One thing that Mike has noticed in his career is that he is able to empathize with people from all different stages of life, seeing a part of himself in each individual that he treats.
When treating a 16-year-old teenager, Mike is treating his 16-year-old self: an avid athlete, who played soccer and football, and accumulated numerous ankle injuries.
Mike is treating his future self or his parents when he treats people aged 60 and above, considering the unique goals that they might have such as keeping up with grandkids or enjoying their favorite sports activities as they age.
A particular passion of Mike’s is golf, a sport he has been playing for over 10 years, which allows him to be able to empathize with golfers in particular, knowing all too well the trials, tribulations, and barriers they may face.
Mike understands the pain you feel in your right lumbosacral area, or the pinch you feel in your knee when you follow through in your swing.
As a Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) specialist, Mike is an expert at specifically helping those with golf injuries to get rid of the pain that might be holding them back. Mike works closely with golf coaches, who often have clients where everything is going well, but there is something that could be wrong which is preventing them from excelling further, such as limited hip mobility. To identify the problem, Mike takes the client through a specific golf screen, which is also used by many professional golfers who have won major championships, a process learned at TPI.
Clients are taken through a screening, with sensors placed on them and asked to swing. Mike then observes their sequencing to determine what is restricting optimal play, which could be a range of different factors including musculoskeletal, balance, motor control, strength and mobility. Once the root cause has been identified, Mike works on teaching the golfer how to fix the issue.
This program has yielded many successful results, with Mike himself experiencing the benefits of it. When faced with issues such as stiffness in the neck or a lack of thoracic rotation, Mike has been able to fix these problems by putting himself through the program.
His love for treating golfers stems from his passion for golf, a passion that is shared by his family and friends, and that he intends to pass on to his children.