The Feb. 5, 2017 Super Bowl victory by the New England Patriots was one for the record books. Quarterback Tom Brady led his team to overcome a 25-point deficit, giving the Patriots their fifth NFL championship in the first Super Bowl overtime.
Dr. Michael Miller has been the chiropractic team doctor for the Patriots for the past 30 years. He works with anywhere from 30 to 40 Patriots players before each game and is available for specific injuries during the game. He has been to seven Super Bowl games with the team and is the proud possessor of three Super Bowl rings and four championship rings. Miller was the first chiropractor to work for an NFL team 30 years ago, but now every team in the NFL has at least one chiropractor on its full-time staff.
Miller originally went to medical school with plans to become a medical researcher. But during his training, the neurophysicists he worked with suggested that chiropractic might be a better choice because it focuses on the cause, rather than the symptoms, of disease.
According to Miller, chiropractic is a natural form of therapy that’s a great fit for elite athletes, who are in a sense like high-performance racing cars. They’re fast, but their bodies are also subjected to tremendous forces when they perform, both during training and competition.These athletes simply can’t rely on drugs to keep playing and most wouldn’t even if they could.Much of Dr. Miller’s work is done pre-game, making adjustments to players’ knees, shoulders, ankles, and backs to help them avoid injury. As he says, “Their job is to get banged and be tackled. They are basically getting beaten up each game. They understand the importance of a chiropractor and see how it allows them to play longer.”
Many athletes in many sports have joined Tom Brady in telling their own stories and offering their endorsements. They recognize that chiropractic care has helped them be more injury-free and kept their bodies performing more optimally, which has made them better at their sport over the course of their careers.
