But Isaacs' professional sports career ended seven years ago when he shattered his ankle during a soccer match. It took years for him to fight his way back to full recovery. During that time, Isaacs discovered his true passion in physical therapy.

"I believe exercise is medicine," said Isaacs, now an award-winning clinical exercise physiologist at Cal State Northridge's Center for Achievement for the Physically Disabled.

Isaacs has had so much success at rehabilitating the disabled that he has gained international acclaim for his treatment of people with spinal cord injuries. In the spring, he won the grand prize, from among thousands of entrants, in the MET-Rx World's Best Personal Trainer Contest for the second year in a row.

A premed student as an undergraduate at UCLA, Isaacs came to Northridge in 1993 to earn his master's degree in kinesiology, in part, because "CSUN's kinesiology department is the finest in the country."

Fate again stepped in shortly after he began his graduate studies when Isaacs met Sam Britten, founder and director of the Center for Achievement for the Physically Disabled.

"I was standing in the hallway looking into the center," he said. "What I saw was like a state-of-the art health club, only the equipment had been adapted for the disabled. I could feel the energy coming from the center. It was electrically charged."

Noticing Isaacs' interest in the center, Britten asked. "Do you like helping people? This is a place where miracles occur."

Isaacs immediately expressed an interest in working at the center. Britten hired him almost on the spot. Isaacs obtained his master's degree and now teaches a course in therapeutic exercise for special populations and works countless hours with clients at the center.

His first award from MET-Rx was for his work with Jesse Billauer, a young man who severed his spinal cord in a surfing accident, and was left a quadriplegic paralyzed from the chest down. After working with Isaacs in a concentrated, individualized training program for 12 weeks, Billauer could transfer himself to and from his wheelchair, turn himself over in bed, play adapted games of pool, wheelchair tennis and baseball, and, with the help of friends, ride the waves on a surfboard again.

Isaacs earned his second MET-RX award for his successful treatment of Aaron Baker, a professional motocross racer who fractured three vertebrae during a practice run in May 1999. The accident left Baker paralyzed from the neck down.

"The echo of the fracture still haunts me," Baker said. "I can visualize every moment of the accident, my arms and legs flailing about in slow motion as I tumbled down the hill. I came to rest on my right side at the bottom of the hill.

"I laid there with my left hand directly in front of my face trying desperately to move it, thinking to myself, 'I just broke my neck. I can't feel my body. This is bad.'"

Doctors gave Baker a million in one chance to ever walk again.

After three weeks in intensive care, Baker began rehabilitation. He remained in a hospital until October 1999, when he was sent home to continue therapy as an outpatient. By then, Baker had regained some movement of his arms and legs. But 20 months after the accident, Baker couldn't handle any of his personal needs and hospital therapists said they could no longer help him.

"We were told the maximum has been done," said Laquita Boulanger, Baker's mother. "Aaron got so depressed. It was his darkest time."

A friend told them about CSUN's Center for Achievement for the Physically Disabled. There they met Isaacs.

"When Aaron first came to me, he was slumped over like a dead man," Isaacs said. "He had chronic low back pain and he wasn't eating."

After a thorough physical and mental evaluation, Isaacs designed a personalized regimen of exercise and nutrition for Baker. Within 12 weeks, Baker said his flexibility had improved dramatically, allowing him more normal range of motion.

Now, he can feed, bathe and dress himself, walk unassisted for short distances and even drive a car. He continues his exercise four days a week with Isaacs with the hope of someday being completely independent once again.

Isaacs believes anything is possible with an extraordinarily motivated person such as Baker. He describes his methods as " highly individualized, full-time and caring. The more you know about a person, the more you can help."

Isaacs' meticulous documented notes and photos of Baker's progress are materials for a formal study he is doing on the long-term management of spinal cord injuries. Isaac hopes he can prove to insurance companies that long-term therapy does benefit victims of such injuries.

"Rehabilitation is a lifelong process," Isaacs said.