Shelby Township

Shelby Township chiropractor joins Team USA in London

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Staff Writer

SHLEBY TOWNSHIP — Every four years, the nation turns it attention to Olympic athletes, and Ed McCuiston, of Shelby Township, is helping them stand straight and proud for their Olympic moments.

As part of Maximized Living’s Wellness Advisory Council, McCuiston, a chiropractor, is heading to London for the 2012 games to work with Team USA’s wrestling, judo and weightlifting teams to help ensure athletes get the most out of their Olympic experiences.

“It’s a great motivator, just being around this caliber of athletes and how focused they are,” McCuiston said. “They train their whole lives for just seconds.

“The elite athletes look at everything,” McCuiston added of treating such patients as Olympic athletes or his work with the Red Wings alumni team. “When it comes to a match, it’s just a little difference between the gold and not winning.”

That kind of pressure leads the nation’s wrestling, judo and weightlifting teams to enlist the services of the Wellness Advisory Council, which brings an ideal of whole-body health through “five essentials,” including chiropractic adjustments and nutrition.

“We’re there to serve at whatever capacity the athlete needs,” McCuiston said. “I’m there in phase one in the first week of the Olympics. We’re there for USA wrestling, judo or weightlifting, whatever the athlete needs.”

There will be more than 100 chiropractors from the Wellness Advisory Council working at the Olympics, but McCuiston is the lone representative from Michigan heading to the games.

“About a year ago,” McCuiston said of when he knew he’d be going to London. “Through the Wellness Advisory Council, they announced this team was going over to help.”

To prepare for his trip, which starts July 29, McCuiston has “been training for three years to specifically work with” judo athletes and has traveled to events in Grand Rapids and Lansing, as well as spent time in Colorado working with athletes as they train.

“My staff is getting pretty excited,” McCuiston said, noting the international flags and Olympic medals that hang from his office ceiling and the running countdown to his departure outside the office at 46755 Hayes Road in Shelby Township.

“My patients are excited to be part of it because they are going through a lot of the same things as some of these athletes.”

McCuiston operates his practice, Touch of Life Chiropractic, with his wife, Sandie McCuiston, who will be managing their office and family full time while her husband is at the Olympics.

“I usually work three afternoons a week, but I’ll be here more,” Sandie McCuiston said. “I’ll watch as much (of the Olympics) as I can. It would be really neat to see him on TV.”

Ed McCuiston said traveling to London and experiencing the Olympics is just part of the benefit of working with athletes at the top of their game.

He said seeing the way they live life and approach their goals is inspiring, and he hopes to bring some of that Olympic spirit back to Shelby Township.

“Its great to be with Olympic athletes, but the big thing is to bring that to our community,” Ed McCuiston said. “Our big thing is changing the way people view their health care, and helping them live healthier lives.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Brad D. Bates at bbates@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1029.