Transcripts from Don Petersen’s interview with Sarah Harding on June 22, 2006.

Dynamic Chiropractic (DC): How did you get involved in this chiropractic advertising campaign?

Sarah Harding (SH): Basically, I’ve always believed in chiropractic care. My parents, I have three older brothers, introduced my bothers and myself to chiropractic care when we were very young and it’s been an instrumental part of my life. I believe that it allowed me to do gymnastics when I was very little and allowed me to stay in sports and lead a very active lifestyle. I think it’s natural to have aches and pains when you bend your body in directions it wasn’t necessarily meant to be done so it makes sense to go to a chiropractor to get my body back in alignment. Ever since I can remember I went to a chiropractor. So, when I heard about the foundation, I knew that I wanted to be a part of it and support chiropractic care so that others can learn about its benefits.

DC: I understand that you experienced some back problems that caused you to see a chiropractor. Please elaborate on the problems.

SH: Back in 1996, I was a freshman at Stanford on the women’s gymnastics team. I was having severe low back pain and learned I had a stress fracture in my back. At the time, because I had moved, I hadn’t found a chiropractor yet in California. I had grown up in Hawaii and had a chiropractor there, but, of course, hadn’t found one yet. I was diagnosed with a stress fracture and was put in a brace for four months and was made immobile, which didn’t help at all, and was given two cortisone shots. That at least reduced the pain, but it didn’t necessarily help the symptoms or help the problem, I guess, or the source. After the cortisone shots, I was able to find a chiropractor and get back in alignment, as well as do a lot of core strengthening — a lot of hamstring work, a lot of abdominal work — and basically strengthen the weakness in my low back and compensate for any pain I was originally having. I was able to continue my career in gymnastics. Because, at one point I was worried I would have to have surgery and I finally decided no, let’s see what other route we can go, and thanks to chiropractic care and overall strengthening as my core, I was able to continue my gymnastics career, and have a very successful one where I became an All-American on the floor exercise my junior year and helped our team make history where we won the Pac 10 championships in 1998, and then in 1999, we won the regional championships and after that I continued my chosen career of acrobatics.

DC: What did the doctor do? What was the result?

SH: I’ve now seen several chiropractors since, basically, he would just make sure I was adjusted. But also, I’ve done heat, I’ve had some chiropractors who believe in acupuncture as well, massage therapy, deep tissue, where its basically reminding the body how to move in a way because I think my L4/L5 joint kind of basically gets…L4 moves too much and L5 tries to compensate and gets locked up. That’s kind of where I felt my pain. Any time in my career in the last 10 years where I feel like I haven’t been able to maintain my movement or I feel a little bit of pain, I will go to the chiropractor and get an adjustment and kind of remind myself not only how he can manipulate it, but also how I can do exercises to increase the mobility and allow my body to move naturally, the way it’s supposed to.

DC: Is chiropractic a regular part of your wellness plan? How often do you see your chiropractor?

SH: Yes, it is. I actually see a chiropractor now every two weeks. I recently had shoulder surgery, and before I had surgery and all through rehab, I’ve been seeing a chiropractor to help with getting rid of scar tissue and making sure that my body is in alignment so it heals the best that it can, as quickly as it can and to the best of my body’s ability. And I do believe that seeing a chiropractor every two weeks just allows me to do the job that I have.

DC: How has chiropractic care played a role in your overall health?

SH: I think it helps significantly. A number of chiropractors that I have seen both in California, in Hawaii and now here in Nevada, also believe in nutritional care and proper herbal supplements, all-natural supplements, and are very in tune with why your body might have a certain ache or pain. Are you getting enough calcium? You know things like that. They help me get centered and get aligned, not only physically, but also in a very overall kind of spiritual well-being without actually going into the spiritual aspect…really an overall wellness program where I feel emotionally I get centered as well, and I’m able to focus my energy in the right direction and have a very positive experience in life thanks to chiropractic care.

DC: How has it played a role in your training?

SH: In the training it’s been huge. Mainly because I believe that the line of work that I do, where I’m a professional acrobat, requires a lot of physical strength for one thing, but it also requires sometimes throwing your body in a certain position and finding out your neck gets a little bit sore or my arm is a little bit sore. Basically, aches and pains are very natural and normal with being a professional athlete, being a professional fitness competitor, or any athlete I think would agree that it’s natural to have aches and pains and so going to a chiropractor — whether it’s every two weeks, every month, or every three months — basically as a general maintenance program, it’s essential. It allows me to perform at my best and enjoy what I’m doing.

DC: What would you say to people about the importance of chiropractic in their overall health and fitness?

SH: I strongly believe that whatever you believe in will work for you and I’ve had very positive results with chiropractic care. For me, whether you’re a professional athlete or not — my parents aren’t professional athletes and they’ve been to chiropractors for as long as I can remember, at least for the last 30 years and it helps them in their everyday life, it helps them in their mobility and in just feeling…feeling happy. When you feel like you’ve got a healthy body, you’re going to move more comfortably. It’s going to affect your relationships and it’s going to affect the work that you do no matter what work you do, whether you’re sitting at a computer or playing outside or whatever you may be doing. I strongly recommend chiropractic care for everyone however each person is different and requires different needs to live a healthy life. Everyone has a choice to make health a priority and it’s your decision how you want to do it. In my case, I found chiropractic care to be my decision and to be a very healthy one for me.

DC: Would you recommend that children see a doctor of chiropractic? Why?

SH: Yes. Because, speaking from experience, as a child I was able to see a chiropractor and I noticed a difference. The biggest impact it had for me was that I was a competitive gymnast at a very young age, so it made sense that I was dealing with a fair amount of aches and pains when I was young. I remember being 12 years old and I kind of went to the chiropractor because my parents made me, almost like going to the doctor or going to the dentist, something like your parents saying oh, you’re going so you say okay, I’m going but you didn’t necessarily understand the benefits of it. I was 11 or 12 years old when I started to have pain in my wrist and it got to the point where it really frightened me because I didn’t know what was going on with my body and I think that’s very common for people to get scared when they realize their body isn’t functioning normally. It’s not functioning the way it’s supposed to or the way it used to. When you deal with pain it’s a lot more than a physical response, there’s a lot of emotional response that goes along with it. So, as a young kid or a young adolescent, I started to get really scared and I thought what if I can’t continue gymnastics? What if? I’ve got this huge gymnastics meet approaching in the next week and a half. What if I can’t go? I was supposed to travel to the mainland from Hawaii and there was a big meet in California and we went first to an orthopedic doctor who basically prescribed rest and some anti-inflammatory. And I thought, “Okay I’ll do that, but it doesn’t seem to be helping much. It doesn’t seem to be helping as quickly as I need.” Then I went to my chiropractor and he was not only doing adjustments, he was doing a lot of ice where I would soak my hand in ice for a little while just to reduce the swelling, because there was a lot of swelling going on, but he basically did a lot of other therapy in addition to just rest. In 10 days he was able to get my wrist mobile again, feeling healthy, and I actually was able to make it to the gymnastics meet. And I won the meet. And it was the first time I ever won a mainland meet and it was a big competition for me and it suddenly put things in perspective for me and I actually wanted to go to the chiropractor after that cause I thought, “Wow!” I really felt like he could work miracles and part of it was because I began to believe in what he was doing and see the benefits and it became a personal choice for me, it was no longer my parent’s decision, it was my own.

DC: Any other comments that would encourage doctors of chiropractic to actively support this campaign?

SH: Yeah, I think it’s important for chiropractors to work together and support each other. I think it’s important for chiropractors to team together and recognize that it’s important for the health of the general population to recognize the benefits of chiropractic care. And I think the best way to do it is for chiropractors to team together and to say “Hey look. We do all sorts of different things and come check out chiropractic care in your local area and find out what it can do for you.” And to recognize that it’s not a one-time quick fix, it’s not a magic pill. I feel like a lot of the “health and fitness” materials out there or products out there are a quick fix. This is a general maintenance program. It’s a way to lead an active, healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life. And I do believe that’s what this foundation will promote is basically recognizing the benefits of all the different types of chiropractors out there and allowing them to come together, pool their resources and teach each other what they’ve learned for the betterment of the general population.

DC: Is there anything you would personally like to add?

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