GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A local doctor is headed to the Olympic games next week.
He’ll be there to help out with the U.S. decathlon team.
Inside this exam room, Doctor Curt Draeger is using a therapeutic laser to help people suffering from chronic pain, it’s the same laser therapy he uses on Olympic athletes.
“It goes four or five inches deep and it feels like a heat lamp. That light, which is invisible, will go inside the nucleus of a cell that’s damage and starts RNA and DNA repair”
The Green Bay doctor is heading to Rio with Team U. S. A. making it his fourth trip to the Olympics.
“I specifically take care of the world’s greatest athletes or the decathlon team, they do 10 events”
He says he’s worked with a number of athletes, including Olympic Gold Medalist Ashton Eaton.
“The majority of the injuries we see are extremity related, sometimes spinal, and pelvic related, because all the power for an athlete comes from their hips and pelvis, so they’ll injure their groin or their hip”
Draeger says although working with Olympic athletes is a dream come true, it’s what he learns them that he can apply to his daily practice.
“What’s nice is, that all that I learn from treating the world’s greatest athletes I bring back for my chronic pain patients so they can have a quality of life, that’s what’s most rewarding for me”
It leaves a lasting memory that he can then share with patients in his exam rooms.
The decathlon is scheduled for Wednesday, August 17th and Thursday, August 18th.
