By Lisa Zimmerman, Player Engagement Insider
Dr. John Michels knows pain. And he knows it well. Not only because pain medicine is his specialty, but because before he was a doctor he was an NFL player whose career was cut short due to back-to-back knee injuries.
Michels was drafted out of USC in the first round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. As a rookie, the offensive tackle blocked for quarterback Brett Favre and was a member of the Super Bowl XXI-winning team that beat the New England Patriots.
“I planned on having a 15-year NFL year, then retiring and doing ministry,” Michels recalled. “I knew I wanted to have an impact on people’s lives and that was my ultimate plan.”
However, that plan didn’t pan out. In 1997, Michels returned as the team’s starting left tackle, but injured his right knee in game five and ended up on injured reserve. He returned in 1998, but re-injured the knee and found himself on injured reserve again. In 1999, the Packers traded Michels to the Philadelphia Eagles, but his recovery wasn’t sufficient and he was cut, putting an end to his NFL career.
Eight surgeries later, Michels was left contemplating his next move. He had majored in Religious Studies at USC with the intention of going into the ministry. However, having endured his own medical trauma, he realized the way in which he wanted to help others now was through medicine.
At that time, Michels was already 29, but setting and attaining goals had always been part of his makeup.
In high school, Michels parents expected he and sisters to hold down jobs. Michels made a deal. In lieu of a job, he would put all his extra time into making sure he positioned himself to get a college scholarship. And he never deviated from that promise. While his friends went to the beach, Michels was working on becoming bigger and stronger, and on getting straight A’s.
“When I was a kid, I never made an all-star team,” Michels said. “I knew I had to outwork the people around me in order to keep up, and eventually surpass them. That stuck with me, I’m going to have to outwork everybody. Even in the classroom, I hated getting B’s. I was competitive everywhere. It was an expectation in myself.
I was teased a lot in high school, I was tall, skinny, awkward. I got called dork and loser. I always realized you can’t call me a loser if I beat you, because what does that make you? I grew into my body in high school and I had a legal way to kick your butt on the field.”
So, once he decided to become a doctor, Michels set out about it the same way he always had, with persistent hard work. After spending two additional undergraduate years obtaining the prerequisite course work he needed, Michels enrolled in medical school at USC. After considering orthopedics, Michels was drawn to pain medicine and is now an Interventional Pain Management physician practicing in Dallas, Texas.
“I do minimally invasive, image-guided procedures to treat pain at its source,” Michels said. “I help people avoid major surgeries.”
His role as a doctor has met that desire he’s always had to help others.
“I tell them I’ve been the patient and I don’t want to see a doctor any more than anyone else does,” he said. “So, let’s get you back to your life. These people who come see me have a doctor who has extra compassion and can empathize. The best part of my job is when a patient comes back after a procedure and says, ‘I don’t have pain anymore,’ and I can shake their hand and say, ‘Have a great life.’”
Michels has a few mementos of his playing days on the walls of his office, but avoided wearing his Super Bowl ring until patients repeatedly requested seeing it.
And Michels has been able to combine his football expertise with his medical expertise, commenting on injuries and other situations related to football on radio and television. Michels attended the NFL’s Sports Journalism and Radio Boot Camp in 2016, specifically to learn and hone skills in those areas.
“I think after having played in the National Football league, and with the hard work and discipline it takes for that, everything beyond that is pretty easy. When I got to sit down and take a test in medical school and realized I didn’t have a 300-pound lineman trying to ear hole me while I do it, I thought, ‘This is pretty good.
“Everyone leaves the game of football thinking that’s the only thing they know, but once they realize that what you applied to being successful at football can be applied to other things, life becomes a heck of a lot easier.”
Lisa Zimmerman is a long-time NFL writer and reporter. She was the Jets correspondent for CBSSports.com, SportsNet New York’s TheJetsBlog.com and Sirius NFL Radio. She has also written for NFL.com.