Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group, LLC Blog

An Interview with Jose Fernandez - BSMPG Speaker 2012

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Fri, Aug 1, 2014 @ 07:08 AM

Interview originally published on FREELAPUSA.COM

 

 

Athlete Profiling with Fiber Type and Blood Analysis

Freelap USA — Can you get into some detail about the process from acquisition to analysis with data? For example, a team may do speed testing a few times a year but do blood draws and muscle fiber estimation randomly. Will you break down how organizing testing periods and managing data during a season is more than just picking convenient windows?

Fernandez — We need to evaluate training and measure its impact on the players. New wearables such as the Sensecore and others are working towards integrating external load and its physiological response and I am curious to see how athlete tracking systems develop beyond what they currently provide. I like to keep performance testing very minimal, but it is necessary. Specific power and speed tests done monthly is still useful and can be paired with more functional and movement based metrics.

Daily monitoring has to be passively aggregated along with short collection times for compliance. Wellbeing and subjective data are my starting point. Based on each athlete, coaches can decide whether to collect it remotely or on-site at the training ground. Morning heart rate and heart rate variability are widely used and I prefer mobile options. Facial coding adds more objectivity to the process. Some SDK options such as the Sightcorps platform are mobile and cloud friendly for easier customization. Coaches can explore the demo app if interested. I haven´t figured out what protocols work better with facial expressions but the potential is there, not just purely because of micro-expression analysis and mood correlations but because of the athlete´s honesty increases when interacting virtually.

Soft tissue dynamics and muscle function done weekly is essential since alterations at this level have a direct impact on injuries. Touching on myoanalytics again and without going in too much detail, the combination of thermal diagrams with tensiomyographic data is my preferred option and it’s simple to implement. Superficial temperature shows inflammation 24h post games and helps pinpoint which areas should be followed up with TMG for more structural detail, which can then lead to optimized recovery and therapy between games. Tonometers as the only option are less realistic within team settings due to longer testing times, hence the importance of highlighting areas of risk and use the thermal filter. A second thermal diagram 24h before games allows for comparison.

Trimestral blood panels help to gain insight into all the other areas such as muscle function and soft tissue recovery rates, mood patterns and nutrition. Fiber profiling is done in preseason and follow-up testing strategically placed during the season at similar times as blood analysis enables for comparison. Higher risk players undergo more muscle specific followup weekly to look at monthly patterns.

There are as many athlete monitoring strategies as there are coaches and I am never 100% comfortable with mine. Many more variables such as age, previous injuries, race or genetics, etc., have to be reviewed in order to design more individual approaches. I may change and adapt technologies to each environment, but the above provides roughly an idea of my philosophy. The process needs to be very flexible and adaptable since technology is being developed as we speak and we should be able to make changes and remove or add new metrics seamlessly.

Haloview Muscle Fiber Profiling

Figure 1: Muscle Fiber Estimation profiling by Haloview

 

Continue reading interview by clicking HERE. 

 

 

 

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Topics: Jose Fernandez

BSMPG 2012 Summer Seminar Highlights - Jose Fernandez

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Wed, Jun 13, 2012 @ 06:06 AM

Click below to see highlights from our 2012 BSMPG Summer Seminar featuring Jose Fernandez who travelled from the UK to be with us and present.

More highlights are set to come in the next few weeks so stay tuned!

A special thanks again to our SPONSORS!

 

Topics: TMG, BSMPG Summer Seminar, Jose Fernandez

BSMPG wants to invite YOU!!

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Tue, May 8, 2012 @ 07:05 AM

BSMPG Summer Seminar

 

Happy Tuesday!

There are only two weeks remaining before our 2012 BSMPG Summer Seminar, May 19th and 20th!!! We are almost at capacity, so register today before the last remaining seats are scooped up!

DO YOU WANT TO BE A LUCKY WINNER??

BSMPG will be hosting a VIP gathering Friday, May 18th during the afternoon and early evening featuring:

Seminar speakers, performance coaches from the NBA & NHL, college strength coaches from the top programs across the country, select area athletic trainers, and physical therapists as well as representatives from the top sport science companies... and hopefully YOU!!!

This is a closed event but BSMPG is opening its doors to 8 lucky registrants. Register prior to Friday, May 11th at Midnight and be eligible for additional lectures and breakout sessions Friday afternoon. In addition, winners will be invited to our pre-seminar speaker social Friday night!

What happens if I don’t get my name picked?

Don’t worry – with BSMPG everyone is a winner! Join seminar speakers and attendees for a post-seminar social Saturday night at Symphony 8 Bar and Restaurant immediately following the last lecture of the day. Hey... learning is hard work and you deserve some food and drink provided by OPTOSource.

Attendees will also be placed in a drawing for a chance to win sponsor prizes! Where else can you get free gear and free food?

Check out http://www.bsmpg.com/2012-summer-seminar/ for complete details!

See you there!!!

 

Friday VIP Workshop 

 

Pre-Season Screening for Sport May 18th 4:00 - 5:15 pm
 
During the afternoon Jose Fernandez and Dr. Bruce Williams will do a live assessment of an athlete, followed by group discussion on best practices with screening. A focus on gait and lower body mechanics is the highlight, supported by both biochemical and biomechanics monitoring. Evidence based medicine and the latest advancements of technology, therapy, and sports performance methods will be covered. With the advent of Moneyball, Jose and Bruce will show how they look at risk analysis with athletes in team sports from both a time management perspective and decision making process. 
 
Speaker Social to follow.
 
Winners will be informed of locations and additional details after drawing.

 

 

Friday Social Sponsored by:

 

TopCoder

TopCoder is the world’s largest competitive Open Innovation Community of digital creators with over 400,000 members representing algorithmists, software developers and creative artists from over 200 countries. The TopCoder Community creates digital assets including analytics, software and creative designs and solutions for a wide-ranging client base through a competitive, rigorous, standards based methodology. Combined with our extremely talented Community this groundbreaking methodology results in superior outcomes for our clients. For more information about sponsoring TopCoder events and utilizing TopCoder’s software services and platforms, visit www.topcoder.com.

 

 

Topics: Art Horne, Alan Stein, Charlie Weingroff, Andrea Hudy, Bruce Williams, Cal Dietz, Alan Grodin, Joel Jamieson, Jeff Cubos, Barefoot in Boston, Jose Fernandez

Foam Rolling and Contractile Muscle Properties by Jose Fernandez

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 @ 06:04 AM

article by Jose Fernandez

 

 

 

After reading last week´s posts from Coach Boyle and Carl Valle I decided to do a little research on Self Myofascial Release and foam rolling. What motivated me is that there is not a clear protocol stablished regarding when, how and for how long athletes should use foam rollers. Some coaches recommend to roll before working out and others after, some coaches prefer to just continuously roll over the muscle surface and others recommend to hold on the trigger point for a few seconds.

What is foam rolling? (by wikipedia):

“Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release (SMR) technique that is used by athletes and physical therapists to inhibit overactive muscles. This form of stretching utilizes the concept of autogenic inhibition to improve soft tissue extensibility, thus relaxing the muscle and allowing the activation of the antagonist muscle.

It is accomplished by rolling the foam roller under each muscle group until a tender area is found, and maintaining pressure on the tender area for 30–60 seconds.”

Looking at the scientific evidence, I could not find a lot of published material either. See below some of papers I found:

A comparison of the pressure exerted on soft tissue by 2 myofascial rollers

Foam Rollers Show No Increase in the Flexibility of the Hamstring Muscle Group

The Acute Effect Of Self-Myofascial Release On Lower Extremity Plyometric Performance

In this case study we used Tensiomyography (TMG) to assess the change in contractile muscle properties (contraction time and muscle tone) after applying 2 different protocols with foam rollers. Click here to see one of my previous post with a detailed explanation about TMG and the information that it provides.

Foam Rolling & TMG Case Study:

The purpose of this case study was to analyse the change in contractile muscle properties assessed with TMG before and after applying two different SMR protocols using a foam roller. Characteristics of the roller that we used can be found here.

A professional basketball player (Age:22, H: 6.2ft, W: 198.4lbs, no injuries) with more than 6 months experience using foam rollers volunteered for the test, which was performed after a day off and consisted of assessing the Left Vastus Lateralis (dominant leg) with TMG before and after applying two different rolling interventions.

Protocol 1: Holding on the trigger point

- TMG Initial assessment on resting conditions

- Roll until the area of maximum pain is found. Hold the roll on that point for 30 seconds. Immediately after the 30 seconds continue rolling 5-6 times over the whole muscle surface

- TMG Post treatment Assessment 

Protocol 2: Cotinuous Rolling

- TMG Initial assessment

- Continuously roll over the whole muscle surface for 60 seconds

- TMG Post treatment Assessment

Restults:

Protocol 1:

 

Click HERE to continue reading this article...

 

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Topics: athletic training conference, boston hockey conference, barefoot strength training, Andrea Hudy, Bruce Williams, Cal Dietz, Bill Knowles, Alan Grodin, Jose Fernandez

Advanced Athlete Monitoring For Injury Reduction at the 2012 BSMPG Summer Seminar

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Wed, Mar 7, 2012 @ 07:03 AM

Join Jose Fernandez and other top Sports Medicine and Sports Performance professionals from across the world as they desend on Boston this May 19th-20th for the 2012 BSMPG Summer Seminar.  Choose from a number of specific learning tracks or mix and match to suit your learning needs.  Keynote speakers throughout the weekend include Dr. Craig Liebenson, Chris Powers, Alan Grodin, Irving Schexnayder, and Bill Knowles. 

Register today for this once in a lifetime event! Seats are limited!

 

BSMPG Summer Seminar

 

        BSMPG Summer Seminar

 

Boston Sport Medicine and Performance Conference

Advanced Athlete Monitoring for Injury Reduction

Jose Fernandez

 

Abstract:

Professional athletes are experts at what they do, regardless how many S&C sessions they perform a week, they either have the quality to average 20 points per night or they don´t. From a physical perspective, coaches need to make sure their athletes are healthy and available to play every night. A healthy professional athlete should be capable to display a good performance just by being healthy. Everything else that can be achieved with training is a plus.

In a league where teams have to play 3-4 games a week and take more than 90 flights per season, time is limited for coaches to carry out physical training sessions with their players. A training program must be precise, specific and adjusted to the individual needs of each athlete. Coaches should focus on maintaining and reducing the loss of training adaptations throughout the season while enhancing the recovery and regeneration strategies.

At this year´s BSMPG Conference, I will be presenting ideas on how to objectively profile athletes attending to their neuromuscular characteristics and type of muscle fiber predominance. Continuing with this neuromuscular approach to athlete monitoring, innovative ways to quantify effects and duration of the training and treatments will be discussed. Being able to control the rate at which each muscle gains and looses activation after a training session or how exactly certain therapy treatment affects the functionality of any muscle group is crucial if we want to schedule training actions at the right moment, with the aim to maximize the physical performance and minimize risk of injury during the competition.

From an injury prevention perspective, new concepts to evaluate athlete´s readiness to train and assessment of change in muscle response induced by training will also be suggested, with a clear focus on practicality and applicability.

Aiming for maximal performance is a complex task. The purpose of my presentation is to offer some insight into the analysis of an athlete´s neuromuscular condition and how this can help coaches optimize training in an objective, reliable and time saving manner.

I look forward to seeing you at the BSMPG Conference in May!

 

 

Topics: Art Horne, basketball performance, BSMPG, athletic training conference, boston hockey conference, Logan Schwartz, Andrea Hudy, Bruce Williams, Mark Toomey, Cal Dietz, Alan Grodin, Joel Jamieson, Dan Boothby, Jose Fernandez