Dr. Nick Hadinger

Dr. Nick Hadinger is an Arizona native who studied physiology at the University of Arizona and swam Division I there, then raced at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials. The doctorate came afterward, from Northern Arizona University. He owns this practice, which in a clinic this size means he is also on the treatment floor most days rather than behind a desk. He still races triathlons, so he spends his own evenings managing exactly the training load he spends his mornings talking other people through.

The people who ask for him by name have usually already been told to rest. They are not looking to be talked out of the sport. They want to know what the shoulder is actually doing and what they can put load on while it gets better, which is a different question than whether it hurts.

His caseload is non-operative and post-operative shoulder, back, hip and knee. Non-operative means the case that has not gone to a surgeon and, handled early enough, often does not need to. Post-operative means the months after a repair, where the tissue heals on its own schedule and the job is to load it at the pace that schedule allows rather than the pace the calendar suggests. He holds a USA Weightlifting coaching credential, which shows up less in what he says than in how a barbell gets programmed back into a rehab once the joint has earned it.

Outside the clinic he works inside USA Swimming’s Sports Medicine Network, has treated Team USA athletes, and has covered the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving National Championships. He is also a clinical instructor for doctoral students from George Fox University and the University of the Pacific, which is a fair test of a clinician: you cannot teach a reasoning process you cannot say out loud.