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Dear Fellow Practitioner

Be inspired by another amazing story from one of our fellow practitioners, Mark Akers, DC. After overcoming many obstacles, he won the ATA Taekwondo World Championship in 2017 at age 64! No one tells it better than Mark himself, so here he is…

“I am Dr. Mark Akers, and I’m 66 years old. I have been practicing chiropractic for 27 years. I use SOT, NET, Applied Kinesiology advanced nutraceuticals, and a variety of other methods to deliver full person health care. I had focused my practice on chronic health issues and was testing my metabolic fitness by training and competing in Taekwondo with the ATA (American Taekwondo Association). I am a 2nd Degree Black Belt having trained for 15 years starting after age 50. Before that, I was not athletic and was a nerdy bookworm growing up.

I attended an Advanced Erchonia Laser seminar in 2016 with Dr. Jerome Rerucha after buying an Erchonia FX 635. I was excited that he had developed a practice and methods that were addressing both health care and fitness issues. 

One of the clinical tools Dr. Rerucha presented was the Serola Sacroiliac Belt. He described seeing Dr. Marc Pick holding a cadaver pelvis and demonstrating how a healthy, stable SI barely moved, and an unstable SI flopped around when physically stressing the pelvis during Dr. Pick’s anatomy presentation. That was a powerful epiphany to me. I knew that if nothing changed, that would be my pelvis at the end. As a Doctor, I had thought of myself as God’s gift to Sacroiliac patients. I even had SI belts in my inventory. I was not using it for me and barely for my patients.

Additionally, his Fitness Integration Technique (F.I.T.)® testing methods clearly showed me how the SI weight-bearing fault created weakness and imbalances affecting my entire pelvis. But also how unstable my feet and ankles were from the SI neurological injury. It became obvious to me from the functional exam alone how my pelvis was impairing my feet and ankles and how this was preventing me from achieving the training goals I had set for myself.

I started using some of Dr. Rerucha’s methods on my patients and me, along with his FX635 laser protocols. This greatly enhanced my training, and I qualified to compete in the ATA Worlds Tournament of Champions in 2016. Unfortunately, I forgot to put on my SI belt at that competition. I totally humiliated myself with my worst performance ever. Almost falling, (with no contact), due to instability under the level of stress and intensity required for competition. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I came back determined to change the way I think and move to train to a higher level.

At the next seminar I spoke with Dr. Rerucha about my specific situation. I purchased the Calf Master to build up my single-leg stability and got up to 125 reps on each leg.

Dr. Jerome describes achieving “physical capacity” for health, but the human metrics need to be increased based upon the level of the performance goal. I was going for world-class. And that is how I set the goal of 125 one-legged repetitions on the Calf Master to help correct a chiropractic problem but also to give me a performance advantage over everyone. I now understood to use Dr. Jerome Fitness Integration Technique (F.I.T.)® evaluation findings and apply clinical exercise (not rehab). And continue to integrate my laser and chiropractic care and of course using the Serola SI Belt, Calf Master, and variety of corrective pelvic strengthening F.I.T.® techniques. I qualified again for Worlds, and this time took a World Championship in 2017, with my Sacroiliac firmly supported.

This accomplishment showed me how life-changing, even the simple things we do, can be for our patients. The tools took me from pretty good to the best of the best. Since then, I have had patients tell me how their lives have changed using this simplest of tools.

Not everyone gets to experience a world championship and the sheer joy of accomplishment and recognition from everyone around them. I now look into my patient’s eyes when they are at their lowest most desperate point in life and affirm that they can win and be true champions of life”.

Live well and pass it on!

Mark Akers, DC