On March 30, 2012 five players from the YMS Pride Soccer Team (Yardley Makefield Soccer) came to Performance Spine and Sports Medicine to participate the community outreach program, “Practice at PSSM.”
By attending, YMS Pride soccer players took the first step in beginning their individualized physical wellness journal. All players had the opportunity to:
1. Learn about ACL injuries in female soccerathletes presented by PSSM’s Dr. Hsu.
2. Complete a dynamic warm-up and core strengthening program with personal trainers from Optimal (special thanks to Chris and Alyssa).
3. Perform baseline functional testing on PSSM’s OptoGait system.
Baseline testing on the OptoGait enables the athletes, parents, coaches and clinicians to determine if imbalances are present in the athlete’s lower kinetic chain (hip to foot). Clinicians at PSSM can to track athletes through their strength and conditioning programs and/or athletic season to ensure they are not developing new imbalances that may predispose them to injury.
OptoSource, the software developers for OptoGait, have developed a 4 pillar test series that allows clinicians to examine and track athletes’ pertinent functional movements. The following are the four categories of performance we evaluate using OptoGait.
1. Balance
2. Power
3. Rhythm
4. Speed
A special thank you to YMS Pride for attending “Practice atP SSM”! For more information regarding OptoGait testing, please contact Matt Shade at mshade@pssmnewtown.com
