Championing Health: Coach Mike Lopez’s Chiropractic Crusade

📣 New podcast alert! This week, we’re featuring Coach Mike Lopez, a dedicated coach and chiropractic advocate, who shares his journey and mission to serve communities in Mexico City. Tune in for uplifting stories and insights. 🎙️✨

twitter/X handle is @MikeLopezFF

Instagram:@coachmike20

Facebook: Michael Lopez

Transcript

0:04

Hi everyone. And welcome to another one of our podcasts here in the ICA sports and fitness science council website. It's always a mouthful. I always struggled to remember to get all the words in. and today we have another outside guest joining us today. We have coach Mike Lopez and coach. I'm gonna go ahead and have you introduce yourself if you thank you, Dr. Brant for having me here. My name is Mike Lopez. I'm originally from LA residing the last few, I would say a dozen years now and in Mexico city, and I've been a coach all my life and graduated at Stanford., lived all my life in LA coach there for 20 years and dabbled with a lot of things besides coaching, and I've always tried to serve humanity. I worked the Hall of Fame as a director of operations for an Academy for Kids and development camps. And I worked a little bit with the camps at Steelers as an intern coach, and I've just been blessed with doing a variety of things, Dr. Brant, and I'm just very pleased to be here. So you get to do what you love and that always makes it yeah, it's I know it's a cliche that they say that Do what you love and you don't have to work a day in your life. I think it's, if you're blessed to do that, then, you're one blessed human being. So we're on the ICA, the International Chiropractic Association's Sports and Fitness Science broadcast here and I see you have a Life West shirt on. You want to tell me a little bit about your interaction with Life Oh, yeah, I'd be glad to, little bit before COVID, Dr. Jackson, a great friend of mine introduced me to Dr. Oberstein, the president at Life West, and they were starting to do these missions all over, You know all over the world. Since I was in Mexico City we just ended up just talking about the possibilities of doing chiropractic mission, the clinic, and I was just intrigued by finding out what is it you do? What is it they do? And I wasn't really that aware or that knowledgeable. So I'm still not on chiropractic. I'm still learning, it started with a little bit prior to COVID. We said let's do one. Let's do a trial run. And it was great during COVID, Dr. Brant, that we were able to do it with the whole world is shut down. We said, let's do it anyways. And the authorities here at the university that I work with and I partner up with a lot, they're really helpful. But Life West was just really open to the fact of, bringing their interns down and do a mission and, help humanity and serve and all those words that sometimes they sound, like I said, cliches a little bit, they're just so beautiful because this is what they do. And that's how my relationship began with them right before COVID. And now we're on like our 11th mission coming up in September. That's been my relationship, really beautiful to work with them. And. Partner with them and serve with them. The best way I could describe is serving the chiropractor with Life West. A lot of their students are like in their last phase before graduating, becoming doctors.It'sit's a great mission for them. It's a great experience for them. It's been, it's not just great. It's been a blessing. Dr. Brant. Sounds like a good win, win, win. The students get their hands on and see real patients with real things. We get to help expose them to different cultures and different parts of the world. And you got people down there that this is probably the first time they've seen a Yeah. is there access the experience I've had here is we've had a lot of KoreanBrant natural treatment type with acupuncture and other. Alternative medicine that they do and there's some chiropractors here, but there is no university that's certified So there's different maybe a couple US doctors all over the country here that this country's so huge that they don't have enough but The experience i've had is that there hasn't been that many solidified chiropractor like us working on the brain and the neuro part, and here is just like putting bones in place. And they, I, during the, during my little spill and speech, before we start the event, I usually have a crowd there, Dr. Brant, and I'll share it with them, what we're going to do. And I'll bring out the skeleton and all these great doctors that have been shared with me, the spinal cord and what we're going to do and the nerves and how it works. You're telling these people that I've never heard of it. So what I joke with them as I tell them is we're going to crack your bones today. And they laugh because they do a lot of cracking bones here. So then I said, not really it's a joke. These are, doctors that are studying.Part of your brain and how we're going to trigger your brain. So that your work, your body and your mind and your spirit, everything works well in the way it should be. So I've tried to, I think I tried to get better at it so I can share with them, Dr. Brant, as far as during that speech and not scare them. And, there's, they're going to see these doctors in there. You see these young doctors, they're about to graduate. And I try to share all as much as I can with them. And I, it's once those students. Intern see, 5, 000 people outside Dr. Brant, they get scared, it's all these people coming in line because they're used to adjusting maybe 5 to 10 people a week. AndBrant it's just been a experience for them, but for myself, because I have to adjust myself and adapt to how fast we're going, slow the crowd down. The crowd, I think, has been really being curious or watching firsthand how everybody's curiosity here in Mexico is they haven't really ever seen 25 chiropractic interns in one place. And I think that's what makes it fascinating, makes it great, it makes news. It gets so big with the government officials that do They'll bring the newspapers, they'll bring the news, they'll, They make it a big event and they're really proud and really honored for these interns to come down, Dr. Brant. So it makes it a huge event for them and the university. Sounds like you need two hats there. You need the hat to pump up the crowd and get them ready. And you need to put that coach hat on and go talk to those interns and get them fired up to do their job too, Yeah, turned into a coach little bit before the night before maybe, and then try to, from the experiences other students share with them, but I also become a coach a little bit when I try to get that nerve to settle and it's to enjoy it, to bring, share some love and that energy, that adrenaline really helps them through when the second day, I always tell them about the second day, Dr. Brant, that they're going to be tired. So don't stay up late, get some rest. Stay hydrated and there's no breaks, we'll take a lunch break. It's 15 minutes and go back in there cause the crowd is going. And one of them, I tried not scaring them, just share with them, but you know what, the kids have been really awesome. They've been, they're ready for it. Cause they've heard it. They're already mentally ready for it. So when coach gets there, I'll do a little huddle, Dr. Brant, in the crowd. And and instead pumping them up or being a football coach, I was just sharing, what, give, share your love, Give these people your love, share your love with these people that you're going to touch their lives. As soon as I say that, you see their eyes, they just light up and it's been great. Now we're talking in this office how we restore hope. We have patients that have suffered and suffered with things and the thing that we get to do as chiropractors more than anything else is we get to bring hope back. Hey, there is an answer to this. There is a way for me to get life and my health back. And that's what we do. That's that energy from getting in that back. It's just got to be going to be like an adrenaline rush, like winning a big game, it, there hasn't been one of these missions or I haven't almost started crying when I see it. It doesn't have to be an older lady. It be an older man. It could be a young kid couldn't hear. And I would hear these stories from Dr. Brett Knight until I see it myself. And I have it on, recorded and you have your testimonies and you're like, Oh my God, they go, the chiropractic Chiropractic is a lot more than what I ever thought of. So you're changing lives and you're making, giving them a better quality of life and you see them. And we have so many repeat people. They always ask me, when are you coming back? When are you coming back? Because, it's a three day session. It's hard to get everybody really fixed or adjusted. Some people come with a lot of issues. But I think as long as you touch one person's life, which I think these interns do, it's been worth it. And there's a lot of the cliches that we're talking about, Dr. Brant, when you say, Oh, it's wonderful. It's great. No, you have to see it. You have to experience it. And I've had a tough time being this tough coach and try to be, play college football in the U S and around NFL players and you feel we're humans and when you see somebody get healed for chiropractic does so much, and that's what I love getting back and this it's an honor to do it. And the government at the end of every mission, I always want to give coach Mike the credit. I'm just not into that, Dr. Brant, the interns did it, Life West did it, Dr. Ron Oberstein, spearheaded this, Dr. Jackson, everybody has. everybody has a role and all these kids don't realize what an impact they had on a lot of lives. And I think that's the culture experience is one thing, that they don't speak Spanish or some of them do. And by the third day, they don't have to tell them yeah, turn around, as they're, as we have an interpreter there with them, but it's so great. And then you see those patients come back up to Brant and give them a gift. And that's just it's all filmed and I could see it and there's such testimony, but to me, it's such an honor that I'm so glad that my life into contact with Dr. Jackson and shared with me what this beautiful profession to humanity does because the impact and the quality of life that I've seen. Firsthand, Dr. Brant is what has really impacted me. Where, what can I do? This is, you hear that saying, Dr. Brant, you live it there too. This is much bigger than me. This is a lot bigger than me. It's just Brantwhat can I do? What can I do? And I feel a responsibility. I have a responsibility to humanity and it's not just coaching that just wins. We all, Dr. Brant, we all want to get on the podium. We want, and all the journey, all the work that's been done prior to this. We were scared to do it prior COVID when we said, let's, the one thing as a critic, just don't be scared. I was like, no way let's do this. And there was no better time for humanity that needed it here in Mexico City. Mexico City is a Very stressful city. we talked about one of the neatest things about sports is the ability to get an audience to get in front of people and get your message out through sports. Athletes a lot of times take political positions and use your spot to do that. And we thought, how does the ICA sports and fitness council use athletics to get more people under chiropractic care? And I think that what you're doing down in Mexico city with all of this is an amazing example of a way to take sports and. Brantand in sports, people involved in sports and help. I take care of hockey players and I take care of people from Russia, Russian hockey players. They don't have chiropractic in Russia, so I'm an ambassador for our profession. And I think what you're doing down there is incredible. I got to imagine every year it's bigger, Oh, It's over 30, 000 now and if we if the kids had enough energy, which it's really hard for three days, it would keep going. The line would never stop. There comes a time where I have to stop the line. It just gets bigger and the word gets out this next mission in September. Dr. Brant, they moved it to a bigger audience. And sometimes it's just the community of the university. Dr. Oberstein's always told me like, let's get. Everybody in the community, let's get athletes, let's get doctors, let's get lawyers, let's get the house moms. Let's get the people that can't afford it. So we try to get a mix of everything. And I think this place that we have next up in September it's a great place in downtown Mexico city. It's a historic center where you'll have community of everybody. And it just, I'm already gettingBrant it's right now we're July. And it's, I'm already getting a lot of interaction with one of the cu so it's gotten a, it's gotten a lot bigger than what I thought in my init, the first one we only had a thousand people'cause we couldn't have a big crowd.'cause of covid to what it is now is just and I congratulate you on, on, on working with these hockey players because what I do is I, obviously, I get the football community to come down. And you'll have your big football players and the people with injuries and the coaches, and you'll have your the team doctors come down, and they'll recommend it. It's a never ending thing. It just what more do we need every day to feel better? Dr. Brant, we're always going to have some type of issue. It, it's our life. It's just the stress and the work and the movement of our joints every day and chiropractor helps that. And I'm so proud and so happy. privileged to be part of this. I'm sure every time you got one coming, the first thing you ask yourself is, now how am I going to pull this off? It's gotten even bigger. How am I going to do it? In the chiropractic, we have an old saying that innate always provides, innate always comes through. So I think you're telling me that's how it works for you too. A lot of it's, Oh yeah, here we go. And let's hope this works. And There's plabut it, I always think that if you do things out of love and really genuine love, people help you. People come through and there's more than, Coach Mike doing it. There's a lot of people behind us that helped me To make this work, Dr. Brant. So I always have a lot of help. Thank God. I'll tell you as a chiropractor, I want to thank you for driving the bus down there steering this whole operation I know you're saying it's not all you but there has to be a guy driving the bus and pointing me in the right directions taking all the phone calls and emails and setting this up and when I hear you're doing an amazing job and you're changing people's lives by being a Vesicle for everyone to travel through and get things done and as a chiropractor, I'll say thank you to you at this time As we're wrapping up here, I just want to give you the final mic and see if there's anything more you want to add to our interview here. So here's your microphone and the stage is yours. Thank you. I think, not think I believe really in my heart that we as a human race, we have a responsibility to help others and that's sometimes really hard for us to do because we're so caught up in our lives. In our stressful things and worry about me and sometimes it's really, you'd be surprised at the gifts and the blessings you receive by helping others, even just one person. So if I'm able to do it through chiropractic, it's an honor and I'm honored really to be here, Dr. Brant with you and your community and much love to the chiropractors that serve humanity. I am so sometimes I'm not lost for what it is, it's just, I'm just amazed that What chiropractic does to humanity and their health and the quality of life for people. And if I'm a little bit of part of that, and then I'm just really thankful for that. Dr. Brant, thank you for having me here. I'm very honored. Sure. So Coach, I'm going to, people have heard this and they're going to say, how do I help them? I've got ideas for them, I want to get involved with them. So how can they find you? You can find me in Facebook, Michael Lopez. You can find me in on Twitter. My Twitter handle is @ Coach Mike Lopez. So I'll put a link to your Twitter. on this podcast so people can find you through Twitter. Does that work the best for you? We'll do that. I'll put a link The so they can reach out to you if they want to support you and maybe come down there, roll up your sleeves, and get in the mix of things right there with you. mayor, the more the merrier. It's just always great to have more chiropractors down here and serving this community. And The weather is always perfect too, right? So if people want to come visit and get perfect weather. All right. Great meals, great food. We get a chance to go sightseeing, getting a chance to go see the pyramids. Yeah there'll be some work and there'll be the service part, but, We try to always make it a little bit fun too, for them. And I have a great experience with community down here in Mexico city. Dr. Brant, All rightThank you so much for joining us. Like I said, I'll put the links in the description wherever you're listening or watching this, the links will be there. And thank you for checking out the ICA Sports and Science Fitness Council podcast. Keep coming back for more and make sure you like us and follow us. And at that I'll say thank you and goodbye coach. I'll let you say good good night, everyone. Thank you for watching. Keep it up. Dr. Brant, don't stop doing this. All right. Thanks coach. A C O E R E you