"Many patients imagine that they have tried everything.  True, they have used many remedies, but they have never had the cause of their infirmity adjusted."

--D.D. Palmer, the founder of chiropractic

January 03, 2011

When Oakland Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski gets injured, he goes to chiropractor Peter Goldman for an adjustment. Same with B.J. Penn, Jake Shields and several other mixed martial arts fighters.

If a fighter says, "I got caught in a Kimura," for example, Goldman knows his arm got twisted behind his back by an opponent. A black belt in Oyama full-contact karate and a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Goldman was a full-contact karate fighter in the early '90s.

Goldman grew up in New York City and has a bachelor's in economics from Brandeis University and a doctor of chiropractic degree from Life University in Marietta, Ga. He lives in the Sunset District with his wife, 9-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter. His office is in Cow Hollow.

When I was 16, I looked in the Yellow Pages for a karate school. I found a total master, Soshu Shigeru Oyama. I got my black belt from him. And then I became an actual fighter, which I never expected to do. My last official fight was '92.

I still train with mixed martial arts fighters. They're pros in their 20s, and I'm 43 and I'm fighting with them. I guess they respect that on some level. I still do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. No-Gi submission grappling. Thai boxing. I love it.

I'm not a sports chiropractor. I take care of little kids, elderly people, pregnant ladies. It just happens that I have such good results with pro athletes that they keep coming to me. Thirty-five to 40 percent of my patients are athletes.

With MMA fighters, I see a lot of chronic neck problems. You get hit in the head again and again, your neck's getting jolted. But see, my goal with a patient is not just to fix their neck so it feels good. My goal is to make their neck so balanced they can go back and continue to do that sport and feel great.

I practice a technique called Zone Healing developed by Dr. Thurman Fleet in 1931. Most chiropractic techniques align the spine to allow for proper nerve flow. What Dr. Fleet invented is something that stimulates the spinal cord in certain places to send healing energy up to the brain, so the brain is more able to communicate properly with the cells of the body.

There are points in the back of the head that relate to the different systems in the body: glandular, eliminative, nerve, digestive, muscular and circulatory. Every cell in the body is encompassed in those six systems. Once I feel the points on the back of the head to determine which system to work on, I gently stimulate the spine in specific places that relate to that system.

In my opinion, 99 percent of what imbalances the different systems of the body is mental or emotional. When I work with someone, I can usually intuitively tell what emotions are throwing off their body. Sometimes I give them a little visualization to kind of reset the patterns of the subconscious before I work on them.

When Dr. Fleet died in 1983, his type of healing fell off quite a bit. It's actually not taught in any chiropractic school. I learned it from one of his students, Dave Brown, while I was going to chiropractic school in Georgia. Dr. Brown was semiretired, and I went out to his house almost every Sunday for four years.

I'm not religious at all in terms of formality and tradition. But when you do what I do, you start realizing there's a power. You can call that whatever you want: God, energy, consciousness, the unknown, the power, nature. You realize that that power is the power that heals the body.

Bruce Gradkowski had a third-degree separation of his right AC (acromioclavicular) joint. They were discussing him getting surgery. He said, "This is my right shoulder. This is how I make my money."

I told him, "There's a power that created the body, that created the universe. It's certainly strong enough to heal your shoulder." In a few weeks, we had him 100 percent.

I love my job. If I won the lottery and I had $100 million in the bank, I'd go to work for free. I love helping people. But I don't think about it too much. When you're really in a good groove, like I am with this, the less thinking the better.

Ultimate Grappling Magazine interview with BJ Penn:

"I was a little skeptical and hesitant at first but the alternative was to get surgery," says Penn, who, at one point, could not lift his arm over his head. When Goldman made the initial adjustment, the discomfort was gone in 60 seconds, says Penn. When Goldman moved to the next area, the treatment and results were the same. "It was pretty crazy," says Penn. "I still work with him to this day to help tune me up for my fights. Call it whatever you want, but the stuff works."

Tapout Magazine interview with Eddie Bravo:

"My lower back was wrecked; I actually thought I wouldn't be able to walk when I was an old man. I was thinking I would have to go through serious back surgery. I tried a bunch of chiropractors and an accupuncturist, but the pain always came back.  Now my back feels so good sometimes I almost forget to go, but I'm never going to stop going to Dr. Pete."

Tapout Magazine interview with John Machado:

"About 10 years ago I had my worst injury. I really thought that was the end for me. I was trying to get better, going to chiropractors and other doctors. Then I met Peter. Peter worked on my neck for 10 days straight. It's not a matter of believing or not believing; I felt improvement."