What a Sports Chiropractor's role in a NFL Combine Prep entails

It’s that time again, January through February is NFL Combine’s training season for XPE Sports and Health-Fit Chiropractic and Sports Medicine. Tony Villani is the founder and sports trainer of XPE Sports and has a great group of 24 guys this year, including 5 potential first round picks! I have been fortunate enough to be the lead sports chiropractor and/or clinical director for the 8^th year in a row of my career, the last five of which spent with Tony Villani. It has been a learning process and has helped shape the way we provide sports chiropractic in our regular practice to the community. 

The NFL Combine is a 2 month process where college football players who have entered the NFL draft process train to perform optimally at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis at the end of February. This 5 day “job interview” consists of physical assessments such as the 40 yard dash, vertical jump, position drills and bench press, to name a few. In addition, they go through full medical evaluations, IQ tests, interviews and even body fat testing. Their performance at the scouting combine is instrumental in where they may potentially get drafted. We have seen some of XPE’s players jump multiple spots in the first round or even multiple rounds of the draft. These types of leaps are potentially worth millions of dollars to the player. 

Our role at Health-Fit is to coordinate the health care needs, and provide treatment for each of our 16-25 players each year. Each of our players have access to Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Orthopedics, Acupuncture, Muscle Activation Technique, Massage, Sports Recovery and much more. 

We provide the initial full examination and from there help guide the course of treatment for the player. Some players will only need supportive care, while others may have significant injuries and need full medical attention. We have some players that are coming off surgery, some with serious injuries, and some just with nagging injuries that could potentially affect their speed and agility enough to drop their performance considerably, and consequently their potential draft position. Besides our Sports Chiropractic treatment of the players, we also facilitate and guide their treatment plan with the other medical entities. We also communicate regularly with the Tony Villani on what the player can and cannot do as for as speed and agility training. Luckily for us, Tony Villani is well versed in all phases of injury rehab and how to seamlessly integrate an injured player into his training programs. He has world class experience and has therefore successfully helped with many NFL players coming off devastating injuries. He has been instrumental in bridging the gap from post-surgical physical therapy to return to play at a high level for many athletes. With his knowledge, you’d think he has a medical degree.

Our last role in regards to the NFL Combine prep program for XPE Sports is to travel with the group to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in late February. We stay there for all 5 days providing maintenance and performance care to make sure the players are firing on all cylinders. In some cases, we need to confer with the player, agent, and Tony to decide if the player is healthy enough to run the 40 yard dash and do agility drills or participate in activities such as the bench press. It is always a hard decision, but taking in all the factors is a must when determining the level of involvement an injured player can sustain at the NFL Combine. 

I hope you enjoyed this little insight as to what our two month process with the NFL Combine prep program is and how we apply our clinical skills to a highly pressure packed 8 weeks for all parties involved. Here’s to a fabulous 2015 XPE NFL Combine class!