I describe myself as a happy healthy man.  I have been interested in health, wellness, and fitness since I was a child.  For satisfying my interest, I pursued education and experience.  I gained wisdom and knowledge to improve the overall health and wellness of my own.  It led me to decide to choose athletic training as my career.  For over 20 years, I have helped people to recover from injuries and pain and guide them to improve their lifestyle.    

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Now, with my knowledge and experience, I want more people to learn to be healthy.  Being healthy consists of multi factors.  Health is a bit more complex than you would think.  World Health Organization defines “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”   

 

To become healthy, you have multiple different things to do.  I feel it is my mission to help you and guide you to achieve optimum performance and fitness and become healthy.      

 

 

 

The following is a short story of what I’ve done to become who I am.  

 

My childhood

My interest in physical strength began in childhood, as I was drawn to cartoon characters and movie stars who possessed impressive physical abilities. Although I was a competitive swimmer and practiced kendo (Japanese fencing) from an early age, I was more like a chubby side. I became interested in changing my physique, and I started training with one of my classmates in junior high school. Back then, we didn't have much knowledge or theory, but we became quite strong through primitive exercises like running, push-ups, sit-ups, and some funky exercises we saw in Kung Fu movies.

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In high school, I joined a football team, and I was drawn to the physical ability and performance of athletes. Around that time, I started weight training and reading Muscle and Fitness magazines to learn about training and nutrition. Although exercising was hard and sometimes harsh, I felt weight training was more like a discipline, and I went to the gym regularly throughout high school. As a result, I became recognized as one of the strong guys in our school.

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Through my experience of getting injured and recovering from injuries as a typical football player, I became interested in athletic training. Athletic training or sports rehabilitation was not popular in Japan at that time, and I didn't even know athletic training. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to meet with a Japanese athletic trainer who had studied in the US, and he gave me the idea of studying abroad in the US.

 

My college days

I finally decided to come to the US for studying athletic training. Back then, there was no internet, so the information was limited. I happened to choose Vincennes University, a junior college in Indiana that offered athletic training under a major of physical education. After graduating from VU with honors, I was successfully transferred to Indiana State University, which had an Athletic Training major with a reputation. In my senior year, I was assigned to a baseball team for an entire year. After graduating from ISU with honors, I stayed at school for another year to take some extra classes, one of which was a class to become an EMT, and I achieved an EMT license in Indiana. Then, I decided to proceed to a Master’s program of athletic training at San Jose State University, seeking further education and more practical experience.

 

Looking back, I feel lucky to have attended three different schools because I had the opportunity to learn from different professors and athletic trainers. Also, it was great to meet classmates and learn from them who had different backgrounds.

When I was at SJSU, I started my career as an athletic trainer at a sports medicine clinic in Santa Cruz, California.

 

 

As an athletic trainer

I became a certified athletic trainer soon after graduation from Indiana State University.  I was one of a few students in my class who passed an exam for a first attempt.  Since 1998, I have been a certified athletic trainer.  

 

According to a definition by National Athletic Trainers’ Association, “Athletic trainers are highly qualified, multi-skilled health care professionals who render service or treatment, under the direction of or in collaboration with a physician.” As it's described in the definition, I believe athletic trainers should possess multi-skills of health, medicine, fitness, and wellness.    

 

Traditionally, athletic trainers work in athletics, such as professional sports, college, or high school athletics.  At first, I wanted to work in the NFL.  However, through education and clinical experiences, I was more drawn to helping people of all ages and backgrounds.  Then, my interest was shifted to overall health and wellness.     

 

Since I started my career as an athletic trainer in a sports medicine clinic, I’ve focused on improving my skill of evaluation and assessment in order to detect possible causes of pain that patients suffer.  I’ve trained myself to see a big picture rather than focusing on a small body part.  For example, for treating grade 2 ankle sprain, achieving full range of motion in the ankle joint, full strength with ankle movements, and function to be able to walk, jog, run, hop,.. must be accomplished but may not be enough.  There would be factors why he or she has sprained the ankle, such as poor gait pattern, poor body mechanics with other movement patterns, weak core muscles, weak other stabilizer muscles, limited flexibility of other joints, a length-tension relationship of other body parts, or gastrointestinal inflammation that inhibits the overall function of the core.  If the patient has any of those that significantly affect the likelihood of occurring his/her ankle sprain, these should be addressed.   

 

Further, I’ve focused on improving my therapeutic skills.  In addition to the education of formal athletic training from colleges, I needed to enhance my skills to prescribe appropriate therapeutic exercises.  Also, I pursued further training and education of hands-on massage techniques and holistic lifestyle coaching.

 

 

Massage Therapy

As a part of the education and training of athletic training, I learned basic hands-on techniques to release tightness from soft tissues.  Also, as I grew up in Japan, I learned how to give a massage from experience.  It was common for kids in Japan to be asked for a massage from parents.  

 

Although I was strongly confident in my hands-on-technique, I hadn’t had formal education and training of massage therapy.  Therefore, I decided to seek them at Five Branches University in California.  After I completed all the necessary classes while I was still working full-time at a clinic, I became a certified massage therapist in California.      

 

I believe the application of massage greatly helps to reduce tension from tight muscles and fascia that is difficult to loosen only by stretching and mobilization exercises.  If you suffer from stubborn chronic muscle tension in the neck, the low back, or any other body parts, I would recommend finding a good massage therapist.  Also, there are quite a few effective self-massage techniques that you can practice at home.  I am planning to introduce those on this website.  

 

 

Holistic Lifestyle Coaching

The idea of holistic lifestyle coaching helped me to widen my capability as a therapist.  Through my clinical experience, I soon realized there should be underlining factors affecting one’s pain in addition to an actual injury.  Also, I realized if a patient was generally more healthy, he or she was able to recover from injury easier.   

 

To become healthy, there are multiple different factors you need to work on.  At least, you need to focus on 4 main things: 1. Good resting, 2. Good eating habits, 3. Exercising, and 4. Enjoying your life.      

 

If you miss any one of those, you won’t be able to become “healthy.”  Throughout my career as an athletic trainer for 20 years, I have seen so many cases of people suffering from pain not simply by the injury itself.  It’s also affected by their lifestyle — lack of sleep, inadequate sleep schedule, poor diet, dehydration, too little exercise, too much exercise, too much stress, ….   Those things either indirectly cause pain or slow the process of healing. 

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Now, I utilize the wisdom of holistic lifestyle coaching, I’ve given advice to my patients to improve their lifestyle for them to recover from pain efficiently.     

 

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Thank you for reading!