Why Do NFL Players See Chiropractors? What One Study Revealed About Professional Football

Professional sports have a unique outlook on healthcare. At the highest levels of competition, healthcare is judged almost entirely by performance. Every treatment, every recovery strategy, and every member of the medical staff is ultimately evaluated by one question: does it help keep athletes healthy, available, and competing? Teams invest enormous resources into keeping athletes healthy, and every member of a medical staff is expected to contribute toward a single goal - ensuring players stay on the field.

This makes professional sports a very interesting place to study healthcare. When a particular approach becomes integrated into elite athletic programs, it naturally makes us curious as to why.

A 2002 study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics explored that question by surveying head athletic trainers from National Football League teams about their experiences working with chiropractors and the role chiropractic played within professional football. Although conducted more than two decades ago, the survey captures an important moment in the growing integration of chiropractic into professional athletics.

Chiropractic in the NFL

The survey found that chiropractic care had already become an established part of many NFL organizations.

Nearly one-third of responding teams reported having a chiropractor serving in an official capacity on their medical staff. During the study, 77 percent of athletic trainers reported referring players to chiropractors for evaluation or treatment, while 71 percent said they had worked professionally alongside a chiropractor. Every trainer surveyed also reported that some players sought chiropractic care independently, even without a referral from the team’s medical staff.

When trainers were asked which conditions were most appropriate for chiropractic referral, low back pain was the most common response, followed by neck-related injuries such as “stingers” and “burners”. The survey also found widespread agreement that chiropractors played a role distinct from that of team physicians and other members of the sports medicine staff.

Why Athletes Turn to Chiropractic

Football places extraordinary demands on the body. Repeated impacts, heavy resistance training, rapid changes in direction, and years of cumulative physical stress all contribute to a high incidence of musculoskeletal injuries. Back pain, in particular, has been long recognized as a common challenge among football players, making it an area where teams continually explore ways to support recovery and maintain performance.

Within that environment, chiropractic became one of several disciplines incorporated into athlete care. Rather than replacing physicians, physical therapists, or athletic trainers, chiropractors often served as part of a broader multidisciplinary medical team focused on managing musculoskeletal conditions.

Why It Matters

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this study is not the exact percentage of teams that employed chiropractors in 2002. Professional sports continue to evolve, and medical staffs have undoubtedly changed since the survey was conducted. At the time of the survey, nearly one-third of responding teams officially included a chiropractor on staff, while most athletic trainers reported referring players for chiropractic care. Today, chiropractic has become even more integrated into professional football through the Professional Football Chiropractic Society, with every NFL team now having access to chiropractic care. That evolution illustrates just how much the relationship between chiropractic and professional sports has changed since this survey was first conducted.

Rather than simply reporting survey results, this study captures an important moment in the evolution of sports medicine. It documents a time when chiropractic was moving from the sidelines into the medical teams supporting professional athletes.

Professional athletics is one of the most performance-driven environments in healthcare. Decisions about treatment are continually evaluated through the lens of function, recovery, and return to play. The survey demonstrates that chiropractic had become one component of that larger approach to athlete care.

It also reminds us that healthcare is often collaborative. Elite athletes are rarely cared for by a single practitioner. Physicians, athletic trainers, physical therapists, strength coaches, massage therapists, nutrition professionals, psychologists, and chiropractors may all contribute different expertise toward a common goal.

What This Means for You

Most of us aren't trying to make it through an NFL season or return to the field before the next Olympic event. But we ask many of the same things of our bodies. We want to move without pain, recover when something hurts, stay active, and keep doing the things we love for as long as possible.

That's what makes the growing role of chiropractic in professional sports interesting beyond the sidelines. Elite athletes have access to extensive healthcare teams, and over time, chiropractic became one of the disciplines included in that environment to support musculoskeletal health, recovery, and function.

That doesn't mean chiropractic is right for every person or every condition. But it does offer a useful perspective for the rest of us: caring for your body doesn't have to begin only when something goes wrong. Building a team of practitioners who understand how you move, what you want to keep doing, and how to support you along the way can be part of protecting the life you want to keep living.

You may not be training for the Olympics, but your body still carries you through everything that matters to you. And when you're looking for someone to help you take care of it, wisdm can help you find the right practitioner.

Read the full study here.