OptoSource assists FITS Toronto in athlete assessment using OptoJump

OptoSource had a great weekend supporting Fits Toronto and Dr. Thomas Lam in testing the Ontario Ski Team. OptoSource provided technology in three main stages of assessment for these athletes.

Focusing on the core of the body as well as reactivity and strength, athletes performed our 4Pillar protocol in addition to a few unique tests designed for Fits, including box drops and L-Cut patterns inside a 2-meter system. Athletes were then tested for optimal gait rhythm using a treadmill equipped with a 1-meter system. Additionally, a 10-meter OptoJump system was provided for sprints and broad jumps in a long-distance interface that will provide feedback on contact times and flight times as well as variance of symmetries from one leg to the other. As Dr. Lam prepares for the AOA Coaches Conference, having OptoJump technology to discuss during his portion of this incredible professional development event, is adding a new spark to his anticipated discussion on injury prevention.

Dr. Thomas Lam, Cory Kennedy, FITS Toronto

As we analyze the athletes, comparing the video with the athlete data is helping us define not only ideal mechanics from athlete to athlete, but the mechanics of a single leg jump compared to the other leg as performed by a single athlete. We are using the angle tools within the OptoJump software to support our subjective video analysis in determining dynamic knee ‘wobble’ or pelvic instability. Understanding an athlete’s stamina and conditioning can be supported by movement variability, significant drift, and undeveloped rhythm and mechanics during longer or more strenuous tests. The Fits team is confident that data acquired using OptoSource technology can greatly improve how athletes at every level improve sports performance while reducing the risk of injury.

UC Davis and the FCA National Convention and Expo

OptoSource has been on the road! This past week OptoSource delivered a new lap-top, provided by Performance Spine and Sport, to the UC Davis team in Sacramento in order to train them to begin using their 1meter OptoGait system in studying functional movement. Hopes to develop a testing protocol for defining a study around concussion rehabilitation and functional movement trends are top goals of the team and Assistant Adjunct Professor and Research Director for UCD Sports Medicine, Grethcen Casazza.

UC Davis

This weekend OptoSource is teaming up with Dr. Nicholas Studholme, DC, CCSP, CCEP. and the team at KinesioCapture in Orlando for the 2011 Florida Chiropractic Association’s National Convention and Expo. The expo will draw practitioners from around the country come to educate themselves of newest practices and learn about the latest technology.

KinesioCapture is introducing their brand new iPhone and iPad application that allows users to capture images using the devices camera and edit, draw, graph, in addition to a host of other functions, while on the move.

Former Secretary General of the International Federation of Sports Chiropractic, Thomas Hyde and Timothy Stark, DC, DACBSP, ICSSD, CSCS, CKTP of the National University of Health Sciences will be stopping by to discuss the use of both the KinesioCapture application and OptoSource technology and his thoughts on the future of chiropractic sciences.

KinesioCapture

The 35foot booth will showcase an OptoGait system on a treadmill giving free gait-prints to all. Dr. Nicholas Studholme will be describing the precision of the feedback and offering advice on how to address changes in footwear, posture, habit or otherwise. OptoSource founder, Doug Fidellow will be running a 5meter OptoJump Next system and offering a chance for all to test the 4pillars protocol, including tests designed around the body’s core functionality of balance, power, rhythm and speed.

Attendees will be able to watch the data respond in real time over monitors set up around the area, participate in the activity, and work with the new app. We are inviting everyone that visits the booth to grab an invitation to our up-coming webinar series  Discovering the Next Generation of Assessment Technology.

OptoSouce & KinesioCapture

Booth# 1204

Concussions – The Benefit of Accurate Baseline Gait Analysis

Crucial discussions surrounding the sports world today focus on athletes’ increased concussion and brain injury risk.  With improvements in training formula, conditioning regimens, and focused performance development, athletes today possess the capability of a harder-hitting and increasingly competitive athletic aptitude. Earlier this month, seventy-five former NFL athletes filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that the league withheld information regarding the harmful effects of concussions. The players entrusted the league to disclose the harmful effects of repeated head trauma, and claim that a 1994 study performed by the NFL, which took nearly ten years to publish, claim there was “no evidence of worsening injury or chronic cumulative effects” from multiple concussions. Alleged negligence to enact guidelines for regulating post-concussion treatment and return-to-play standards raises interest in studies of the brain. A University of Oregon study shows gait tasks distinguish immediate vs. long-term effects of concussion on balance control.

OptoSource has adopted the idea that an accurate gait-analysis of a healthy athlete can be used as a baseline trend for performance assessment and a return-to-play evaluation. Acquiring a gait print for an athlete in a healthy state will offer objective data that can be compared to a gait analysis after head trauma has occurred. Contrasts in each phase of gait, primarily left to right symmetry, pace, cadence, and power differential will be evident and can be used to determine when an athlete has reached their personal baseline performance values. Obstructed walking tests and mental stimulation while the body is in motion can offer a real correlation between brain function during locomotive states.

OptoSource has began a study of locomotive efficiency and cognitive stimulus with The M.O.G. at Saco Bay Phyiscal Therapy. Testing high school athletes at risk and effected athletes in maintaining a balanced and consistent gait while performing simple cognitive function tests, such as spelling a 5-letter word in reverse, moderate tests of identifying raised fingers on right to left hands, ranging to difficult tasks, such as counting backwards from 93 by seven.

Demo Days – Our visits to Home Grown Sports Facility and The M.O.G.

OptoSource visited two amazing facilities this past week. The first of which took place at the Home Grown Sports Facility in Andover, MA. Dan Boothby, the Northeastern University Strength and Conditioning coach invited us to the facility to work with some of his top athletes training in Lacrosse. Dan has been using the OptoJump technology at Northeastern, and was anxious to test some of the younger athletes he trains in his off time. Dan is interested in defining a clear baseline performance value for every athlete in order to track each individual through their budding athletic life-cycle. Once a biology major at University of Maine, Dan uses his knowledge and experience when scrutenizing each athlete in order to make improvements on mechanics, make integral decisions in strengthening specific muscle groups, and establish a healthy return-to-play decision for every injury.

Before using the OptoJump system, he managed his athletes through spreadsheets. “Half of the time, I didn’t know what I was looking at.” Dan confirms, “It was just numbers, after numbers, after numbers.” He can now acquire the evidence to substantiate his decision making, and plans to base his decisions on real-time calculations gathered by following trends in performance for each of his athletes when performing a set of standardized evaluations. “This has give us a lot more information. A lot more valid, and a lot more reliable.”

For the second stop on the journey, OptoSource visited Chris Pribish, Bill McCormick, and the Saco Bay Physical Therapy team at the new M.O.G. (Medically Oriented Gym) facility in Portland, ME. The OS team had a full-day demo for the team, operating a 1meter OptoGait system on a treadmill and a 5meter OptoJump system for a diverse group of patients. Among the testers, a junior level short-distance runner who recently qualified for the USATF National Junior Olympic Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Wichita, KS. Others included a former Navy Seal, who recently underwent major surgery on his hip and a local top-performing runner who is recovering after a serious concussion.

The OS team began to show that with technology that acquires an accurate look at a body in motion, it allows one to follow trends in specific phases of an individuals’ gait in order to develop rehabilitation and conditioning examinations that track specific inefficiencies as well as improvements in performance. The M.O.G. team showed experimental focus, as Bill McCormick began to make standardization guidelines to an on-the-spot concussion assessment while the team members, including internes, ran the remainder of patients through the treadmill tests.

An amazing trip full of eventful testing with an influential group of minds. We will never forget our time spent with these groups, because they are at the forefront of innovation in sports and medicine.

Training Day Sans-Denzel / Happy Canada Day! / Happy Fourth of July

We apologize for the the delay between posts, but we at OS have some rest and relaxation time built into our calendars. With the new addition of ‘team-Canada,’ we now have two holidays to celebrate at the start of July. But this week, we get to celebrate a successful and productive first training day with members of the Northeastern University athletic community.

Art Horne, Interim Director of Athletics, and Dan Boothby, strength and conditioning coach for the hockey team, participated in the first stage of delivery, including the set-up of their new 2 meter OptoJump system,  and a class on basic functions and use. This was the first of three training classes scheduled for the Northeastern University staff, and will conclude the third week in August where the first group of athletes will join an begin their data collection testing. During the coming weeks, a plan for action will be drawn up in order to facilitate the integration of the technology into the diverse sports program. The athletic department will adopt a new scheduled testing and review ‘curriculum’ for their athletes, where performance is evaluated on the core functions of the body.

Plans to track each individual athlete through his career at Northeastern and implement an objective return to play model as well as a  performance and therapy trending-cycle.