Alex McKechnie laughs when recalling the leap of faith he took when he packed his belongings in Glasgow and booked a one-way flight to Vancouver, Canada, on September 7, 1974. “I had $300 in my pocket,” he recalls. “And no job.” At that moment, it might have been hard for the newly qualified physiotherapist to imagine he would one day tell basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal—with his full entourage in tow—to wait his turn for treatment. Or that an idea sparked by watching children in a playground would lead to an innovative method for improving recovery from knee injuries.
His pioneering techniques made him one of the most sought-after physios in sports and earned him a unique place in British sporting history as the first Briton to win an NBA championship ring as either a player or sideline staff member. He now has six rings, and at age 74, the man credited with bringing players back from career-threatening injuries remains in high demand.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, Many top names have been on Alex McKechnie’s treatment table over the years, including Kobe Bryant (left) and Pau Gasol (right)
Growing up in the tough Scottish streets of Easterhouse—then a notorious gangland in Glasgow—McKechnie dreamed of playing for Rangers as a youth. But a car crash that injured his father and brother introduced him to a different career path. Watching their steady recovery fascinated the young McKechnie, leading him to study physiotherapy at a technical college in Leeds before heading to North America in search of work. Within a week, he secured a temporary position at a hospital, and within a month, he was working at a university with athletes from various sports. This sparked his fascination with a poorly researched area of sports science: anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. When he first started, there was no reliable surgery for an ACL tear. “It was basically an ACL tear, and your career was basically over,” says McKechnie.
Working with athletes, he noticed a link between cruciate injuries, core strength, and pelvic control, and developed a rehabilitation process based on that insight. He had patients wear elastic bands to simulate resistance while performing exercises to strengthen their core. This approach is now common, but at the time, it was groundbreaking.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, The elastics seen here on the late Kobe Bryant are a hallmark of McKechnie’s methods
His next breakthrough came while walking his dog in a park where children were rocking on spring-mounted horses. This inspired the idea of a wobble board that could enhance core strength through muscle movement, training the body to adopt healthy patterns for overall stability. The first prototype was built with a large engineering spring, and Reebok licensed the idea in 1999, turning it into a mass-market product sold worldwide.
Word spread about the physio pioneering new approaches and saving careers. In 1997, when LA Lakers star Shaquille O’Neal—then the most dominant center in the NBA—sust
