$1M recovery: How the Jets' Demario Davis avoided ...

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Demario Davis was ready to quit football in 2016. He was only 27, but every joint in his body ached. By midseason, the pain was unbearable. It was his lone year with the Cleveland Browns, where they finished 1-15 -- which only added to the anguish. Desperate for relief, he couldn't wait for the season to end. "My body was just -- I was done, and I was ready to hang it up," he said recently. Davis, now back with the New York Jets, who drafted him in the third round in 2012, was sitting in an office at the team's facility, having just completed an offseason practice in preparation for his 15th season. He's 37 now, with strands of gray in his thick beard, but he exudes the energy of a rookie, with one of his personal trainers saying he has the body of a 24-year-old. He almost opted for an early retirement, but instead, he now ranks eighth on the career list for most games played at his position (227), and he will rise to fourth if he plays every game this season -- a routine accomplishment for him. Incredibly, he has missed only one game because of injury -- a pulled hamstring with the New Orleans Saints in 2024. He attributes the turnaround to his deeply rooted spiritual beliefs and a 24/7, 365-day-a-year commitment to his body. Basically, he has two full-time jobs -- playing football and preparing and recovering from football. Davis has a six-person team that travels to him from places like California, Arizona and Texas, performing a variety of treatments and therapies that keep his body in peak condition. We're talking about everything from old-school acupuncture to cutting-edge Tecar Therapy, which uses radiofrequency energy to reduce pain, improve range of motion and facilitate tissue regeneration. By his estimate, he spends $500,000 to $1 million per year on body training and recovery. "My body is my company, and the brand that comes from playing the game is my company," Davis said. "If I don't reinvest in the engine of the company and the brand of the company, I just don't think that's wise. I just try to be a good steward of what's been given." DAVIS WAS WANDERING the lobby of a Buffalo-area hotel on Dec. 17, 2016, when he stumbled upon a brochure for a foot-detox treatment. He had some time to kill on the eve of a Browns-Buffalo Bills game and was dealing with plantar fasciitis, so he figured, "Why not?" He didn't have to go far; the woman on the brochure was set up in the hotel. "You're not here for a foot detox," she told Davis soon after meeting him. "You're here for an overhaul." And that's how Davis met Alexis Luczak, a doctor of naturopathic medicine and physical therapy. Their 30-minute session lasted three hours, which turned into 10 years. Luczak and Jose Tienda are Davis' primary providers; they work with other NFL players as well. Tienda bills himself as "Dr. J," a concierge chiropractor who specializes in NFL performance and recovery. They work year-round with Davis, but mostly during the season. Generally, Luczak is with him Sunday morning through Tuesday; Tienda has him six days a week for about 20 hours. New York Jets linebacker Demario Davis poses with Alexis Luczak, left, and his wife, Tamela. Luczak is a doctor of naturopathic medicine and physical therapy and has helped Davis, 37, prolong his NFL career. Courtesy of Alexis LuczakIt's intense stuff, from the pregame muscle activation period to different stages of postgame recovery and injury treatment. "I go from the field to the table, from the table to the field," Davis said. "What I mean by that is, when I'm not training, I'm recovering. When I'm not recovering, I'm training." His physical therapy includes cupping (the use of suction cups to enhance blood flow) and scraping (the therapist uses tools to target stressed muscles, tendons and ligaments). He also uses dry-needle therapy, a hyperbaric chamber and red-light therapy, which uses near-infrared light to stimulate cellular activity and blood circulation. He receives high-tech treatments such as Pulse Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF), a non-invasive method that uses electromagnetic energy to help the body heal faster. And let's not forget about FST (Fascia Stretching Therapy) and ART (Active Release Techniques), both designed to improve mobility, reduce chronic pain and enhance athletic performance. "A lot of soft-tissue work," Davis said. "And it's around the clock." It sounds like alphabet soup, but it's keeping Davis on the field longer than he ever envisioned. He was able to resolve the systematic inflammation that nearly drove him away a decade ago. Other NFL stars, notably Derrick Henry and CeeDee Lamb, are known to invest heavily on cutting-edge recovery methods, but Davis is unique because he's been doing it for so long. "We've been able to really reverse the aging process, and that is so special because when your age is close to 40, people think that you shouldn't be playing football any longer and you can't compete as wel

$1M recovery: How the Jets' Demario Davis avoided ...

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