Dec 6, 2016Put to the Test
Sports medicine professionals at High Point University hope that turning research into practice will help them prevent injuries in their athletes. Earlier this year, a study by Eric Hegedus, DPT, Chair of the school’s Physical Therapy Department, revealed that certain movement screening tests could identify which athletes were at the greatest risk for injury. Now, those same tests are being used to keep High Point athletes healthy.
Dr. Hegedus’ investigation, “Physical Performance Tests Predict Injury in National Collegiate Athletic Association Athletes: A Three-Season Prospective Cohort Study,” appeared online in January ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study tracked 359 High Point athletes who underwent a series of movement screens. After monitoring their subsequent injuries over a period of three years, Hegedus found that the results from hip stability and active motion tests correlated with overall injury rates and those related to motor control tests corresponded to non-traumatic injury.
Josh Geruso, MS, ATC, CSCS, PES, CES, High Point’s Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine, is now leading an effort to incorporate the study’s results to help current and future Panther athletes. “We’re going to use some of Dr. Hegedus’ screenings to identify players who are at a high risk of injury,” Geruso says. “Then, we’re going to take steps to keep them healthy and on the court or field. We may never know whether we’ve prevented an athlete from suffering a torn ACL, but we think that will be the result.”
We’re going to use some of Dr. Hegedus’ screenings to identify players who are at a high risk of injury. Then
