Dr. Tim Maggs is a chiropractor who has been in private practice for over 45 years in upstate New York. He has specialized in the diagnosis, treatment and investigation of sports injuries throughout his entire career.
Dr. Maggs has been an active participant in sports as well, having run 16 marathons, spending many hours on his mountain bike, playing basketball and extensively working with athletes. His wife, Trudy, and four sons, John, Connor, Tim jr., and Tom, are all actively involved in fitness and a healthy lifestyle. In fact, they completed the Barr Trail 20k race in July, 2019, a 6.2 mile race up Pikes Peak and 6.2 mile run down. The family did the race again in 2020, needing a sub-4 hour time to qualify for the 2021 Pikes Peak Marathon. Dr. Maggs crossed the finish line last in his group, but still crossed in 3:59:54, qualifying the entire family. Because of COVID, they were unable to compete in 2021 and they look forward to re-qualifying in the 2022 Barr Trail 20k.
Much of Dr. Maggs’ incentive to excel in the field of sports medicine came from his own injury experience. In April 1987 he completed his 13th marathon and began immediately pulling calf muscles any time he attempted to run more than 3 miles. He estimates over the next 7 years, he pulled his calf muscles 60-70 times. He saw anyone and everyone who he thought might have an answer for him, but to his dismay, he said “They knew less than me and I didn’t know how to prevent that next pull”.
The Stick™
In 1993 Dr. Maggs met Dr. Andrew Bonci, a recently graduated chiropractor who was incredibly knowledgeable in muscle physiology. Dr. Bonci introduced a tool known as The Intracell which Dr. Maggs began using immediately. Excited it might be part of or all of the solution, Dr. Maggs contacted the manufacturer, RPI of Atlanta, owned by Dr. Pat Belcher, a retired chiropractor. Dr. Maggs inquired if this tool was being marketed and sold in the sports world, and he learned it wasn’t. He asked Dr. Belcher if he could introduce it to the sports world and could they change the name of the tool to The Stick. Dr. Belcher agreed to both.
As months passed, Dr. Maggs was now up to 5 mile runs. He took The Stick to the Boston Marathon expo in 1993 and introduced The Stick to 10k world record holder Arturo Barrios. Dr. Maggs then travelled to Barrios’ hometown of Boulder, Colorado for the Bolder Boulder 10k and to spend some time with Arturo showing him the benefits of The Stick. While there, Dr. Maggs ran a 42 minute 10k, his first in many years, and also met 3 time Kenyan Olympian Joseph Nzau. In short form, Dr. Maggs and Nzau were partnered in the first American Kenyan training program that located in upstate New York. In February 1994, Nzau returned from Kenya with 17 young Kenyans in tow. Thomas Osano, Josphat Machuka, Lazarus Nyakeraka, John Kagwe, Gideon Mutisya and 12 others made up this team. Appropriately, the team was called Team Stick. Coach John Mwithiga, one of Kenya’s best-ever coaches, worked directly with Dr. Maggs and the runner’s training programs. Coach Mwithiga has been Kenya’s head coach for many of their World Cross Country Championships as well as head marathon coach for Kenya at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Kenya won Gold Medal in both the men and women’s races.
At the same time, Maggs partnered with his good friend and former NBA player Derrick Rowland. Derrick also played 3 years for the Albany Patroons under Coach Phil Jackson, and a call to the Chicago Bulls was made. With Phil’s blessing, The Stick was taken to Chicago and became part of the Chicago Bull’s training center. From there, head strength coach Al Vermeil asked Dr. Maggs if he would take The Stick to his good friend Coach Al Miller, the head strength coach of The New York Giants. At that time, Lawrence Taylor had been out with a pulled hamstring, so he became the first player to be shown The Stick. Not only did his hamstring recover, but he played the next Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys and every player on the Giants wanted a Stick.
This started Dr. Maggs 4-year relationship with the New York Giants strength department. Every Monday he would travel to Giants Stadium and spend the day in the weight room with the entire team. Through this experience, Dr. Maggs started the development of his sports biomechanics program that he named The Structural Management® Program. He also realized that normal biomechanics in the body had long been established in the literature, so designing a test to identify a patient’s abnormal biomechanics was necessary. This became his Structural Fingerprint® Exam, the only biomechanical exam in the country available today.
During the 2020 pandemic, Dr. Maggs had 3 Medical Peer Reviewed studies published. The material written about in these studies should change the way we look at athletes, especially from a prevention perspective. In 2019, Dr. Maggs became the owner of the Albany Patroons, and after incorporating his Structural Management® Program, the team played 9 games with no injuries. COVID stopped the remainder of the season.
Dr. Maggs is now the Directror of Sports Biomechanics of The Basketball League, the league the Albany Patroons play in. The 2023 season is now concluded and there are 46 teams in the league. Looking forward to 2024.
A title such as this is usually associated with causes like cancer, diabetes or Alzheimer’s. But this one is different. This article is about sports injuries. I’m enjoying reading the new book by Jim Weber, the reigning CEO of Brooks Running and Brooks is committed to do something about injury prevention.
The baseball world is abuzz over the recent diagnosis of Mike Trout’s back injury. According to renowned spine surgeon Dr. Robert Watkins, Trout has a rare back condition known as a costovertebral dysfunction. This condition produces pain, inflammation and an inability to perform.
If you’ve ever watched people walking while sitting at an airport, you’re amazed at the diversity of motion. Some limping, some bent forward, some tipping to one side, some taking baby steps, and every now and then, someone looks normal. Many have braces, some have canes, but everyone is totally unique.
