Entry By: Eric Folmar, MPT, OCS, PT

I have to start this entry by first apologizing for not posting for a while.  I have been extremely busy  soaking up the sun here on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  If you have never been here it is worth the venture.  I am actually here in a work capacity, at the 2011 Cincinnati Sports Medicine Conference.  It has been several days of well organized and very informative educational sessions on many of the recent advances in the treatment of upper and lower extremity pathology.  It has been a well justified trip to the beach!!!

There is one part of the conference that I wanted to talk about today.  The main reason to take the trip here was to obtain a certification in the Sportsmetrics™ ACL prevention program.  I came here with luke warm expectations about the program, but I am looking to implement a prevention program in our area and I thought this would be a great place to start.  Well, let me tell you that I was nothing short of impressed with the 2 day certification course.  Simply stated this is a brilliantly organized, evidence based course that has me excited to get home and get started with a program of our own.

If you are unfamiliar with this program, it was designed by Dr. Frank Noyes at Cincinnati Sports Medicine as an effort to address the growing issue of non-contact ACL injuries in female athletes.  It is an exercise based program with one simple concept in mind – neuromuscular control.  It involves teaching and reinforcing proper movement patterns in sport specific activities.  The primary focus is jump training, with strengthening and stretching to ensure the ability to control the jump.  For those of you that have been to my course or have heard me speak, you know that this is right up my ally.

It has long been my philosophy that the inability to control multiplanar movements throughout the lower extremity are the basis for most injuries we see.  Whether it is a non-contact ACL, patellofemoral pain, posterior tibialis tendonitis, lateral hip issues, etc., the mechanics of the individual and their inability to control the motion in all planes is often the source of the injury.  I talk a lot about the use of external devices to assist with this control (i.e. orthotics, shoeware, etc.) but that is always secondary to or in conjuction with a neuromuscular education and strengthening program.  The Sportsmetrics™ program is ideal for this.  I have yet to formally use the program, but I know with my experience with these injuries and these types of exercises that this will be successful for me and the local athletes that we serve.

The program itself is so well organized.  Its coordinators Stephanie Smith and Tommy Campbell do wonderful job with teaching the program.  However the real benefit is how they help you implement it.  From well organized handouts and forms to marketing tools to get up and running, they have really thought of it all.  They also provide you with much of the evidence to back up the results of the program.

Bottom line is this.  If you are looking to start a program, work with local high schools/colleges, or simply improve your exercise prescription in the clinic, this is a great program.  This patient population is one that I work very closely with and am very passionate about.  I hope you get the opportunity to check this course out.