National University faculty member, Dr. Carlo Guadagno, recently returned from his second rotation on the sports medicine staff of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. While there, he had the opportunity to work with the men's gymnastics, wrestling, triathlon, pentathlon, and Paralympic swimming teams, as well as some winter event teams.
"It is truly a multi-disciplinary team setting," he said. "My colleagues included a medical doctor with a sports medicine specialty who also happens to be an active army colonel, a doctor of physical therapy who is also a retired navy captain, and an athletic trainer with trips to the Olympic and Pan American Games already under her belt."
Dr. Guadagno feels that the United States Olympic Committee assembles such multidisciplinary teams for the benefit of the athletes, and to assure that our athletes can compete for gold medals with finest in the world.
"It was an honor to care for our Olympians, but it was the Paralympic athletes who left the biggest impression on me," said Dr. Guadagno. "They were an enormous inspiration. I was also presented with new challenges when performing a manipulation or assessing biomechanical symmetry. All of a sudden the rules change when your patient is an elite athlete who also happens to have cerebral palsy or who has only one upper extremity."
Dr. Guadagno's extensive experience in chiropractic sports medicine includes serving as the past president for the Council on Sports Injuries, Rehabilitation and Physical Fitness of the FCA, as director of the ACA Sports Injury Council, and as an official chiropractic sports physician for the Pan American Games. In 2011 he was named "Sports Chiropractor of the Year." His rotations at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs are the first tier in a qualification program that he hopes will open a chance for him to volunteer as a chiropractic physician for Team USA at future international competitions.
Students in National University's Florida DC program benefit from Dr. Guadagno's sports medicine experience both in the classroom and through assisting him in his work at a variety of professional sports events across the state of Florida.
Regarding his Olympic Training Center experience, Dr. Guadagno said: "It was truly a joy to serve. I am humbled by the work, commitment, and sacrifice of these athletes in order to represent our country on the world stage. This was yet another example of how chiropractic has taken me to exciting places all over the world. It's great to be a DC!"
Source: National University of Health Sciences
When sports chiropractors first appeared at the Olympic Games in the 1980s, it was alongside individual athletes who had experienced the benefits of chiropractic care in their training and recovery processes at home. Fast forward to Paris 2024, where chiropractic care was available in the polyclinic for all athletes, and the attitude has now evolved to recognize that “every athlete deserves access to sports chiropractic."
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