It's what some would call a "tradeoff."

A few months ago, chiropractor Elaine Adams knew nothing about the game of hockey.

And many of the New Mexico Scorpions knew zilch about chiropractic. Today, Dr. Elaine Adams is one of the Scorpions' biggest fans, and a bunch of Scorpions are fans of hers.

And why not?

Her magic hands and more than 20 years of experience have them feeling better than ever and ready to hit the ice.

Of course, in hockey, they hit a lot more than that: They hit the puck, they hits their opponents, and they hit the boards.

Just like Scorpions head coach Ray Edwards makes various adjustments between periods in the dressing room with his players, Adams does her adjusting before the players hit the ice.

Ryan McLeod loves the way Adams makes him feel, and he said he wishes she were available on road trips. "I struggle through it," he said.

"This is the first time I've had a steady chiropractor," McLeod said during a recent session, as Adams worked her magic.

"We agreed to be the team chiropractor," Adams said, smiling.

As anyone who has ever seen a hockey game knows, there's a lot of pressure put on the bones and joints, not only from skating hard up and down the ice, but from jarring collisions with opponents, who can attack from every angle.

Often, a player doesn't even know he's being lined up in an opponent's sights until - crunch - it's too late, and he's been battered into the boards or sent flying onto the ice. Or maybe unceremoniously dumped into the pipes that support the goal.

"I come in here sometimes and I can barely move my shoulders and my back," McLeod said. "It makes a big difference."

McLeod said he recommends Adams to his teammates. "We talk about it all the time," he said.

"She treats every injury, tight hamstrings or tight quads. She gets to use all this equipment and we feel better."

Adams even has her own Scorpions jersey; it says "Doc Adams" on the back.

Although McLeod and the Scorpions are new to Rio Rancho, such is not the case for the doc.

"I opened my Rio Rancho (Lifetime Chiropractic) office in 1990, she said.

And chiropractic has been around much, much longer.

"It's been around for about 100 years - it's been persistent," she said. "We have survived all sorts of attacks."

By that, she was referring to what she said were blatant attacks on chiropractic by the American Medical Association. "They had a Commission on Quackery in the mid-80s," she said. "A lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court. They (the AMA) had to apologize; they were guilty of racketeering."

So, Adams was asked, just what is chiropractic?

"It's a system of treatment that frees the nerve impulses that are coming out of the spine," she explained. Most hockey injuries are neck and lower back injuries, and Adams has noticed the Scorpions respond quicker to her treatment than "regular" patients.

When she decided to open an office in Rio Rancho, she said she "went door to door; we knocked on practically every door in Rio Rancho.

"I still have my first patient," she said. Her patients, she said, have ranged in age from a days-old baby to a 93-year-old.

"The remarkable thing with babies is it's so easy to slip them back in alignment," she added. With the Scorpions, it's a little tougher. "They have recurring or different problems, they get hit in the head with hockey sticks."

With those days of quackery behind her, Adams said, "We like to think of ourselves as quality- of-life doctors."

Adams even earned honors as Chiropractor of the Year in 2000. Lifetime Chiropractic specializes in nutrition and stress reduction, too.

Hockey players, of course, aren't her only athletic patients.

"We treat lots of runners," she said, as well as soccer players, tennis players and swimmers.

Adams obviously enjoys this new sport and venue and the opportunities it presents.

"You know, I didn't know anything about it. I couldn't follow the puck, I didn't know the rules," she said. "I still don't completely understand it - but I love it."

Adams or someone else from her office - Jennifer Rivera, a licensed massage therapist, uses her magic hands to relax the players - attends every Scorpions home game.

McLeod may be the happiest Scorpion knowing that.

After about 15 minutes of treatment, McLeod walks out of the room where he'd received treatment, only a short walk from the Scorpions' dressing room, where his teammates are getting dressed for the evening's game.

"My hamstrings feel really good," he said, as he walked out.