Dr . Peng Li (’ 12 ) poses with the China women ’ s national volleyball team who won gold in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics .
Unlike the other professionals , such as strength and conditioning , PT and rehab , who were assigned to one team within Team China ( e . g . women ’ s basketball , men ’ s table tennis , etc .), Dr . Li was more obligated to serve for all sports . So at the beginning , Dr . Downes joined Dr . Li in China to visit different training bases .
“ We went to Judo teams , cycling , shooting and archery , weightlifting and table tennis ,” noted Dr . Li . “ Later on , one team , rowing and canoe / kayaking , really liked our work . He stationed another doctor and I in shifts for both the rowing and canoe / kayaking teams . In 2018 , there was an Asian Games , which is kind of like a regional , comprehensive game in Asia that all countries participate in . I was in the supportive team to help rowing and canoe / kayaking . We got like 19 gold medals during those games . Later on , I helped them in training because rowing and canoe / kayaking are water sports , and sometimes they train abroad . I was with the team in Poland for a couple of months .”
Later in 2020 , because of the Coronavirus outbreak and in order to keep all athletes training in a safe way , the Sports Ministry of China initiated a lockdown . This required all the people who were on the national team , as well as staff such as Dr . Li , to go to a lockdown in the training base .
Although Dr . Li and his colleague Dr . Zi Liu , a 2020 Life U graduate , are experiencing the thrill of working with elite athletes on the Chinese National Teams , the overall landscape of the profession in mainland China appears far less promising on the surface . There are currently fewer than 100 chiropractors in mainland China .
“ Recently we , as young Chinese National chiropractors , formed a group to set our goals for the future of Chiropractic ,” said Dr . Li . “ What we are trying to explore is more healthy and sustainable ways for Chiropractic as a profession to develop in China . As for sports Chiropractic , I think the influence in China is tremendous because we are not only limited to serve for one specific event and are open to serve any event that has the need for sports chiropractic because the reputation goes on really well in the circle . A lot of teams request to have us to have two weeks of care tour in their base if they are not in the training base that we are stationed . There are also administrators who would like to invite Dr . Downes to their associations to speak and help connect with the universities that they are working closely with Life U to see if there are any opportunities on the student exchange level .”
“ At the beginning , usually there are people who will mix us up or will compare us to the traditional spinal manipulations like bone setters ,” explained Dr . Li , “ but once they see the analysis , the assessments , how we adjust and the theory behind it , we are not only setting the bone . It ’ s not just muscular ; there ’ s neuromuscular and neuromuscular control ; there are a lot of people getting it and even gaining the desire to learn more and go study it .”
The idea behind Chiropractic has roots in China , and many other regions in the world , who have practiced some form of spinal manipulations for centuries .
“ In the training base , we eat there , train there , dine there , and it ’ s very hard to go out ,” said Dr . Li . “ During that time , that gave us more opportunities to take care of more teams and more athletes , including the Chinese female volleyball team , female basketball team , gymnastics , swimming , track and field , trampoline , diving and badminton as well .”
Life U has two chiropractors working in the program . From 2018 until the Tokyo Olympics , Life U had more than 5,000 patient visits within the program . During the Olympics , during that 16-17 days , Dr . Li personally took care of more than 60 visits from a variety of sports .
“ At the beginning , usually there are people who will mix us up or will compare us to the traditional spinal manipulations like bone setters ,” explained Dr . Li , “ but once they see the analysis , the assessments , how we adjust and the theory behind it , we are not only setting the bone . It ’ s not just muscular ; there ’ s neuromuscular and neuromuscular control ; there are a lot of people getting it and even gaining the desire to learn more and go study it .”
Unfortunately , as Dr . Li explained , many simply do not have the time or resources to uproot their current life and career to go study Chiropractic in the United States .
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