In the sports world, the Olympics is one of the biggest stages. For these athletes to compete at the highest level, they require an incredible healthcare team to keep them at peak performance. ACA member Jordan Knowlton-Key, DC, is one of those professionals, and one of a number of doctors of chiropractic who will travel with Team USA this summer to Paris.
Dr. Knowlton-Key is one of four chiropractors employed by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the only chiropractor based at the Lake Placid Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in New York. He will be with the U.S. Paralympic Team when they kick off the Games in August. (Editor’s note: The total count of chiropractors attending the Paris Olympics is likely higher, as some will travel privately to support individual sports, teams or athletes.)
Paralympians are athletes who have bodily differences and different types of disabilities. The history of the Paralympics dates back to 1948, when games were organized at a hospital outside London to help injured World War II veterans rehabilitate faster. The Paralympic Games got their official start in 1960 following the Olympic Games in Rome. Today the Paralympics feature 28 sports (22 in the summer and six in the winter).
The ACA Blog was able to catch up with Dr. Knowlton-Key and ask him about his upcoming trip to Paris.
Q: Will this be your first Olympic Games?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: It is, yes. I’ll be going to the Paralympics. This is my first Games supporting Team USA.
Q: Have you participated in any other international competitions?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: I’ve done some international World Cups for bobsled, skeleton, luge, and some random things like fistball (which is like volleyball outdoor soccer). The other international competitions I’ve done are smaller local or collegiate events. The Olympics will be, by far, my biggest event.
Q: How did you get your start in sports chiropractic? And when did you become interested in the Olympics?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: I had great mentors when I was in school at Northwestern Health Sciences University. I was between medicine and English, but decided on medicine. Then I was between two polar opposites, chiropractic and the ER trauma surgeon path. I got my emergency care fix by going through an EMT course. There was an opportunity at Northwestern to work sideline for high school events under our EMT license. It was a very applicable experience. I was able to do that and had great mentors at the same time.
I worked at two smaller private high schools, so I worked a bunch of events. I wanted to work in the Olympics or Paralympics, so I asked my mentors, Drs. Tim Stark and Andy Klein, among many others, how to get to that level. Dr. Stark who was the director at the Human Performance Center at Northwestern, advised me to do a residency with them. From there, I stayed with the Human Performance Center and helped other residents. That helped me build my foundational experience, along with having great mentors with knowledge and resources, and having opportunities to work at a lot of sports events.
Q: What was the process like to become an Olympic chiropractor?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: I was working as the integrated sports care coordinator at Northwestern. I had the job search for the USOPC on my Google calendar, and every Sunday or every other Sunday, I would pull it up and see what was on there. This role came up, and I decided I needed to apply. There were a lot of strong candidates. We went through an interview process, and three candidates were selected to come to Lake Placid for interviews in-person. I did a whole series of in-person interview questions with practical components, and then I was offered the position. The positions don’t come up often, so I was super lucky that it came up when I was in a good place to apply.
Q: In Paris, will you be focusing on a specific team or sport?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: I will be going on behalf of the USOPC, and I will be at the High Performance Center. I don’t recall all the teams that will be using the High Performance Center, but they will include para-archery, wheelchair rugby, and some of the para-track-and-field disciplines. A lot of the National Governing Boards [which promote and develop specific sports] will be using the facility too, and I will be at our integrated sports medicine clinic within that facility.
Q: How closely will you be working with other healthcare providers while in Paris?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: We have an integrated model at Lake Placid where we have a physical therapist, two athletic trainers, a message therapist, a sports psychologist, and we work underneath an orthopedist. We also work closely with strength and conditioning and performance staff, sports dietician, and sport specific coaches. It will be the same set up in Paris, with several psychological services and providers. I am the only chiropractor at the Human Performance Center stationed there during that time, as far as I’ve been informed. It will be a very integrated model, just like at the training center.
Q: How long have you been working with Paralympians?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: Unfortunately, we don’t see too many Paralympians in Lake Placid, due to what our resident sports are. We might have camps that come through such as para-rowing or para-biathlon. This is why I’m super excited to work the Paralympics; I haven’t worked with many Paralympians.
Q: How different is working with Olympians compared to other athletes?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: For the athletes at Lake Placid, it is their job. They know they might be shooting for eight years down the road to hopefully make the Olympic team. Like luge, for example, the sport track is that you start at camps at 10 or 11 years old, and it takes until you are in your 20s to really be at high-level performance. Obviously, there are some people who are very talented and diligent, and they might peak earlier. Even when it comes to sports medicine and their determination to return post-surgery, it might take [Olympians and Paralympians] two years to get back to peak performance, but they’ll do it and get back on that path. They have a high level of dedication to their sport.
Q: What can you do as a chiropractor to help Paralympians achieve peak performance?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: Athletes are athletes, and everyone is trying to perform at their best. Some are differently abled athletes. With all the Paralympians, there are still many musculoskeletal components from training at that level of intensity. I think that’s where sports chiropractic is different than other subsets of chiropractic. We are doing a lot of manual therapy and adjusting, rehabilitation, taping, and any other techniques that will help our patients achieve their best.
With para-athletes, there are many unique situations to consider. For example, they can be restricted through their midback because they have an altered movement pattern due to a missing limb. Others may suffer from autonomic dysreflexia, heat stroke, or other more extreme conditions. I’m thrilled to be able to provide any and all services to help the athletes perform at their best.
Q: What advice, if any, have other Olympic DCs given you?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: They’ve advised me on how to treat and work with differences. Especially from a more para-athlete view; their systems respond differently. Everyone can be slightly differently abled, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help them.
I was also advised to work hard. We have a lot of glamour around the Games, but usually there are long days [at the Olympics]. It’s setting up the clinic, tearing down the clinic, whatever needs to be done. There is no task too small. You just do what you need to do to support Team USA.
Q: What are you looking forward to most at the games?
Dr. Knowlton-Key: I’m just super excited to be going and working with the Paralympics because I don’t get to work with these athletes normally. Everyone says they are fantastic and awesome. I love working with new sports and athletes and learning how to best support them. Of course, everyone is excited for French pastries and coffee, and I am addicted to all those things, but I’m just super pumped to be going to the Paralympics!
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ACA member Dr. Tamara Lovelace also treated athletes at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. You can read her story here.
