What you Can do to Create the Athletic Edge
Editor note: Dr. Lou Pack has been a Podiatrist for 30 years. Involved in teaching his entire career, he is a nationally known lecturer and author and has done presentations abroad as well. Dr Pack has many credentials attached to his name, not the least of which is Director of Certification, Functional Foot Orthodics, Division of Enhanced Performance, United States Sports Academy- to say that Dr. Pack is the leading developer of the most effective orthodic devices in the world- an expert performing a service at the top of his game. Utilizing his devices, and working through his intelligence can be both a service to yourself and your athletes and as well as a means of furthering your business career.
My early interest in biomechanics was born of recovery of my own running injury problems. Fortunately, in the early 1970’s the epicenter of knowledge regarding biomechanics was in Northern California, and although I was training to become a surgeon, using orthotics to solve my running problems began a 30-year interest in lower extremity biomechanics and orthotics. During this period, I became amazed at two specific facts: First, that most athletes are not examined biomechanically as thoroughly as they could be prior to an injury, and secondly, the dramatic difference a good, properly casted and fabricated set of functional foot orthotics can make, both in injury prevention and in optimizing performance.
The advancement of video technology has enhanced our appreciation of how a perfectly fitted orthotic can change your whole body mechanics.
Remember some basic facts… First and foremost, all function, in every single sport, begins with the foot. Second, there is not perfect foot no more than any other part of our body is perfect. Lastly, any degree of abnormality increases the risks of injury and decreases performance. Because most athletes pronate (roll their feet inward or have their arches flatten when standing) anything that supports the arch is helpful. The key is to have that excessive amount of motion controlled as precisely as possible. That an often make the difference in winning! Although most athletes can improve their performance and decrease injuries with a precisely make orthotic, not everyone needs orthotics and they are in no way a “cure.”
They function like a good set of eyeglasses; i.e. even the best pair in the world usually won’t cure an underlying problem. Symptoms often disappear and optimal function is created; again, just like a pair of prescription eyeglasses. Most importantly, for the competitive athlete, a good set of orthodics can take a negative mechanical influence and make it a performance advantage.
The Solution
The foot remains the most neglected area of human sports performance. Would you think of taking your car to the race track and not checking for wheel alignment? Should our athletes not have this same basic evaluation? So what can you do as a coach or wellness educator to prevent problems caused by improper foot function and alignment and at the same time enhance performance and give your athletes the performance edge?
You can sign up for a certification program in Functional Foot Orthotics through the United States Sports Academy. This program has grown out of the recent awareness of the critical importance of proper foot function in all sports in today’s competitive athletes and also for people of all levels of health and fitness. Because of the lack of standardization in both taking proper foot impressions and of making orthotic foot devices themselves, the certification program at the US Sports Academy was instituted.
The knowledge I have gained over the last 35 years in the proper care of the foot in sport and wellness is part of this course, which will actually also certify you as a provider of functional foot orthotics.
This program will provide you with:
- Insight into proper biomechanical lower extremity function, casting and proper orthotic usage.
- A means of rapid, on-site treatment in this vitally important and often neglected area of sport medicine.
- Additional credibility in Sport Medicine.
- The means of producing additional revenues on an ongoing basis either for your institution or for yourself.