Chiropractor honored for Olympic activities

Dr. Ira Shapiro (r) accepts the Special Service Award from Dr. Sigmund Miller, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors.

OLD BRIDGE - Dr. Ira A. Shapiro, of Manalapan, director of the Plaza Chiropractic Center, Englishtown Road, has been honored by the Assoc-iation of New Jersey Chiro-practors (ANJC) with a Special Service Award.

The honor, bestowed annually upon physicians who exemplify chiropractic excellence in New Jersey, was awarded to Shapiro for his medical support to the past two U.S. Olympic teams as well as his 20 years of commitment to the field.

Shapiro is the only chiropractor ever named to the medical staff of two U.S. Olympic teams. Earlier this year, he attended to the chiropractic needs of more than 200 American athletes competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

In 2004, Shapiro worked on the U.S. Olympic Committee staff that provided medical services to more than 500 U.S. men and women participating in the Olympic games in Athens, Greece.

"This award, along with the others he received this year, confirms what we have known for more than 20 years," says Dr. Sigmund Miller, executive director of the ANJC. "Dr. Ira A. Shapiro is one of the finest sports chiropractors in the country."

In addition, Shapiro was named 2006 Sports Doctor of the Year by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) Council on Sports Injuries and Physical Fitness.

This spring, he was also awarded a joint resolution from the New Jersey State General Assembly and a proclamation from Old Bridge Township.

"I am truly honored by all the attention," Shapiro said. "I've accepted these awards on behalf of my own efforts as well as the chiropractic profession. I am thrilled to have helped elevate chiropractics to the level of respect that it deserves."

Over the past 20 years, Shapiro has served as an attending physician at numerous international, national and regional sporting events including the Gatorade Iron-man Triathlon World Cham-pionship, World Championship of Free-Style Wrestling, World Sport Aerobic Championship, U.S. Figure Skating Championship, National Collegiate Tae Kwan Do Championship and the Garden State Games.

A diplomate of the Amer-ican Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians, Shapiro received his doctor of chiropractic from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, and a bachelor of science degree in biology and psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison.