Dr. Michael Krasnov returned to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships in Eugene, Oregon July 22-27, 2014 to provide chiropractic services to the competing athletes. This is an international event for track and field athletes 19 years old or younger. In this year’s competition, there were 1600 athletes from 200 countries participating.

Dr. Krasnov has been doing National or International championship level work since he worked with the 1996 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team. His advanced certifications, Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician (CCSP), Certified Chiropractic Extremity Practitioner (CCEP) as well as certifications in various techniques that are applicable to treating athletes such as Active Release Technique (ART) are some of the reasons Dr. Krasnov continues to be invited to work at these prestigious events. In addition, his work experience demonstrates a level of excellence in sports chiropractic and his history with this and similar events speaks volumes.

Dr. Krasnov likes challenging his skills by working on the world's greatest athletes. He shared, “To have someone come see you with a nagging problem, and then feel better once you’ve worked on them…and THEN go out and perform a lifetime best or even get a gold medal is very rewarding!” In fact, seeing the benefits of your work is often the reward since this type of work is volunteer based. Expenses may be covered but usually medical professionals are not paid.  In some cases, a team may hire a physician as their team chiropractor, but most medical professionals do these events for the experience and the reward.

Some of the large teams bring their own physical therapists or massage therapist and even occasionally a Doctor of Chiropractic.  But many teams, especially those from small countries who might only be sending a few athletes do not take any type of health care personnel. Even for some of the larger countries like China, chiropractic work is new to them.

“At an international event like this, I end up working on people who do not speak a single word of English. It is somewhat hard to get all the clinical information you might want such as, “What movement makes it hurt?”  But I get by with sign language, hand gestures and when they get up from the table, a thumbs up or a nodding of their head lets me know they feel better. While this will hardly solve the world’s political problems, it is nice to be able to exchange chiropractic service for a foreign athlete’s gratitude,” Krasnov explained.

Dr. Krasnov told of a funny experience he had with a physiotherapist from the Ukraine.  The physiotherapist was observing Dr. Krasnov, later asking him about his work. He only spoke about 10 words of English so the communication was mainly through hand gestures.  When Dr. Krasnov presented his business card, the Ukrainian saw the name Krasnov (which has a Russian origin) followed by, “CCSP” which stands for Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician.  At first glance, he mistakenly thought it read, “CCCP”, the former designation for the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian backed up and his expression changed from friendly to wary until Dr. Krasnov was able to point out that it said, “CCSP” not, “CCCP.”  Luckily, they were able to clear things up and return to exchanging techniques.

He notes that he always learns something by being around the world's best sports chiropractors as well as great ATC's and physical therapists. “The patients in my practice will benefit from the honing of my skills and knowledge that occurs at these events,” Dr. Krasnov comments. He also enjoys the sense of camaraderie and fellowship in working with many of the same people over the years. Lastly, he believes most people like being a part of something bigger than themselves and providing services to these world class athletes is one way to achieve that.

The IAAF World Junior Championships are held biennially and have been since 1986. To learn more about this organization and the events it sponsors, click here