Nov 21, 2017Lab Gaining Recognition
The Nebraska Athletic Performance Lab at the University of Nebraska has recently gained recognition for using research-based methods to help athletes achieve optimum performance. According to The Daily Nebraskan, former head football coach and athletic director Tom Osborne first established the lab in order to maximize training efficiency.
Jack Ransone, PhD, ATC, FACSM, current Director of the lab, said it seeks to help athletes understand their weaknesses and how best to overcome them.
“Not only are they called student-athletes but students of the game,” Dr. Ransone said. “The best athletes are the ones who are able to learn all the intricacies of the sport.”
The lab conducts various tests on athletes, such as movement assessments and cardiovascular testing. These help reveal movement deficiencies and reduce injuries while training. The lab also offers a salivary biomarker test, which reveals how long it takes athletes to recover after a competition.
Dr. Ransone said that while the partnerships developed when testing players benefited both them and the sciences, the relationships were difficult to develop, particularly when athletes came to the lab having been accustomed to different methods of training.
“The science is easy to work with, but the greatest challenge is creating relationships with the athletes and coaches,” he said. “Also, being able to deliver that information to where they can understand it.”
However, now that the lab has found success, it doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon.
“We want to put the athletes in the position to do their best and continue to serve as a resource to the staff,” Dr. Ransone said.
Image by Adam Hartman
