There's a reason the best Professional and Collegiate Basketball Professionals attend BSMPG Summer Seminar year after year after year....

"Superb conference. Unique sport-specific emphasis. Very well run. Excellent speaker line-up. I can't wait until the next one!"

- Darryl Eto

Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Houston Rockets

"BSMPG conference is a blend of some of the greatest minds in sports medicine and human performance. It is a must see seminar for cutting edge information and knowledge!"

- Jonas Sahratian

Strength and Conditioning Coach for UNC - Chapel Hil

"What separates these conferences from the rest is that it brought together some of the most well respected coaches and scientists in the field to talk specifically about the elements that I work with daily.  It was a tremendous learning and networking experience that makes me want to come back every year if I get the chance."

- Michael Irr, CSCS
Former Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Charlotte Bobcats

"BSMPG delivers once again. Every year they bring in the top dogs in the industry who are willing to share their knowledge as well as learn from everyone else. This is the only conference that allows great presentations as well as quality social events that allow everyone to mingle, talk shop, and provide a unique opportunity to network with a great bunch of people. "

- Keke Lyles Head Strength & Conditioning - Minnesota Timberwolves

"The Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group symposium entitled "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" was truly inspirational and educational. I strongly believe that the relationship between Strength & Conditioning and Sports Medicine is extremely important to maximize the performance enhancement potential in any athlete. This event meshed the two worlds seamlessly which in itself sets this event above any other but add in the leaders in their field as speakers and you have one of the highest quality conferences I've ever attended. The intensive track option for those that want more "hands on"  experience is another plus and offers individuals more one-on-one interaction with the speakers. This was the first time that I attended a BSMPG conference but it will definitely not be my last."

- Paul Murata
University of Virginia 
Athletic Trainer for Women's Basketball

Register for the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar and listen to:

Bobby Alejo - S&C coach for North Carolina State

Charlie Weingroff - former S&C coach for the Philadelphia 76ers

Randall Huntington - Topic: Developing Power (kind of important for hoops don't you think?)

Robert Butler - Duke University

Joel Jamieson - Topic: Advanced Recovery Strategies to Maximize Performance.  

Still not convinced? Join Collegiate and Professional strength coaches from across the country as attendees including coaches from the Minnesota Timberwolves, UNC - Chapel Hill, and representatives from NIKE.

This seminar will SELL OUT - so don't delay.

Special thanks to:

BSMPG is extending our early bird pricing through this weekend!

At Midnight April 21st Early Bird Pricing is Over - Enjoy our ridiculously low price of $299.00 for 3 more days!

Join Keynote Speakers: Stuart McGill, Adriaan Louw, Marvin Chun, Fergus Connolly and Marco Cardinale as they present alongside the best sports medicine and performance professionals including - Charlie Weingroff, Bill Knowles, Mark Lindsay, Robert Butler, Randall Huntington, Ben Peterson, Bobby Alejo and Kevin Neeld.

Register for this once in a lifetime seminar before seats fill up!

If you are looking to book a hotel room visit our hotel partners by clicking HERE.  Rooms at discounted rates are still available including The Best Western Inn at Longwood.

Thank you to our Sponsors:

Changing The Future Of Patient Care

This past year I was introduced to a company that I believe is changing the future of patient care.  Traditionally, ATC’s, PT’s and other healthcare providers and even performance coaches struggle to communicate with their patients when modifications to exercises need to take place and their patient/athlete is not directly beside them.  With Postwire, you are able to use your cell phone to capture patients performing their rehab exercises, and then with a click of a button you can privately share this video with them so that they can continue to perform while at home and without having to worry about having it stored on your phone; all while being HIPPA compliant!

Being able to conveniently share real-time information, showing progress over time, and having frank conversations with all parties involved, all in one place is a major piece of the future of health care. This is especially important when dealing with athletes where multiple coaches and therapists (Athletic Trainer, Strength Coach, Massage, Skills coach, etc) all see and work with the same athlete but are not able to easily communicate their findings or suggestions to the rest of the care team.   Getting everyone on the same page improves patient care – Period!  If you’re not already using Postwire, you’ll be able to at no cost as an attendee of the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar – Where Leaders Meet.

Join Postwire and other health and performance technology leaders at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar – May 17 & 18^th.

Get Postwire for FREE at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar!

Special Thanks to:

Are your feet ready for running this summer?

You might want to think twice before strapping on those traditional clunky sneakers and running around your neighborhood.  Every year millions of Americans take up running as a way of getting off the couch and trim the mid-section only to find themselves right back where they started - but this time with back, knee and foot pain! 

Learn how incorporating barefoot training prior to your next fitness adventure will have your feet singing a much happier tune.

Passage taken from Barefoot in Boston, by Art Horne

"Looks like mom was right – the cheaper shoes do work just as well, and in fact, might just be safer for you too.

If you are starting to feel like I am picking on traditional shoes and their parent companies well, that is because I am and it is about to get a whole lot worse.
In a study conducted by Marti (1989) in which he provided a questionnaire to over 5000 runners of a popular 16-km race, he discovered that expensive shoes accounted for 123% greater injury frequency than the lowest cost models. In fact, the incidence of injury while the subjects were wearing shoes over $95 were twice as high as for those subjects wearing shoes costing less than $40. There may be a number of other factors associated with injury other than just shoe cost but these results included correction for these other influencing factors such as training mileage and history of previous injury! Marti also notes that injuries were not significantly related to race running, speed, training surface, characteristics of running shoes or relative weight. In other words, the fancier the shoe, the more injuries you can expect from them!

So what do “fancy” shoes have that ordinary shoes do not?

The answer may be found in a 2001 study by McKay. Although McKay’s group did not set out to determine the manufacturing differences between lower end and high end shoes, their findings did point to one feature within many athletic shoes that may very well be to blame. In this study researchers sat courtside and watched over 10,000 recreational basketball participants as they played to determine the rate of ankle injury and examine risk factors of ankle injuries in recreational basketball players. Each participant completed a questionnaire which included questions related to: age, sex, height, weight, protective equipment (ankle brace, mouth guard, etc), shoe type (cut low, med, high), age of shoes, whether the participant performed a warm-up prior to playing, and of course questions identifying their injury history.

After analyzing the data, three risk factors emerged:
1. Previous ankle sprain – those athletes with a previous sprain were almost 5 times more likely to sprain again.
2. Players who did not stretch prior to games were 2.6 times more likely to injure their ankles then those that did.
3. Players wearing air cells in the heels were 4.3 times more likely to injure an ankle compared to those with no air cells in their heels."

BSMPG wishes the over 20,000 runners participating in the 2013 Boston Marathon the very best of luck!!

Register for the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar - May 17 & 18th

Early Bird Prices end April 15th so run to a computer after finishing the marathon and sign up to enjoy the discounted prices!

Join the leaders in Sports Medicine and Performance Training at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar this May 17&18th here in Boston and be entered to win FREE STUFF!

Register before May 10th and be entered to win the following gifts:

• Intervention by Dan John (3-disc DVD set)
• Common Exercise Solutions to Common Hip and Shoulder Dysfunction by Evan Osar
• Movement by Gray Cook
• Advances in Functional Training by Mike Boyle
• Functional Movement Systems by Gray Cook (DVD set)
• Strength and Conditioning: Biological Principles and Practical Applications by Marco Cardinale
• Conditioning Blueprint DVD set by Joel Jamieson
• More Prizes are being added daily!!!

Remember to register before April 15th and save - Early Bird prices are gone next week so sign up today!

Special Thanks to: 

Register today for the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar

A quick video to remind us why we all put so much blood and sweat into our work - see you at BSMPG, where innovators meet.

Join the INNOVATORS in Sports Medicine and Performance Training at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar - May 17 &18 in Boston MA.

A special thanks to:

Click HERE to continue reading. 

Keep your athletes healthy and performing at the top of their game with the most up-to-date and advanced sports medicine and performance information available via the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar - May 17 & 18th in Boston.

Register before April 15th to enjoy early bird pricing.

They say the early bird gets the worm, but at BSMPG there are no worms - just the best sports medicine and performance professionals from around the world! See speakers such as Mark Lindsay, Joel Jamieson, Charlie Weingroff, Stu McGill, Adriaan Louw and Marco Cardinale all under one roof followed by our incredible social Friday night and the best sports science, equipment and nutrition suppliers in our vendor area throughout the two days.

Don't miss out on our EARLY BIRD SPECIAL - After April 15th price of admission is $349 (pending seat availability)

Stu McGill Workshop Added to 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar!!

BSMPG is pleased to announce the addition of a small group workshop at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar led by professor Stu McGill. Stu McGill is set to deliver his keynote presentation the morning of the 18th to all attendees with his workshop scheduled for the afternoon.  Attendees interested in attending this workshop must sign up and register separately for this portion of the program.

This small group session is sure to fill up FAST! Sign up today to avoid disappointment.

56 days until the start of BSMPG 2013 - See you in May!!! 

Remember: Book your HOTEL TODAY!!!

STU MCGILL, PHD

University of Waterloo

Topic: Why Everyone Needs Core Training: Implications For Performance & Injury Prevention

Workshop: Hands-on Demonstrations. This small workshop will have a limited number of seats and will take place in the afternoon of the 18th.  Additional registration is required.

Stuart McGill is a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo. He has been the author of over 200 scientific publications that address the issues of low back function, injury mechanisms, development of evidence-based rehabilitation and performance exercise, diagnosis, and the formulation of injury avoidance strategies. As a consultant, he has provided low back expertise to various government agencies, many corporations, elite athletes and teams from many countries, and legal firms. Working at the interface between basic foundational science and clinical practice, he is one of the few scientists who is regularly asked for consult by the medical community regarding particularly difficult back cases, and by world-class athletes from around the world.

See Stu and other top Sports Medicine and Performance professionals from around the world at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar - May 17&18.

Remember: McGills Workshop has a limited number of seats.  Register today before this once in a lifetime opportunity fills up.

Learn from Stu McGill in a small group workshop setting at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar.

by Chris Joyce, DPT

Fresh out of school eager to cure everyone and be the best goshdarn PT I can. Ditched the nametag (finally!), and traded in my bookbag for a manbag, my meal plan for a lunchbox, and my MBTA card for a fresh set of wheels. One year later here is what I’ve learned:

1) I don’t know anything.

Kidding.  I know some stuff. What I don’t know is whether it’s right or wrong.  The people I learn it from believe it’s right, and my patient’s believe it’s right.  And believe it or not, for some strange reason it usually works. In the back of my mind though, I know the level of uncertainty that exists in physical medicine, and I’m okay with it. It feels good to come clean.  I will continue learning and figuring out. The coursework ended in 2011, but the education will never cease. The more I learn, the more I don’t know.

2) Reassessment is kind of important.

In school everything made sense. You evaluate, come up with your correct diagnosis, sneak back to your notes real quick to make sure you’re right, and then follow treatment plan x for diagnosis y.  Unfortunately, arriving at diagnosis y is a lot more complex than a couple powerpoint slides and a 2 hour lab.  Which is what makes assessment, or should I say reassessment, so great. I don’t have to diagnose (except red flags). I keep it simple. You have pain when you do this. Let me try this and that, reassess and see if it worked.  I stopped trying to tell patients “you have y” because the fact is, there’s a lot more going on than just the structures that are involved. I call knee pain, knee pain and try to avoid diagnostic labels choosing instead to focus on the goal at hand: moving without pain. Which brings me to my next

3) Pain is a sonofagun. And if you’re not learning about it, you’re not treating it.

Pain neuroscience has made leaps and bounds in the past 10-15 years, but I’m not sure why it isn’t a bigger part of formal education. Very often I need to reassure patients that the information they got from other practitioners, the web, their friends/family, is just outdated. Pain comes from the brain, it doesn’t come from your IT band, or your crappy posture. It originally began because of an aberrant movement, or even a lack of movement, and persists because your brain is trying to tell you that you need to do something different. It’s a warning signal, not a pathology gauge.  It doesn’t tell you how much is wrong, but just that something might be. By reading up on pain neurophysiology I’m much better off treating and educating my patients.

4) Variety truly is the spice of life

What do the following have in common: pain, exercise, professional development, diet, clinical care, and personal life? They all worsen in the absence of diversity. When we lack variety pain will persist, workouts become tedious, education seems boring, nutrition declines, clinical care falls routine and we end up just “going through the motions.”  The more non-PT related stuff I read, the more I see how intertwined everything truly is. Too much of one thing, no matter how good it is, impedes growth somewhere else and at worst it perpetuates the dysfunction (talking to you long distance runners).  Take it from a guy who grew up in Boston, went to school in Boston and works in Boston.   

Chris Joyce is a physical therapist at a sports orthopedic clinic in Boston. He’s currently completing a Sports Residency at Northeastern University, and can be reached at cjoyce@sportsandpt.com.

Learn what they didn't teach you in school from the industry leaders in Sports Rehabilitation and Performance Training at the BSMPG 2013 Summer Seminar.