Dr. Derek Gearhart is a sports medicine chiropractor, triathlete, cyclist and marathoner with over 10 years of experience evaluating and treating athletes and active individuals. He began his career path to treating athletes by graduating with distinction from Penn State University with a B.S. degree in kinesiology. Following his time at PSU, Dr. Derek went on to New York Chiropractic College which has gained numerous awards for its high standards of education. While at NYCC, Dr. Derek was president of the sports club which oversaw the program designed to expose students to the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of athletic injuries. While in school at NYCC he began his certification in the gold standard for soft tissue treatment, Active Release Technique®. ART is a patent soft tissue treatment service sought after by many professional sporting teams along with weekend warriors, local high school athletes and individuals struggling with chronic pain.
Dr. Derek was also fortunate enough to be selected to a small team of doctors that were able to observe and treat athletes for the professional indoor lacrosse team, the Buffalo Bandits. He also had the privilege to work as a sports medicine doctor for the junior Olympic track and field events in Buffalo NY, along with the semi-professional football team, the Buffalo Gladiators.
Upon graduating cum laude from NYCC, Dr. Derek interviewed and was selected to become a teaching fellow at NYCC where he was a professor of anatomy and physiology working in a cadaver lab while taking courses at Syracuse University in order to obtain a master’s degrees in exercise science.
After moving to Bucks County, Dr. Derek became an adjunct professor in 2010 at Bucks County Community College teaching anatomy and physiology, where he continues to instruct. He continued his Active Release Technique® credentialing by obtaining 5 of the 9 available certifications, which he has maintained a certification from 2004-2018 before electing to better his knowledge by learning new and more innovative techniques. He has also furthered his education with functional evaluation of athletic injuries by obtaining medical certifications from the Titleist Performance Institute® and the Functional Movement Screen System (SFMA®). These certifications are used at the highest level of evaluation and soft tissue treatment in sport and exercise medicine.
Dr. Derek is a unique chiropractic and sports medicine practitioner in the Bucks County area because he combines the most up to date functional evaluation certifications along with the gold standard in soft tissue treatments, coupled with chiropractic care. Dr. Derek’s knowledge does not come from academics only. He has been a triathlete for the past 10 years along with being a Boston marathon qualifier and 2011 finisher. Prior to that, Dr. Derek was a collegiate baseball player, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and Cross-fitter.