Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Mark Vettraino. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dr. Mark, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

My introduction to this industry was a comedy of errors. After I was recently licensed and had hospital privileges at the Scottsdale Baptist Hospital, the administrator asked me to volunteer and to review a job at Motorola. The request came from a new community outreach program established by the hospital. Motorola was sending lacerations and back strains and sprains at a high frequency to the hospital. I agreed and scheduled with the process engineers to review the job.

The job causing most of the injuries was a stamping operation. The employee was required to put a flat piece of metal into a stamping press to form a housing unit. I had no idea what I was doing, deer in the headlights situation. Left on the plant floor after a lengthy 2-minute introduction to the job by the process engineer. I observed the employee for a short while and decided to start a conversation as if he was in my clinic as a new patient. After he felt at ease with me, bedside manner, he began to open up about the job setup and complained about how nobody listened to his suggestions. Still have no idea what to do, I am not an engineer, I have no training, never even been on a plant floor before, very noisy by the way.

Confused and embarrassed about not knowing what to do, I began to write down the steps or tasks I observed the operator performing. On a piece of paper, in column one., I counted the steps, there were 12. In the next column, I associated the body part used to perform each task. The next column included the most significant joint taxed while performing the job and the next was the muscles, tendons, and ligaments associated with that joint. In the last column was the most likely injury as a result of the posture and repetition. Pretty soon I started to get an idea of what the operator was talking about. Walking up to the job, it was pretty obvious from my standpoint the operator was going to wear out based on common sense.

During the break, I sat down with the operator and commended him for his views which had merit based on my brief overview. I suggested together we could solve this issue. He was on cloud nine. That is what we did, on his first day off we met at my clinic and mapped out a strategy. As I said the operator handled the part 12 times to complete the first step in the process. Without going into that detail we figured out a way to get it down to three.

My final report included a formal write-up of the steps with all the anatomical information I collected about each task. Then a summary, along with recommendations which the potential injury report substantiated. The changes were made in the next run of the operation.

A few weeks later I received a call from the process injury requesting a meeting. At the meeting, there were seven engineers and the lead engineer scolded me because the next operator in the job developed an epicondylitis, tennis elbow, after about six weeks on the job. He claimed all I did was move the injury from one part of the body to another. Essentially he was right. Over the next two hours, I was taken over the coals and began to explain the anatomy of an injury. Pretty soon I am giving an anatomy and physiology class. Then one question after another about each of their personal injuries, or their dads or uncles. All of a sudden I am no longer a demon but one of the guys.

About two weeks later I get another call to come to the plant, the engineers wanted to show me their modifications. I do and proudly all the engineers take me to the stamping operation that originally was not only causing injuries but was also a bottleneck in the operation. The steps in the operation reduced from originally 12, down to 3, and now to 1. Production increased 150%. After about another month after no injuries and no complaints from the operators, the plant engineer asked for a meeting. He wanted me to assess all the operations in the plant.

Fast forward a few years I move to Michigan and open a clinic in the Detroit suburbs where I grew up. Seriously, moving from the desert to the Arctic, don’t know what we were thinking. A patient walks in a 54-year-old female full history and exams indicate two spinal fusions. She is now scheduled for a third but wants to try to avoid it. Turns out she also works in a stamping plant. After a few visits and she is not progressing I call the plant and offer my time to do an assessment of her job.

I arrived at the appointed time at Hawthorne Metal and received a tour of the entire facility, which seemed to drag on forever. The foreman obsessively was looking at his watch the entire tour. We finally get to Ruth’s operation and she is bending into a container from the waist lifting heavy parts from the button. Suddenly the tour guide gets a call on his phone and asks me if I would join him in a meeting, he wanted to introduce me to the plant manager. Okay.

I walked into the meeting, which was ongoing and filled with people. Take a seat at the only open place at the end of a long conference table. I am in a trance thinking l need to start heading back to the clinic before it starts to get backed up. I notice a man sitting across and over from me giving me the stink eye. You know what I mean. Well the meeting didn’t last much longer and at the end, the plant manager stated to the man giving me the stink eye that quote-unquote, we hired Dr. Vettraino here to run our ergonomic program, he is the guy who successfully developed Motorola’s program in Arizona. By the way, he slaughtered my name, I never met this man before in my life, any of them.

After all, were dismissed the plant manager introduced himself and asked me if I could assist them in putting together an ergonomic program for their company. You see Mr. Stink-eye was Michigan OSHA and the company was being fined for ergonomic violations. I agreed and went directly back to the clinic and asked my office manager to look up the name ergonomics to know if I made the right decision. I never heard the term before.

I did it worked and later Stink Eye asked me to speak at an OSHA seminar and talk about the success story. I agreed and was approached by a few companies afterward and that is the beginning of my consulting world.

Dr. Mark, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I played football in college as a running back. Multiple concussions and a broken vertebra sidelined me. I sought advice and treatment from notable neurologists, orthopedic, physical therapists and not getting better desperate and in pain. One day, I walked into a chiropractor’s office and walked out feeling better the same day. After a few months, I felt normal again but unable to play the game I loved because of the concussions. I changed my major to pre-med, applied to chiropractic college, and became a chiropractor. I was licensed in Arizona and Michigan and specialized in sports injuries and spinal biomechanics. I treated professional athletes in the NHL, NFL, and PGA TOUR. I am retired from the clinical practice now but continue to consult in wellness and ergonomics.

Soon after my Hawthorn Metal project, I initiated TaskGroup, which later became taskgroup international. Taskgroup International is a corporate wellness and ergonomic consulting firm. My board of advisors consists of board-certified medical doctors in orthopedics, neurology, chiropractic, and psychology. We have 67 Fortune 500 Companies and small companies with less than 100 employees. There is no one type of problem we haven’t solved, big or small. Task Group International has saved millions of dollars for our clients in injuries and healthcare costs. We’ve consulted in almost every known industry, including office furniture design for most major manufacturers.

As current director and President of Task Group International, my primary task is speaking engagements for the architectural and design community and office furniture manufacturers. Although I am still in the field at times assessing work environments in the office and manufacturing, I spend most of my time trying to drive the concept of wellness into the hearts and minds of as many people and institutions as possible. For this, I live.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The most successful tip I can suggest is the first lesson learned on the first day of consulting. Listen! The answers may come from the most unexpected places or people. The professional career’s best mentors were the man who did not graduate from high school at Motorola and Dr. X from the Hospital in Scottsdale.

Dr. X, an orthopedic surgeon, was scheduled to perform surgery on a patient. He invited me to observe the procedure, and afterward, in the locker room, I asked him if he thought he heeled the patient. He looked at me as if I just trash talked his mother. He then sat down in front of me and said something so profound it was not forgotten. He said, “Son, you are young and a new practitioner, and you have a lot to learn. One day if you pay attention to what you do, you will understand what I am saying, so listen carefully. Doctors do not heal people, never have, and never will. The best they can do is educate their patients and use their skills to allow the body to work as best as designed. Furthermore, the only person that heeled anyone died about two thousand years ago, so never forget that.”

I did not forget and now understand it fully, so I continue my passion for educating wellness.

Along with other duties, I was honored when asked to be on the board of directors for a beautiful wellness conference called, The Workplace Wellness Conference and Exhibition. Incredible physicians speak on the platform to those who want to learn how to bring their organization back to health and stay abreast of the latest trends and developments. The speakers are thought leaders in the industry and others assembled in one place to learn, inspire and motivate. This year Elle Macpherson will be on stage talking about her journey to wellness, and Mark Victor Hansen,

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

My introduction to this industry was a comedy of errors. After I was recently licensed and had hospital privileges at the Scottsdale Baptist Hospital, the administrator asked me to volunteer and review a Motorola job. The request came from a new community outreach program established by the hospital. Motorola sent lacerations, back strains, and sprains at a high frequency to the hospital. I agreed and scheduled with the process engineers to review the job.

The job causing most of the injuries was a stamping operation. The employee was required to put a flat piece of metal into a stamping press to form a housing unit. I had no idea what I was doing, deer in the headlights situation. Left on the plant floor after a lengthy 2-minute introduction to the job by the process engineer. I observed the employee for a short while started a conversation as if he was in my clinic as a new patient. After he felt at ease with me, bedside manner, he began to open up about the job setup. He complained about how nobody listened to his suggestions. Still have no idea what to do. I am not an engineer, I have no training, never even been on a plant floor before, very noisy.

Confused and embarrassed about not knowing what to do, I began to write down the steps or tasks I observed the operator performing. On a piece of paper, in column one., I counted the steps. There were 12. I associated the body part used to complete each task in the next column. The next column included the most significant joint taxed while performing the job. The next was the muscles, tendons, and ligaments associated with that joint. The most likely injury in the last column is due to posture and repetition. Pretty soon, I started to get an idea of what the operator was talking about. Walking up to the job, it was pretty apparent from my standpoint the operator was going to wear out based on common sense.

During the break, I sat down with the operator and commended him for his views which had merit based on my brief overview. I suggested together, we could solve this issue. He was on cloud nine. That is what we did. We met at my clinic on his first day off and mapped out a strategy. As I said, the operator handled the part 12 times to complete the first step in the process. Without going into that detail, we figured out how to get it down to three.

My final report included a formal write-up of the steps with all the anatomical information I collected about each task. Then a summary, along with recommendations which the potential injury report substantiated. The changes were made in the next run of the operation.

A few weeks later, I received a call from the process injury requesting a meeting. At the meeting, there were seven engineers. After about six weeks, the lead engineer scolded me because the next operator in the job developed an epicondylitis, tennis elbow. He claimed all I did was move the injury from one part of the body to another. Essentially he was right. Over the next two hours, I was taken over the coals and began to explain the anatomy of an injury. Pretty soon, I am giving an anatomy and physiology class. Then one question after another about each of their personal injuries or their dads or uncles. Suddenly, I am no longer a demon but one of the guys.
About two weeks later, I got another call to come to the plant. The engineers wanted to show me their modifications. I do, and proudly all the engineers take me to the stamping operation that initially was not only causing injuries but was also a bottleneck in the process. The steps in procedure reduced from originally 12, down to 3, and now to 1. Production increased 150%. After about another month after no injuries and no complaints from the operators, the plant engineer asked for a meeting. He wanted me to assess all the operations in the plant.

Fast forward a few years, I moved to Michigan and opened a clinic in the Detroit suburbs where I grew up. A patient walks in a 54-year-old female entire history and exams indicate two spinal fusions. She is now scheduled for a third but wants to try to avoid it. Turns out she also works in a stamping plant. After a few visits, and she is not progressing, I call the plant and offer my time to do an assessment of her job. Seriously, moving from the desert to the Arctic, don’t know what we were thinking.

I arrived at the appointed and received a tour of the entire facility, which seemed to drag on forever. The foreman obsessively was looking at his watch the whole time. We finally get to Ruth’s operation. She is bending into a container from the waist, lifting heavy parts from the button. Suddenly the tour guide gets a call on his phone and asks me if I would join him in a meeting. He wanted to introduce me to the plant manager. Okay.

I walked into the meeting, which was ongoing and filled with people. Take a seat at the only open place at the end of a long conference table. I am in a trance, thinking l need to start heading back to the clinic before it starts to get backed up. I notice a man sitting across and over from me, giving me the stink eye. You know what I mean. Well, the meeting didn’t last much longer. The plant manager told the man, giving me the stink eye that quote-unquote, that we hired Dr. Vettraino here to run our ergonomic program. He is the guy. He successfully developed Motorola’s program in Arizona. He slaughtered my name; I had never met this man before in my life, any of them.

After all, were dismissed, the plant manager introduced himself and asked me if I could assist them in putting together an ergonomic program for their company. Mr. Stink-eye was Michigan OSHA, and the company was being fined for ergonomic violations. I agreed and went directly back to the clinic and asked my office manager to look up the name ergonomics to know if I had made the right decision. I never heard the term before.

I did it worked, and later Stink Eye asked me to speak at an OSHA seminar and talk about the success story. I agreed and was approached by a few companies afterward, and that was the beginning of my consulting world.

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