On the Fairway and In the Dirt: Chiropractic Care with Dr. Jon Stucky

In this episode of the ICA Sports and Fitness Science podcast, the host welcomes Dr. Jon Stucky, a chiropractor with over 10 years of experience in professional golfing and rodeo events. Dr. Stucky discusses the unique physical demands and treatment patterns he observes among professional golfers and rodeo athletes. The conversation delves into the multi-disciplinary approach to athlete care, the trust built between chiropractors and athletes, and the mental aspects of sports performance. Dr. Stucky also shares insights into his experiences working at various sporting events, from the pristine conditions of PGA tours to the rugged environment of rodeos. The episode highlights the importance of chiropractic care in enhancing athletic performance and longevity.

Transcript

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Hi everyone. Welcome to another ICA sports and fitness science podcast today We're joined by another one of our board members and my friend. Dr. Jon Stucky coming at us here from Utah and Dr. Stucky you take care of some PGA golfing events, correct? In tournaments? Is that you go out there and take care of those golfers? Yeah, I've been involved in that now for probably the last 10 plus years on the team of a group of chiropractors and really a multi dimensional kind of team with physical therapists, massage therapists, a couple MDs and and ATCs. So we have a good group that go after those mostly the U. S. Open events. So those are the cool ones that we've been at, the senior events, the women's events and the men's. Well, I have a fun question to ask you about taking care of professional golfers, because as you know, I take care of professional hockey players. And, we x ray all of our hockey players because they carry the stick in a certain way. When we take their x rays, you can instantly see the high and low thoracic spine curve. You can already guess if they're left or right handed. Do you see anything like that when you're golfers? They come in and you get the, I know you don't, you're not coming to your office, you're going to them. But as you lay down and do your chiropractic examination, do you, do you find interesting trends in the lefties and the righties? Yeah. Well, the funny thing is, is that, you know, 99. 9 are right handed golfers, right? There's very few left handed golfers, but there's a few. The one thing that you do see is that because of the repetitive action that those guys have done for years and decades, some of these guys yeah, they've developed some pretty unique habits, right? And they did develop some very unique muscle patterns and muscle memory. So yeah, you definitely can see it with them for sure. And I always laugh at the hockey players because they're all about the same size and physique. It's like, well, I have one extra, I could probably get some half the team because they all kind of look the same after a while. But I imagine though with golfers, it's probably not all the same physique. They're probably not all about six foot tall and 5 percent body fat and like. Golfers are probably a little bit more variety there You got all shapes and sizes, right? From, you know, the heavier guys to the leaner guys, to the tall guys, to the shorter stockier guys. So yeah, there's a lot of different body types associated with golf, but you know, in the last probably decade to 10, you know, the 15 to 20 years, the golfers have really taken a pretty strong effort on what they're doing as far as their off season training and what they're doing on a daily basis to keep themselves well, because the tour is a grueling thing. And because of the repetitive action that those guys take, these guys have now figured out that, you know what, if I take care of myself, I have a longevity in the career that I've chosen and their ability to break down as less. So these guys are figuring it out. And so most of those guys have a pretty strong routine of exercise and activity before they even hit the golf course. You know, these guys hit the golf course really early, like to break it on. They're, they're out there hitting balls, but they've already been up a little bit stretching and doing some routines. So kind of an interesting pattern that these guys have now developed and have been encouraged to do number one, but also that they've, you know, taken very good heart to, to actually do. and it's fun to use it in a multi disciplinary discipline area so it must be fun for you to be able to converse with the athletic trainers and other people about what you're finding and how they can relate that to what they're finding. Yeah, and we all kind of have a team approach to it. So it's really a good group and has an ego. Everybody checks it at the door It's not that it's all about the athlete and the beautiful thing about being a chiropractor In these events is that you get to be a chiropractor. You're not taping. You're not doing all this other stuff You're actually performing your chiropractic adjustment and evaluation on these people and which they appreciate and they want That's the other neat thing about What we have to offer the athletic community is that it's something that nobody else is doing. And our expertise is very defined, you know, from that perspective, you know, we get to see elbows, we get to see risks, we get to see shoulders, knees, all kinds of stuff in this venue. But biggest thing that these guys want is to be evaluated neck wise. Low back wise and to see how they can improve and how that can better them. And it happens and it works really quite well as we know, right? No, absolutely. That's, it's I go, I want to skate a little faster. I want to have a little quicker reaction time and you guys want a little more distance, a little more accuracy on their golf drives, I'm sure. Yep. Keep that, keep that defined motion that they've recruited so long and so hard at and defined for so long, keeping that really working well is the aim that they want. And at the end of the day, really, they want to feel good for the next round as well. So if they, if they have issues. You know, they've got to get them taken care of very quickly because they don't have a lot of time. You know, those guys, it's interesting in the U. S. Open format, they'll come in on a Monday, they'll practice all the way till Wednesday, hard, and then Thursday is game time, right? So, Thursday, Friday, they got to make the cut. So, if they're not making a cut, You know, it's really funny too, right? So the other question that we get a lot is, you know, what are you the busiest and the busiest time is really on Wednesday, right before game time, right, right before they've got to start their first round and that's the busiest time because those guys want to just fine tune everything that they're possibly might have an issue with they want to get a check and once they get a check and they just feel definite, like, Hey, I'm ready to go. Game time is on. And so the other the other thing that's interesting is that, okay, so what does it look like towards the end of the end of the round? Right? Like the, once people make the cut, what does it look like? Do those guys want to come in? It's a very superstitious kind of thing as well. So once those guys are hitting, well, it's like, you know what, I'm feeling good. I don't think I need anything right now. I'm good. And I'll wait. Right. So those guys want to just protect what they've got at that point. And they don't want to mess up, mess up anything or wagon wise. They don't want any other. activity that's going to maybe affect what they're feeling or how they're playing at that time. So the first of the rounds are the biggest and busiest activity that we see. Yeah, I always get frustrated when superstition gets in the way of what I know about chiropractic science, but then I remember the strongest muscles between your ears and maybe we shouldn't adjust them that day if they didn't, I don't think they should do it. So, Yeah. And we keep them in that realm, right? Like, Hey, if mentally you're feeling great and you feel like you're performing well, keep it rolling. yeah, hands off. And a lot of you know, for. who we are, right? Like, you know, since I've been around for the last 10 years now, now you're seeing guys, you know, you're starting to see a pattern of guys that come in that regularly want to take advantage of chiropractic care. And so they're seeking you out during the rounds. You're seeking you out during the tournament. And so those guys will really kind of start focusing in and like what you do. Right. Or if they have a chiropractor at home, they'll, you know, they'll tell me a little bit about what they're doing at home so I can kind of match how they're being taken care of. So but add that repetition of us seeing them and coordinating care with their home docs, you know, boy, things are seamless for those guys and it makes it really easy for them to. To accept care from somebody that they really don't know, or that they've seen a little bit here year to year. Right. the trust factor becomes even better as time goes on. the longevity of of these players now on a tour and starting to see chiropractic care more evident. At every tournament, they can seek out the same guy that they've been seeing through the time frame, which is good for them. So continuity helps for these guys a lot. You talked about that whole trust thing and that's huge because like for us, we have the Pro Hockey Chiropractic Society where we all know each other, send notes to each other. But that's kind of what we're doing too in our ICA Sports and Fitness Science Council, trying to make a certificate to let the general public know that you've completed what you need to know in order to take care of athletes. And I'm really excited for us to launch that. So, Yeah, and I think you know, that gives the chiropractor a sense of a sense of confidence and sense of understanding that you kind of need to have a little bit that helps you a little bit to define a little bit. Some of these injuries that these guys will get and the kids and weekend warriors and athletes of the young age in high school, right? I've seen a lot of things that I said that they said in school, you'd never see, right? You'll never see that. You'll never see that. You'll never see this. And you see it multiple times all the way through, you know, in different sporting events and in different sporting activities that you perform with. But yeah, we've seen a lot of that kind of stuff. And so. Once you become familiar with some of that stuff around your sport that you may be participating in, you start to become familiar with the patterns that start to arise, right? And the patterns that people start developing and the coordinating and control of some of these muscle groups that now take over, that start to create patterns in whatever their throw might be, their stick evaluation, their their club swing. I mean, there's a lot of different things that you can kind of evaluate and pick out when they start having patterns like this. and then that's part of the stuff that's going to give you the confidence. Talking about confidence too. You come, you learn from our program. You're going to have that confidence and the players pick up on that, right? Why did the team fire their coach? They lost the locker room because they lost their confidence. So if you walk in with the confidence that you're a sports chiropractor, you're supposed to be there. You know what you're doing. And again, the players, the only thing they own, they're all their investment when they make out of the sport is their body. That's all they have going for them. So if they know someone is an expert in their body, it's great. Yeah. And who can afford to be out, right? Nobody can afford to be out. You talk about a high school athlete, you know, and they lose a two weeks or three weeks of their season. That's, you know, that could be up to four to six games. And so that's a lot of, that's a lot of time. And so, you know, that's where you look at the prevention end and. The ability to be well is so much more advantageous for these athletes. And a lot of them get it. A lot of them understand that if I'm performing well, going into my event, the likelihood of injury is less and the ability to perform at a high level is way, way up there. And so that's what these guys want. That little edge that they can get, if they can cut a stroke, if they can get. You know, just a little bit more distance so they can use a different club man. It's a it's a big deal And they can use a club that they're confident with right? So that's the other thing so if they're if they're dialing in and my favorite thing on the rain is the range really to watch because You look at these guys and if you're a golfer of any ability and you go to the range at a pro event and watch what these guys can do and watch, you know, they hit 20 balls and the balls are exactly the same. They hit the same spot. It's amazing. the funny thing is you look at the range and at a pro event, they have different circles and different greens that they kind of create into the practice field, right? So you got a 25, they got a 50, they got a 75, they got a hundred. They got all these different little holes at different angles and different ranges all throughout through the practice team. funny, you go to a public range and the balls are everywhere. You can't see any white, right? at the pro events, you see all the balls are congregated right on all those holes that they've carved out of the practice range, which is amazing to me because these guys just can nail it. And it's just phenomenal. It's phenomenal. Well, what I like is you go to a PGA event and I know they have everybody be quiet. You're outside. Grass is meticulous. Environment's beautiful. People are dressed nice. It's a real thing. It's an event to go to. It's a whole thing. But I also understand that you're not just working with golfers. You have another sport that you like to take chiropractic care to. And we're talking about seeing patterns in athletes, how they carry their stick, how they shoot their basketball with their shoulders rotated. But I got to imagine this other sport. And I got to work with these guys in my hometown a couple of times. So I have a little itty bitty firsthand experience. But I understand this other event, these other athletes you work with, you could see anything. And you want to tell us a little bit about what I'm talking about? Yeah, you were talking about rodeo, right? Pro rodeo. Absolutely. Absolutely. Utah, rodeo is a big event. It's part of the Western lifestyle, right? So when I first came to town and I practiced in Wisconsin prior to coming to Utah and deciding to open up my own practice in, in Utah, where my wife is from rodeo is a big part of the way of life here. And every county fair has a rodeo. You know, every town usually has some kind of a rodeo during the year. So, You know, I created a niche which was really cool at the time pro sport chiropractic and used to be wrangler used to you know service a lot of events chiropractically They're not doing as much anymore But I still continue because that's where I started and I love it and i've you know created now a nice niche for that so in my And I don't do as much as I used to do, but now in Utah, in my hometown, we have a rodeo, Cache County rodeo, then there's the next county over that has a rodeo, and then the State Fair. Those are the ones that I kind of participate in now that I just have time for. we used to go around the state all the time, me and another buddy of mine, and we used to perform. And really that's what it was. We were performing really because you get a crowd around you that starts seeing what you're doing. One cowboy comes over and has the courage to come over to the table and ask for help. Once that happens, now you get a crowd of people that start happening and all the guys start asking questions and start saying, Hey, well, what about my shoulder? What about my wrist? Hey, I got knocked out yesterday. Or, Silence. Silence. Silence. around and you're just like something with dental floss on your hand, right? Pretty much comparative. So you're seeing guys getting jerked around with elbows, shoulders and they're doing some homemade tape, right? They're taping their cells and. they're just trying to do the best that they can. So we can offer some suggestions to help them a little bit. They're grateful. This, this crowd is probably one of the most grateful crowds that you could ever work with the rodeo crowd and the, and the rodeo athletes and, and the women too. The barrel racers all have a specific amount of activity as well, that they have to deal with as well, which is kind of interesting. You wouldn't think that just riding a horse, you'd be. that big of an issue, right? These guys, these girls train a lot too, and now they're starting to have roping events for the ladies, and so called breakaway, and those girls are throwing the rope and from the back of the chute and hitting the, hitting the neck of the, of the animal and putting it around it in less than two seconds. Boom. that kind of activity, when the gate drops, boom, they're ready to go. it's the craziest sport on dirt, I think. And the mental aspect of the athlete is another component that you have to deal with. Because once they get hurt in the arena, they don't want any help. They don't want anybody knowing that they're hurt. The ego really takes over. And so but once you get them behind the shoot and you can admit like, Hey, I got something going on. I want you to check it. that's a real trust factor again, because these guys don't know you. They're in town for an eight second ride. You know, a three second rope, whatever it might be. so the longevity of you being there and being a part of an event big. I've got guys that on the pro circuit that know that I'm going to be there and they'll enter this event knowing that I'm going to be there to get a care, to get care. And so that's kind of interesting and kind of a, kind of a really neat a neat compliment really, when you start seeing these athletes and how much time they spend on the road, the diet's not great. You know, they get bucked off. They pay to be in the event, they get bucked off or they get, you know, something happens, they can't ride they get back in the truck and they get another 12 hours to get to the next event for another eight second ride. So any care that you give these guys is, you know, they're beyond excited and they feel good and they can function good. And they feel like, Hey, my, my ability to ride tonight is going to be much, much better. all over it. And my, they always ask, how much can I pay you? And it's complimentary. I always, it's a complimentary service. I offer to these guys and it has been for years. I say, I always joke with them. I'm like, Hey, I'll just take 10 percent when you win. funny. Cause I've had guys that, you know, they, they always get adjusted and they'll always be in the top two to three when they come to the event. And it's just what it is. know if it's a superstition, but they, they've got the superstition. They've got the activity that if I get adjusted, I know that at this event, I'm going to win money. And so their mindset is already set that way and they're ready to go. And so when they come back, I have one guy bring me a hundred bucks when he, when he got Silence. I'm like, Hey, I don't need it really. I don't. He goes, no, you've helped me for the last 10 years. I'm going to give you something. I'm like, well, that's very nice. And I'm going to donate it back to the rodeo. So that's, that's kind of fun. I live in New England for part of my life and the Midwest rest of my life. And when the rodeo came to Rockford, Illinois, and I got to help them out, I learned one thing that was important. I didn't wear slacks that day, I wore blue jeans that day to the events. And I also quickly learned, and I don't remember what it was, but I know I did it wrong. There's a way you lay your hat down when you get on the adjusting table. Because they handed me their hat, and I realized I had put it down the wrong way. And I thought I did something horrible, horrible wrong. And I was quickly learned and taught that there's a certain etiquette. So, before you take care of a sport, I do recommend you look up some of the etiquette of that sport. And we have a Just like that we have right on our tent that we kind of built in that they just stick their hat right up there and they think it's pretty cool. So and we have the sawdust down. I mean, you go from a PGA event in a trailer, it's air conditioned and nice all the way now to the dirt and the bugs and the, and the flies right around you on the table and it's hot and dusty and there's mud and there's dirt and there's whatever else, around you. You just do it. You just deal with it. It's fun. It's something different than your office. That's the one thing I enjoy the most about being a sports chiropractor is the ability to now get to the sport right on the field, right? And to be able to provide care that that's unique to athletes and to be able to provide it right at their event. There's nothing better than that. And to be able to see an athlete come back to your table after the event, when they perform well and say, you know what you helped me or, Hey, I did really well today. Thank you. That's, that's worth anything that any money could ever, ever pay for you. And the other benefit is, is that. You know, I've been there long enough that the rodeo announcers know who I am. And they'll always say something when somebody gets hurt in the arena. Hey, that boy needs to see Dr. Stucky. He's a chiropractor that's back here. I get that all the time, or they'll announce me, you know, you know, pro bono, and I'll take care of them as well. But but they'll they'll always give me some advertisement and some marketing on there. So it pays you back. You cast your bread upon the waters. It comes back sandwiches. So you, you know, you never, are not acknowledged for your service somewhere down the line. And it's always every year I get a patient from doing the rodeo somewhere, somehow someone said, Hey, I, I heard your name at the rodeo. Hey, I've been going to the rodeo for the last 10 years. I see I see you there. I want you to take care of me. And so it always pays you back when you give, and that's the other nice thing I like about sport and and what we have to offer in those venues. It does pay you back. Well, that and probably another rodeo, but PGA, a lot of times I know in hockey, I'm the ambassador for chiropractic because the athlete in front of me has never heard of a chiropractor before, whether there's some partisan kind of Russia or something like that. They don't have chiropractic we do in North America. And so you're always an ambassador for the profession to help spreading chiropractic to more and more people through athletics. And I think that's a huge part of what we need to do as chiropractors. Yeah, that's a great point, Brant. When you look at, you look at even in your community, right, you've got a number of chiropractors. So you've got to shine well. And if you shine well, and you present well, and you have a very professional attitude and activity during that time. Again, shines not only on you, but also the profession. So, yeah, I take that very seriously as well. And I want to make sure that, we're presenting as well as we can looking good, you know, having our tents look good and, you know, just every, all that stuff presents an image and presents a feeling of confidence that people will take away from what we do down the road too. Good point. So that you want to learn more about working with teams and athletes, we want you to contact our ICA Sports and Fitness Science Council. We're going to come into your state association, your convention, and we're going to teach you some really cool hands on techniques from some of the top sports chiropractors in the world. I learned so much the last working with these guys, even myself, after doing this for 20 years. There's always more we can learn and we have each other to learn from. And not only that, when we're talking about stuff like this, the business of being a sports chiropractor. What are your realistic expectations? I'm Dr. Stucky said he did not go out and buy a new boat after he didn't care the rodeo. That's not why he does it. So, so we're going to talk more about the business of that and how to get involved in your local community too, because not everybody can be a major league baseball chiropractor because only so many teams. We're going to talk about working in your community. So if you'd like more information on that, please go to chiropractic. org. That's the ICA's website, and you can find our council there and you can contact the ICA, contact us directly, and we look forward to bringing our presentation, our show on the road to you. We'll do a little better than the rodeo guys, though. We won't just do it for eight seconds, jump in a truck and drive 12 hours. We'll probably fly there. Correct. Correct. All right. Well, thanks for tuning in. If Dr. Jon, do you have any final words you'd like to share with anybody? I'd like to give everyone the microphone one last time before we wrap up. Hey, yeah, we got a lot of action, a lot of activity gonna happen here, and we got a lot of energy that's good. So come and learn, come and join. It's all about sharing, all about learning, and and helping our communities do better. And if you like what you heard today, please subscribe, please share. If you're listening to this podcast, you can go to the website, you can watch us. If you're watching this and you want to listen to it in your car, you can go to anywhere you listen to podcasts, we're available. Cairo cast is how you find us. Other than that, I'm just going to sign off here and thanks Dr. Stucky for joining us and watch for more to come. Thank you.