Our focus at Sport Sciences International is allowing athletes to reach & maximize their true performance potential. By balancing the structural and biomechanical aspects of both the body and the body's function within sport, we can achieve optimal balance which will therefore optimize the athlete's performance.
Please enjoy our site, read, share our research, contribute your research and information and above all strive to enhance the success and performance of all athletes of all ages. If you have any research questions please contact us at honsberger@honsbergerphysio.com
Sport Sciences International is pleased to announce that we have teamed up with Dynavision Sports to open a new sports vision training center in Markham. A leader in sport vision testing for nearly 20 years, Dynavision has established themselves in many high ranking NCAA programs, professional teams and the military services. Sport Sciences International will incorporate two training tools in it’s new center “D2 Reactive Training” and “I-Span Dynamic Training”. Both of these training tools uses sport specific movements to help improve their explosive reaction time as well as visual response time.
In addition to its partnership with Dynavision Sports, SSI is also working with Vizual Edge to enhance its Vision Training System.
Our Sports Specific Biomechanical Evaluations Have Indicated That:
203 elite amateur baseball players tested with 50% having a rotator cuff weakness and 48% with abnormal scapular motion
130 amateur golfers tested 95% had pelvic imbalances
74 hockey players tested had 62% abnormal foot function; 45% with core weakness
82% of 28 soccer players tested had pelvic imbalances
These sports specific programs are geared towards individuals who want to enhance their overall game performance and most importantly to avoid unnecessary injury along the way.
Each program includes a biomechanical and structural assessment.
By analyzing this data we can understand where the strengths and weaknesses are thus formulate a more extensive and individualized sports performance and prevention program.
3D kinematic analysis
The 3D kinematic analysis is the pinnacle of a biomechanical assessment; it provides statements on ones ability to generate sport specific force in the right sequence to maximize performance.
This analysis produces an unparallel view of functional biomechanics. The combination of our biomechanical approach and 3D kinematic analysis creates a view to correctly analyze how efficiently your body is working.
Sport specific 3D analyses are currently available for golf, cycling, running, and racquet sports.
Coming soon is Hockey, Baseball, & Soccer
Running and Gait analysis
2.5 times the body weight is placed on each leg during running gait.
Small imbalances or alterations in fluid gait can affect performance or increase the injury risk.
Gait analysis examines the body's biomechanics, appropriate footwear and can also be enhanced with 3D kinematic video analysis.
Sports specific training
Performance Vision training
Performance Vision training helps to maximize training and performance through visual assessment and training by focusing on key areas of balance, peripheral vision, visual recognition speed.
Four weeks of normal fitness training in elite field hockey players produced improvement in three of 22 skill tests, whereas a visual-skills and visual awareness program improved performance in 16 tests.
88% top level baseball players (vision training) improved their batting average during the season compared with three out of six in the control group and just one out of six in the placebo group.
Balance Training
Poor balance and proprioception can lead to poor performance or injuries but can be easily corrected through a sports specific balance training program.
Single leg balance and multicomponent balance programs have been reported to reduce lower extremity injury rates by as much as 75%.
Analysis of 765 high school soccer and basketball players showed that the rate of ankle sprains was significantly lower for subjects in the balance group (6.1% vs. 9.9%) Furthermore, athletes with a history of an ankle sprain had a 2-fold increased risk of sustaining a sprain, whereas athletes who performed the intervention program decreased their risk of a sprain by one half (Am J Sports Med 2006)
Balance was an issue for greater than 50% of 219 children aged 3-15.
Testing results demonstrate that through childhood there is an increased risk of ankle injuries due to worsening balance skills as children age.
Concussion management program
Pre-season concussion testing is the only way to create personal baseline objective scores. The International Concussion in Sport Group at their international summits have indicated that neuropsychological baseline testing is the cornerstone to concussion management. Congratulations to such sports organizations such as Oaks Minor Hockey Association of Oakville for making concussion testing mandatory for all its 10 year old and older hockey players.
Return to play decisions, are now objectively based on repeat testing. Our guidelines use an 85% score to return to non-contact practice, and a 90% score to resume full contact practice and games.
Our program features read and react skills (with and without physical load), cognition skills, and can identify both reaction and concentration errors utilizing both the Dynavision D2 and iSpan reactive trainer. These take place in a manner to replicate the decision-making processes of sport as well as a physical demand test. Not only does it test does visual motor reaction, it can assess memory, cognitive function, executive function and even computational competency.A similar program is used at the University of Cincinnati for concussion testing on all their varsity athletes.One advantage over other methods is that we see the athlete in action and also assess their physical ability versus sitting at a computer screen.
Testing takes 20-30 minutes. Individual baseline testing fees are $50.00 while team / group pricing is $45.00. All repeat testing to determine suitability to return to play is free.Baseline results are valid for approximately 1 year for those under 18 years of age.
Custom Orthotics and Braces
They must serve the foot and /or joint function properly as part of the entire body, not just serve as a splint
As with all our services, Orthotic therapy is based on the Sport Sciences International core principle of biomechanical balance.
Effective sport orthotics and braces must be dynamic and biomechanically based.
