So serious in fact, that the last thing any pro needs during his big moment at one of golf’s most prestigious events is a sore elbow, a painful low back or any of a host of other physical complaints. All players know that a moment of painful distraction can cost them a good score or even the championship.
That’s why when these players are aching (and often before aches and pains arise) they make their way to a nearby parking lot that has been transformed into an ultra modern care center. Here, two tractor-trailers have been parked and their bodies unfolded into a state-of-the-art treatment station.
Early on a weekday morning, even as dew still covers the grass, a pro makes his way to this mobile facility where Dr. Tom LaFountain waits. This veteran chiropractor is normally at his New Hartford, New York office, but for 12 weeks of this year-long tour, he can be found in this mobile care facility doing his best to ensure that the men who make their livelihood on the PGA (Professional Golfers Association of America) Tour are kept in tip-top shape.
Working with professional athletes for the past seven years has made LaFountain an expert in all the physical maladies that might befall the human body after thousands of swings at a little white ball.
”There are a ton of back injuries, and so most chiropractors are busy when they work the tour,” he explains.
While some golfers come in specifically seeking the services of a chiropractor, LaFountain works closely with the medical staff of the PGA Tour. Most of the time, that team consists of two to three physical therapists and athletic trainers. Periodically throughout the season, which runs from early January through mid-December, an orthopedist and dermatologist will join the staff to take care of more serious needs.
The bulk of the day-to-day work is accomplished by a chiropractor and his athletic trainer cohorts.
Each of the tournaments—on both the regular and Senior’s Tour—is staffed by either LaFountain or one of 10 DCs he has recruited over the past two seasons.
A veteran of the U.S. Olympic Committee, where he served as chiropractor for the U.S. Luge team, LaFountain joined the PGA Tour in 1997, following the death of the tour’s previous doctor. After a few years of providing care during a limited number of events, LaFountain was offered a full-time position by the tour.
“I told them that with a family and a practice I couldn’t do it, but I proposed that they allow me to get other doctors involved to meet the demand that I was running into,” says LaFountain.
In 2001 he hired two chiropractors and last season he was able to add seven more. With capable hands to cover the tournaments on a regional basis, he could settle down to just covering those events closer to his New York State home.
Like many other sports, the world of pro golf has long recognized the benefits of chiropractic care.
“There’s a small cadre of probably five to seven golfers (on the tour) who won’t receive treatment from anybody but a chiropractor,” admits Ralph Simpson, the tour’s athletic trainer, who first recruited LaFountain for the job.
Chiropractic
care has also proven increasingly popular even with golfers who don’t use
it exclusively. During 2002 season chiropractors working on the tour provided
care to the athletes more than 1,500 times, according to LaFountain. “There’s a lot of need and there’s a lot of exposure for chiropractic,” he explains. “It’s very effective. A full 76 to 80 percent of those injures were lower back. There were 20 to 25 percent of mixed neck, shoulder and hip. Then forearm and wrist injuries would be the next level from there.”
These injuries befall even the biggest names on the tour. Among the athletes that LaFountain has provided care for are Dave Duval, Vijay Singh, Scott McCarron, David Toms and Davis Love III.
“These are people I’ve treated regularly and they’ve been very favorable and responsive to the treatment,” he says.
The treatment facility offers a multi-disciplinary approach that allows DCs, PTs and athletic trainers to work together as a team and ensure that the golfers receive the best care possible.
For manipulative procedures, LaFountain says the technique of choice is usually diversified.
“Prior to manipulation a lot of soft tissue therapy is done, from deep friction massage to active release technique to other advanced soft tissue procedures,” he explains. “Then we certainly have the electro-muscle stim or ultra-sound or any other modalities we need, to work with spasm and inflammation.”
The facility is also stocked with functional rehab equipment such as tubing, medicine balls and other apparatuses for stability improvement. A second foldout trailer parked nearby contains an extensive exercise gym for the golfers so that they may continue their exercise routines.
The work that the medical staff conducts is not entirely reactive. Based on extensive research begun by Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles—the original provider of medical services for the tour—and now Birmingham-based HealthSouth, the staff knows the kinds of injuries that are most likely to trip up a pro golfer. The team has implemented a stretching routine that targets each injury site which players can follow prior to going out on the course.
Following the example set by such well-conditioned athletes as Tiger Woods, younger golfers are much more likely to pursue specific exercise routines designed to keep them in shape.
At the regular tournaments, which run Tuesday through Saturday, much of the medical staff’s time is spent dealing with new problems that crop up—particularly after long weeks on the road. Many of these ailments, whether they are a chronic elbow or a mid-back problem, originate in the spine.
“Either they get an overuse (injury) or they’ve exhausted the adaptive potential of the tendon,” says Simpson. “The overuse can sometimes start to affect them when their necks are in dysfunction. If they’ve got a cervical dysfunction that creates an abnormal weakness in the arm. then that weakness now suddenly creates an overuse problem.”
The reception from the players to having chiropractic care available has been very favorable. Most are familiar with the healing art and some recognize the differences between the various chiropractic techniques and other procedures. After years of physical demands, these more informed players usually know what they want in terms of treatment.
During these sessions both medical personnel and chiropractors work in tandem. The athletic trainers, who are usually certified manual therapists, view their work as being quite similar to chiropractic.
“I’m not sure it’s complementary as much as we’re both doing a lot of the same things,” says Simpson. He adds that PTs trained in the use of manipulation address the gliding motion of the joint with no rotation.
LaFountain agrees that often they are able to trade off cases. If he’s busy, the PT handles a particular player’s problems—if they’re not determined to receive chiropractic care. The golfer himself decides what kind of treatment—chiropractic, physical therapy or both—he receives.
“Our job is to go through the diagnostic evaluation and biomechanical evaluation and give them the treatment that is appropriate for what they’re presenting with,” concludes LaFountain.
From the perspective of most golfers the question is almost always what will get me back playing? And for more and more of the pros, that option includes the adjustive art of chiropractic.
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