WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Healthy as a Horse: Episode 7

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Dr. Chris Netley joins Ella to explain the full scope of chiropractic care. It has many more benefits than most people realize, especially athletes. 

Welcome to your healthy as a horse when we discuss health and wellness for the Hostile Chargers. I'm Ella Malone, and our guest today is Dr. Chris Netley. He is a chiropractor specializing in active care beyond pain management. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Through this show, I'm trying to answer a pretty big, broad question, but I like to hear people's opinion. I hear often from people on my team and athletes hear that being an athlete at this level, division two or higher, comes at the sacrifice of your health.

do you think this is true and how can athletes prioritize their general health while maximizing athletic performance? Well, that's a good question. I should have read these ahead of time, so I can have a good answer for that. I think first of all, I would have to, we'd have to figure out are we on the same page of how we define health? Yes. Because I think that's a whole other topic for another show, I guess. I think on the balance, an athlete can be healthy and compete at a high level. The problem that athletes run into is there are temptations and sometimes requirements to do unhealthy things in order to win. A simple example of performance enhancing drugs. An athlete who is, by all accounts, healthy, decides to step outside of what we have determined

as healthy in order to gain a competitive advantage or just to manage whatever is going on right there, I mean, because maybe they're going up against someone who's gotten an edge on them. That can be a slippery slope, especially if they're successful. There are just so many examples where an athlete who, by all accounts, healthy, will do unhealthy things in order to win. And I think as a health care provider, even as someone who specializes in sports medicine, the health of the athlete is paramount, we would have to look at those things and make sure that overall this athlete is still existing primarily within a realm of health that's been

determined, you know, that we've agreed upon. And I think that's probably the most important. So I guess that's not a great answer to your question. Yeah, I think you can, but I think there might be good reasons to step outside of that. You know, if you're in your early 30s and you're going to the Olympics, and this is your last shot at a gold medal, and you're willing to step outside of the realm of healthy to win a gold. You got a high risk tolerance. I don't know that a lot of people would necessarily step in your way unless it was going to endanger someone else or it's illegal.

So I think there are a lot of examples where I don't know if it's negative to be unhealthy temporarily. I mean, I would say most pre-season's probably borderline unhealthy. But that's not necessarily a bad thing unless it becomes dangerous, pathological, or maybe send someone down the wrong path. For example, with female athletes, whatever a female athlete's doing, if she's starting to lose her monthly cycle.

Yeah. You know, I think that's a big indication that we need to make some changes. I guess that's a roundabout way of answering your question. No, it's a big question, so I know that it's going to have a long answer. I saw on your Instagram you talk about small incremental changes, making big effects.

So what are maybe two habits, athletes in general, you think should be implementing into their routines. I think recovery for athletes is one of the biggest things that gets overlooked. And recovery is such a gimmicky thing right now because there's so many, like, products and services out there that really have no evidence behind them. And I think it's really hard to overtrain, really hard. The human body is amazing, and you can push it really hard.

It is really, really difficult, or really easy, rather, to underrecover. That makes sense. So athletes are going to go out there. They're going to burn the candle at both ends, especially collegiate athletes who are trying to do well in school and trying to have a social life. They're trying to maintain relationships. And then they're also trying to be competitive in sport. Maybe some of them are trying to go be a professional or go to the Olympics. So a lot of times, the things that will be cut are the things that are most important for recovery.

So sleep and nutrition, I think those two are huge. I think they're under appreciated by a lot of collegiate athletes. So I think if you were going to look at the little things, I would look at sleep quality and sleep duration. I would look at the quality of your nutrition. And I would look at expectations and stress management, the mental side of it. Well, thank you so much for coming on this show today.

Dr. Netley, where can listeners find you? So on YouTube, it's just at Chris Netley, D.C. One of my Instagram handles is at Chris Netley, D.C. and then I have, my company is called Build Beyond Health, so at Build Beyond Health. All right, thank you. I'm Ella Malone, and this has been Healthy as a Horse for Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.