Chiropractor Dr. Michael Chamberland has joined Gifford’s Sharon Health Center, fulfilling a dream to work at a multidisciplinary sports medicine practice.
Originally from Bellows Falls, Dr. Chamberland attended the University of Vermont, studying pre-medicine and nutritional sciences. He went on to Western States Chiropractor College in Portland, Ore., earning his doctor of chiropractic degree.
He credits a back injury with steering him toward chiropractic.
He got hurt playing hockey. Months went by without relief until he visited a chiropractor for the first time in his life. “It was a chiropractic miracle, so to speak,” he says, remembering recovering his full range of motion after his first adjustment and being symptom-free within two weeks. “For me, I just couldn’t believe it. I realized that it was the perfect profession for me.”
After a chiropractic internship at Western States Chiropractic Clinics in Oregon, Dr. Chamberland returned to Vermont. He opened a private practice, Catamount Chiropractic, in Colchester as well as working at Jerome Family Chiropractic in Montpelier and Temple Chiropractic in Bellows Falls.
He maintains his private practice part-time, which shares space with a physical therapy facility, but couldn’t pass up an opportunity to work at the Sharon Health Center. “That was the ideal,” he says of the Sharon sports medicine team that includes podiatry, general sports medicine, physical therapists and an athletic trainer, and fellow chiropractor Dr. Hank Glass. “It (a multidisciplinary sports medicine team) doesn’t exist in Burlington. It generally doesn’t exist on the East Coast.”
The Sharon Health Center is part of Gifford Medical Center. Gifford’s family atmosphere and collaborative, team approach were also attractive, he notes.
Dr. Chamberland is board certified by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners. His clinical interests include prevention and treatment of sports injuries, sports nutrition, posture assessment, injury risk assessment and advanced imaging.
A resident of Essex, Dr. Chamberland is an athlete in his free time, including playing hockey, kiteboarding, alpine skiing, golf, tennis, cycling, hiking, water skiing and wakeboarding. He worked as an alpine race coach in Vail, Colo., as well as Smugglers’ Notch, for a time. He was even part of a race crew for the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships in Vail.
Now he is putting his athletic and chiropractic experience to work in Sharon. Call him Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at the Sharon Health Center at (802) 763-8000.