Thoughts & Prayers: A Nick Diaz Story

“Whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of billing insurance companies for nonsensical treatments.”

UFC welterweight Nick Diaz, who may or may not be retired from cage fighting, recently paid a visit to Dr. Beau Hightower, Director of Sports Medicine for Jackson-Wink MMA (according to his Instagram page). Diaz candidly spoke about a number of topics regarding his life and combat sports career, which you can read about here.

I’m more interested in the giant golf tee being hammered into his eight hole.

A quick Google search tells me this is “hammer and chisel” therapy that is growing in popularity among high-impact athletes. But just like the Chiropractic field, not everyone is aligned (har har) on the effectiveness of its application. Looks cool, but one slip of that giant chisel and it’s goodbye yellow brick road.

“Due to the violent nature of their training, the level of impact that they sustain day-in and day-out, and the volume of work that they do, this all predisposes them to get into non optimal ‘patterns’ in their musculoskeletal structure,” Dr. Carlos Gamero, director at Elite Ortho-Therapy and Sports Medicine in Las Vegas, told Muscle & Fitness. “The hammer and chisel help me to correct these patterns.”

I’m sure it also helps correct monthly profits since every new gadget is an excuse to upcharge patients.

“Once we correct the structural imbalance with the hammer and chisel, other methods such as self-myofascial release (for example, by using a foam roller), therapeutic exercise, and postural correction should be employed to maintain the changes we achieve during the session,” Gamero continued. “An average therapy session is usually around one hour, with the hammer and chisel aspect being only a couple of minutes in length.”

I guess it beats this awful therapy.