IPF 2024 World Bench Press Austin USA

Written by Dr. Mark Strudwick

The 2024 World Bench Press Championships in Austin, Texas, are in the books. Over 800 athletes from 41 countries participated in the event. Dr. Raymod Gaskey (Atlanta, GA) was the first on the scene and had an excellent spot in the warm-up area for us to work from. Everyone entering or leaving the area had to walk by us, plus it was in front of the Powerlifting America logo, which was a popular photo op location.

Dr. Nikki Wan (Austin, TX) came later in the first week and continued on alternate days into the second week. Drs. Cynthia VanSickler (Davenport, IA) and Mark Strudwick (Victoria, BC) rounded out the team in the second week. Everyone involved in the event stayed at the local Marriott locations, where we would shuttle by bus over to the venue at St. Edward’s University. Eleiko, one of the event sponsors, has its U.S. headquarters in Austin, a training facility for lifters and social activities. The organizers did an excellent job, as it all seemed to run pretty seamlessly. As volunteers, we were all well taken care of. There were athletic therapists on duty across the hall from us to be called upon when needed. They had a pretty quiet event.

As far as numbers go, over the 11 days of the event, we had 515 patient visits, several of whom were individuals returning for follow-up care.  And we all saw lifters who were new to chiropractic care after seeing a teammate or coach being treated by us and would come over. Again, the visibility of our location was an advantage as a first-timer could watch for a while before committing. As this was my second IPF event, I particularly enjoyed seeing lifters whom I had met previously and could re-acquaint and treat them again. The problems we saw tended to be shoulder issues and low back pain that were chronic in origin. There was the odd acute rotator cuff or neck strain to keep things interesting. I noticed in checking active ranges of motion how great the spinal extension is in this population compared to what I see day-to-day. The bench press technique involves getting right up on their shoulder blades, as high as possible, and then arching their backs right down to their sacrum. It is surprising how little of them are actually in contact with the bench. One morning I had breakfast with an orthopedic resident who told me that 100% of bench press lifters they see in his ‘shoulder-specialty’ office have posterior labrum tears, presumably from supporting the tremendous weight over time eventually taking its toll.  It was also interesting to hear the various walks of life that the lifters come from, which I found to be just like our practices: from air traffic control, IT services, former Olympian, military, physiotherapist to osteopath, there really wasn’t an industry not represented among these folks. Powerlifting is for everyone!

Of note for me personally was treating a Ukrainian lifter, with very little English, who hugged me after treatment with gratitude and in trying to recommend follow-up care once he returned home, he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders in resignation that this was not going to be possible due to the war. Truly sad, but it’s important that we were there to provide some level of care that is not otherwise possible.  I should also note how Eleiko had a chiropractor at their site for the athletes to access as they trained over the course of the event. He/she was not associated with FICS but was brought in by Eleiko specifically for their site. After thinking about this a bit, I believe the Eleiko people have previously seen the high usage of chiropractors at IPF events and wanted lifters to have another reason to be at their facility.

It is actually a credit to what FICS doctors have done at these events that it is being emulated. Gaston Parage, the IPF President, said as much when he reiterated this in conversation with Dr. Ray and myself, how they appreciate FICS being there.