something that Ben Buck, D.C. (Main, ’15) and Amber Buck, D.C. (Main, ’15) can relate to as they reflect on their time in China working with the Chinese Olympic Committee in 2018. “When I think back on the day we headed to the airport to fly to China, I’m not sure we really knew what we were about to experience,” Dr. Amber says as she looks at her husband. “What a ride it was.” For the couple, the first few days weren’t just an adjustment because of the culture shock they were experiencing in a new land. “The way the Chinese thought about chiropractic care was fundamentally different from the way we do as practitioners in the United States. They look at chiropractic as a way to address pain, while we look at chiropractic as a way to live—or compete—in optimal health,” Dr. Ben says. “The techniques, however—learned and perfected at Palmer College—rooted us throughout our experience overseas.” Though newly married and on the trip of a lifetime
together, the Bucks would soon say goodbye to one another as they traveled the country separately for their respective assignments: Dr. Ben to Olympic Artistic Gymnastics and Dr. Amber to Archery. “I was really excited to work with the gymnasts,” Dr. Ben says, leaning forward in his seat. “I don’t speak Chinese, obviously. And the athletes spoke little to no English. Our language had to be the care we were providing.” For the gymnastics team, Dr. Ben was providing rehabilitative
“I QUICKLY BECAME CONNECTED TO THE HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND ATHLETES I WAS WORKING ALONGSIDE. I LOVED IT—I PUT MY
HEART AND SOUL INTO IT.” —Karla (Solum) Wolford, D.C. (West, ’10)
care for pain relief and corrective exercise programs to improve performance and prevent injury. There was one athlete, he says, who had chronic ankle pain. “I was working with her for about a month—she was clearly in quite a lot of pain,” he recalls. “But we worked and worked and worked to alleviate that pain. The care I provided succeeded.” “How did I know?” he asks rhetorically. “I got a big thumbs up and grin from the head coach of the
team. That never happened with him! The universal thumbs up spoke volumes.” “Most of the athletes we worked with in China had never
heard about chiropractic,” adds Dr. Amber, who in addition to holding a Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Palmer is also certified in applied kinesiology. “I think I was assigned to archery because it’s a sport of precision—and applied kinesiology techniques require that same sort of specific, minute precision.” “The archers were always so astounded when the work I did with them made them feel better,” she says. “The look of surprise when their elbow pain went away was priceless.”
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