NASCAR Doc, Part II
You can't find a bigger racing fan than Dr. Michael Smith. He was once himself a driver and now he's treating some of the biggest names in NASCAR.
"Every driver I've been working on happens to be winning, we're 3 for 3 in Daytona"
Along with his chiropractic offices in Bay County, Dr. Smith is now spending a couple of weekend's a month in Daytona.
"It was obviously quite an honor to be asked by Chip Ganassi to come on board as team doctor."
Doctor Smith's goal is to get the drivers healthy and keep them that way.
"First and foremost is to assess all the safety equipment, then from there we start looking at the drivers spines, what damage has been done, talk to the drivers how are they functioning, how they feel right now.
And part of their annual physical is actually going to be a signature of their neck, their spine, actually doing a digital motion x-ray, seeing if there's a problem or seeing if it's fine."
Dr. Smith says they will keep that motion x-ray on file so the next time the driver hits a wall or crashes into a guard rail or another vehicle he will have something to compare it to.
"From there we can come up with a treatment regimen for them, we have a variety of physical therapy modalities, exercises that we can actually do right at the track."
There is also new computerized technology for treatment called pro adjuster.
"It has a percussion, so we're actually working with the nervous system, ligament, the bones, the spinal cord, muscles, trying to integrate all of them to come up with a solution for the drivers so they can back to as close to 100% or right at 100%. That's what give them the edge right there"
Driver Jamie McMurray is the latest beneficiary of the treatment right at the track.
"He was searching me out before getting on the track."
NASCAR drivers aren't the only celebrities Dr. Smith works with. Actor Patrick Dempsey took part in a celebrity race and slammed into a wall. He sought the help of Dr. Smith.
Now doctor and actor are working together to make the HANS device mandatory for celebrity drivers.
HANS is the acronym for head and neck support. It's attached to the helmet and is a requirement for all NASCAR drivers, but not celebrity drivers.
"Patrick Dempsey, Dr. McDreamy and Dr. Smith. We are going to champion to get this mandatory for all celebrities."
Doctor Smith uses the same technology for his patients here in Bay County.
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