The eighth annual All-African Games were held this year on the island of Mauritius, June 25-28. Mauritius, a country the size of Rhode Island, some 500 miles east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, was home to some 450-500 track and field competitors from 32 countries.
This marked the fifth year that the Federation Internationale de Chiropratique Sportive (FICS) sent a delegation of doctors to the African Games. DCs Arnold Sandlow (Los Angeles), Chris Prosser (Melbourne, (Australia), and Joseph Alberello (Siena, Italy) represented chiropractic and FICS at this year's games.
Most of the athletes were receptive to chiropractic; indeed, reported Dr. Sandlow, the athletes "started lining up for care from the moment we set our tables up."
Dr. Sandlow commended the efforts of FICS representatives, DCs Allan Miller, Scott Calzaretta, Brian Nook, and David Pierson, in building a foundation of positive exposure of chiropractic for the African athletes over the past five years.
Still, not all the African athletes knew the benefits of chiropractic. The South African team, for example, waited till the third day of the competition before two of their athletes ventured forth to seek out the chiropractors. Impressed by the care, the South African team began sending their athletes, accompanied by their coaches, to experience for themselves this marvelous treatment called chiropractic.
While the athletes were getting adjustments, crowds of people would watch the DCs at work: certainly many had never seen a chiropractor at work.
Dr. Sandlow said the event gave the FICS team "a chance to give something back for all the goodness this profession has bestowed upon us, and at the same time, growing and learning from the experience."
The DCs left the games with a sense of fulfillment for the care they provided, the many thanks they received, and the gratitude expressed by the athletes.
The FICS doctors encourage other DCs to join the organization and participate in events such as these.
Spreading the word of chiropractic in such international settings is what FICS is all about. Dr. Sandlow relates that after returning home, he received a fax inviting him to work with athletes from Swaziland.
Stephen Kelly
Assistant Editor
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