excellence and clinical competence … specializing in sports medicine and physical fitness.” The British Sports Council says sports chiropractic “can be of enormous benefit in treating and preventing sports-related injuries and improving athletic performance, as many world-class athletes can attest.”

To live up to these definitions, many sports chiropractors dedicate hours, weekends, and even years expanding their sports medicine/chiropractic education and knowledge in order to work with athletes.

Whether it’s treating peewee football players or their 60-year-old coach, good sports chiropractors do whatever it takes to formulate the best working diagnoses and active treatment plans to return their athletic patients to preinjury status, help prevent further injury, and educate them to maintain better health.

To do all of these things is challenging enough with athletes in a clinical setting. Even more challenging is to work outside of your office in a formal capacity with a team.

Sports chiropractors formally associated with teams not only cover games, but practices, too. They spend time getting to know the players and their medical histories. They have to know their own accountabilities. They need to prepare themselves to be ready with emergency procedures if something occurs while on duty.

To specialize in sports chiropractic is to dedicate many hours outside of the office to athletics.

That dedication can distort life’s delicate balance.

It took me almost 20 years to learn to balance sports chiropractic with my practice and the rest of my life. 

My start in sports chiropractic began with local team work and ended in nationally covered events.

Initially, I called my interest and activities “healthy distractions.” They were things that involved chiropractic and sports, so I thought it was what I, as well as my practice, needed to keep fresh.

I thought to be able to say “I am the team chiropractor for…” would be helpful in attracting patients to my practice, because involvement as a team chiropractor lent credibility to me and my practice. However, that justification grew to an “addiction” which caused me to lose balance.

I got involved with the Olympic Training Center and moved up its ladder, which necessitated an even larger commitment of time. Then I became involved in even more sports teams — professional football, minor league and professional baseball, and a college team.

Too many “healthy distractions” put my life out of balance.

What I finally realized was sports chiropractic was one side of an equilateral triangle. The other two sides were my practice and family life. All of these sides had to be of equal length to be in balance.

If you find yourself in the same situation, how can you achieve balance? You can tend to sports and still provide for your practice by putting competent associates and staff into place. A strong associate shares the load of the “sports burden” and helps achieve a greater result for the practice.

But the staff needs to be well-trained. The practice administrator must know how to make decisions as you would and be a strong communicator. And your associates must treat patients in a similar manner as you would.

As for family life, key are a supportive partner and friends who understand the attraction and fulfillment of sports chiropractic and the importance of the practice. If you are single, you must rely on yourself and your friends to keep you in balance and not let sports take over all of your free time and your practice.

Are you a sports chiropractor at any level? Before you commit to covering the next event or getting involved in a team opportunity, look at the logistics — then selfishly ask yourself, “What is in it for me? Will getting involved throw my practice and family life out of balance?”

The design for the sports chiropractor is a triangle. Keep it balanced!

Alan K. Sokoloff, DC, DACBSP, is the owner and clinic director of the Yalich Clinic Performance and Rehabilitation in Glen Burnie, Md., where he has practiced for more than 20 years. “Dr. Sok” is currently one of the team chiropractors for the University of Maryland Sports Medicine Department and the Baltimore Ravens. He served an internship at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (OTC) and was selected to cover the Goodwill and Pan Am games. He can be reached at drsok@yalich.com.