Between a Rock and a Harding Place…
Tales from the Treatment Room 001
“Hi John, it’s Adam… I was injured today at practice…”
Not your typical message you expect to get at 9pm at night but since our Sports Therapist, Airlie and our General Manager Omar brought me onboard as Chiropractor for the Dundee Stars I have seen a few different injuries and tweaks as these boys put their bodies on the line week in, week out.
What has struck me from the start is the emphasis that the club puts on looking after their players especially when injured, and they appreciate that it takes time for the body to heal, which as a Chiropractor is music to my ears. It is great to be part of a multidisciplinary care team with the club as I work with Airlie our Sports Therapist and Lynda our Team Doctor to monitor the players. Our approaches are different but our different skills complement each other.
When I was brought on board, Mastrodicasa and Club Captain Lawrence’s recovery were already well underway as well as others that Airlie and Lynda have worked hard on to be on the ice. Adam Harding’s injury was the first that I have been involved with from the outset.
The mechanism of Adam’s injury did not sound pleasant. I had received a similar one being on the wrong end of a single leg takedown in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu a few years ago. Adam limped in, in flip flops (do not get me started on flip flops, that is another article), and I started to see what I could do from a Chiropractic perspective. Hailing from South Wales, Adam immediately reminded me of all the other South Wales boys that I know; friendly, polite, amiable yet determined and willing to try anything once… Pretty handy when it comes to Chiropractic.
Healthcare professionals like Airlie, Lynda and myself are always guilty of caring too much and want to work miracles with our patients and see them improve in as quickly as possible. However, there is no accounting for time so our professionalism comes into play in doing what we can as well as we can at the time and leaving it at that.
With Chiropractic, people respond to care in one of three ways; they leave feeling like they are walking on air, bemused because they cannot perceive any change, or they feel stiff, achey and tired as the body adapts to the functional changes it is undergoing. This is because there is a saying, “Chiropractic does not make you instantly feel better but heal better.” The Neuroimpulse Protocol (NIP) that I use requires me to test my work before and after an adjustment to confirm functional changes have actually taken place. Adam got up off the care table looking slightly quizzical, maybe from the care, maybe because he was going to have to part with his flip flops.
I have witnessed Adam’s quizzical face and flip flops regularly since our first meeting and he is always grateful for any help I am able to give. In that time he has put in the hard yards and really pushed himself to get back on the ice and recover from injury with visits to and training with Airlie and also Heal Physiotherapy, taking on board and implementing their advice. He has put his knowledge and training as a Personal Trainer to the test as he rehabilitates himself and at no point have I seen him waiver mentally in his determination to get back on the ice. Bear in mind the mental aspect of seeing your team mates go out on the ice without you, watching from the stands, unable to be involved, and training by yourself, yet he has maintained his focus and done everything he can to ensure the fastest possible recovery, minus the flip flops, to return to the ice for the playoff push.
This snapshot, in my short space of time with the team, illustrates the graft these players and the club have put in so far in this shortbenched, injury plagued season to get them on the ice week, in week out and still be in with a chance of getting us a weekend away in Nottingham at the end of the season. So when you see Adam after his return from the sidelines, or any of our players for that matter, first check that they aren’t wearing flip flops, then show your appreciation for the work he and the rest of the team are putting in to be on the Ice as they will share their gratitude to you for the graft you put into supporting this club as we all represent Dundee Stars and the City of Dundee.
