Coaches, athletic directors, parents and athletes themselves know firsthand the impact of an ACL injury. Studies show that female athletes are particularly at risk in sports that require twisting, cutting, jumping and landing , with injuries six to 10 times greater than their male counterparts.

On January 12, from 6 to 8 p.m., please join Tidewater Physical Therapy, Inc. at the Tidewater Performance Center for dinner and a free seminar on how to prevent ACL injuries and improve sports performance in female athletes. The evening features an introduction on the Sportsmetrics Program, the first ACL injury prevention program scientifically proven to decrease serious knee ligament injuries in female athletes. Tidewater’s own Samantha Davis, Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), is one of only two Virginia-based Certified Instructors for Cincinnati Sports Medicine’s Sportsmetrics Program.

Contact Suzanne Culotta at the Tidewater Performance Center to register. Please register by phone (757.223.5612), email (sculotta@tidewaterperform.com), or fax (757.873.3848) by January 9.

The evening program includes a BBQ dinner and the following presentations:

“Implications For ACL Tears”

Presented by Nicholas Sablan, MD

Orthopedic Surgeon, Tidewater Orthopedic Associates

“ACL Training for Optimal Team Performance”

Presented by Samantha Davis, DPT, Tidewater Physical Therapy, Inc.

Sportsmetrics Certified Instructor, Cincinnati Sports Medicine

“Incorporating ACL Prevention Principles Into Your Normal Practice”

Presented by Ruth Middleton, B.S. Exercise Science and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Tidewater Performance Center, Tidewater Physical Therapy, Inc.

Why Sportsmetrics and Injury Prevention?

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, parents invest an average of $6,000 per child per year to participate in sports, personal training, and other athletic events. An ACL injury can dramatically hinder an athlete’s ability to play and can cost $17,000 for reconstruction and rehabilitation. That figure doesn’t include potential costs associated with losing a scholarship or the mental health impact on an athlete taken off the field.

Injury prevention programs can’t help prevent a contact injury. But programs like Sportsmetrics can teach athletes “the proper techniques of cutting, pivoting, jumping and landing that can keep them from suffering a non-contact injury.”

The Sportsmetrics Program was designed by an influential orthopedic physician and a research team at the Cincinnati SportsMedicine Research and Education Foundation. It is a six-week jump training program that includes a dynamic warm-up, plyometics and jump training, speed and agility training, high intensity strength training and flexibility training.

At Tidewater Physical Therapy and the Tidewater Performance Center, the Sportsmetrics Program is led and overseen by Samantha Davis, who is not only a certified clinician, but carries a strong, personal passion for ACL injury prevention. Before earning her doctorate in physical therapy, Davis played basketball for Christopher Newport University and suffered two non-contact ACL injuries.

Athletes who enroll in a Sportsmetrics Program at Tidewater will work with Davis and the degreed and certified personal-sports performance trainers at the Tidewater Performance Center.

The first six week Sportsmetrics Program begins January 23, 2012. Athletes will meet 19 times (18 training sessions and one assessment). Cost is $10 per session, or $190 for the entire program.

Learn more about Sportsmetrics at http://sportsmetrics.org/