Inform Performance Inform Performance

Episode 143: Dr Andy McDonald chats to Stephania Bell an Injury Analyst & Senior Writer for ESPN. Stephania is a license Physical Therapist, board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist emeritus and certified strength and conditioning specialist with an extensive clinical background prior to joining ESPN. In this conversation, Stephania discusses the importance of interdisciplinary experience in the field of sports medicine. She also dives into the ongoing debate on turf as a playing surface, highlighting the complexity of the issue and the need for more research. The conversation emphasises the importance of considering player feedback, performance, safety, and fiscal factors when selecting a playing surface.
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Topics Discussed 
 
Transition to Media and ESPN
Finding the best 3rd party practitioners
The complexity of surface selection
Objective assessment of playing surface
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Where you can find Stephania:
Instagram
X
Turf Article
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Sponsors
VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training
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TeamBuildr: A platform for any coach in any setting. Every day, thousands of coaches log into TeamBuildr to write training programs, build questionnaires and access athlete and client performance data. Teambuildr is a complete platform. Whether you're building your own programming, looking to create custom reports or give athletes a tool for accountability, they've built it out.
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Where to Find Us
Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:
Instagram
Twitter
Our Website
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Our Team
Andy McDonald
Ben Ashworth
Alistair McKenzie
Dylan Carmody

Episode 142: In this Research Unpacked Episode from Inform Performance, Dr Dylan Carmody chats to Colin Griffin, a Strength and Conditioning Coach and lower limb Rehabilitation Specialist. In this episode they discuss Colins work at the UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic and his experience as an elite athlete. He emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and continuous professional development in his clinic. Griffin explains his assessment process for Achilles tendon issues, considering factors such as the patient's background, training history, and goals. He also discusses the use of isokinetic testing and alternative testing setups. Griffin provides insights into the gastrocnemius run out and the tensile demands placed on tendons and muscles during various activities and explores various aspects of Achilles tendon rehabilitation.



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Topics Discussed 
 
Pathoanatomy
Force profiling with IKD, Force Plates, HHD
Realistic achilles loads
Plyometric exercises for the achilles
Achilles tendinopathy assessment
 
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Where you can find Colin:
LinkedIn
X (Twitter)
Instagram
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Sponsors
VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training.
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TeamBuildr: A platform for any coach in any setting. Every day, thousands of coaches log into TeamBuildr to write training programs, build questionnaires and access athlete and client performance data. Teambuildr is a complete platform. Whether you're building your own programming, looking to create custom reports or give athletes a tool for accountability, they've built it out.
-
Where to Find Us
Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:
 
Instagram
Twitter
Our Website
-
Our Team
Andy McDonald
Ben Ashworth
Alistair McKenzie
Dylan Carmody

Episode 141: Dr Andy McDonald chats to Luke Passman. Luke has over 13 years of experience working within multidisciplinary teams and has led departments in multiple sports, across various countries and cultures. These include professional Baseball, elite level Tennis and Rugby Union, in the USA, Dominican Republic, Spain and England. Most recently Luke has been the New York Mets Strength & Conditioning Coordinator requiring him to lead a team of 11 coaches, working with 7 teams across the USA and Dominican Republic.
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In this conversation, Luke discusses his approach to developing coaches and setting department goals. He emphasizes the importance of day-to-day interactions and listening to coaches' needs. Luke highlights the significance of having clear department goals and aligning individual roles with the collective purpose. He then explains the process of performance modeling and identifying key metrics for performance in different sports. He then emphasizes the need for a robust framework and statistical analysis to determine the physical determinants of performance. Finally he discusses how he organizes his thoughts for programming and the balance between training for capacity and training for transfer
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Topics Discussed 
Leadership 
Listening as a leader
Flexible leadership 
Goal setting/reviewing
Performance Modelling 

Identifying what matters
Aligning game metrics & physical metrics
Capacity v training transfer

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Where you can find Luke:
Instagram
LinkedIn
X
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Sponsors
VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training
-
TeamBuildr: A platform for any coach in any setting. Every day, thousands of coaches log into TeamBuildr to write training programs, build questionnaires and access athlete and client performance data. Teambuildr is a complete platform. Whether you're building your own programming, looking to create custom reports or give athletes a tool for accountability, they've built it out.
-
Where to Find Us
Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:
Instagram
Twitter
Our Website
-
Our Team
Andy McDonald
Ben Ashworth
Alistair McKenzie
Dylan Carmody

Episode 140: In this Research Unpacked Episode from Inform Performance, Dr Dylan Carmody chats to Physio and Researcher Kate Yung. Kate has a PhD focused on enhancing return-to-play methodologies through a complex systems approach, Kate's background as a sports physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach spans collaborations with professional football teams and Olympic athletes across Hong Kong and Australia. She played a significant role as the lead coordinator and lecturer for the MSc Sports Medicine and Health Science - Team Physician and Physiotherapist module, nurturing the next wave of professionals in this field. Drawing from her experience working at the Centre for Data Science, Queensland University of Technology for a data science project funded by the Australian Institute of Sport, she has experience bridging the gap between data experts and sports practitioners in research and practice. In this episode, Kate Young discusses her research on complexity and return to sport decision making.



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Topics Discussed 
 
Defining Complexity
Nonlinear Systems
Emergence and Adaptation
Goodhart's Law and KPIs
Benefits and Drawbacks of Algorithms and Frameworks
Expected Utility Theory
Bayesian Networks
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Paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358789227_Characteristics_of_Complex_Systems_in_Sports_Injury_Rehabilitation_Examples_and_Implications_for_Practice
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Where you can find Kate:
LinkedIn
X (Twitter)
Instagram
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Sponsors
VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training.
- 
TeamBuildr: A platform for any coach in any setting. Every day, thousands of coaches log into TeamBuildr to write training programs, build questionnaires and access athlete and client performance data. Teambuildr is a complete platform. Whether you're building your own programming, looking to create custom reports or give athletes a tool for accountability, they've built it out.
-
Where to Find Us
Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:
 
Instagram
Twitter
Our Website
-
Our Team
Andy McDonald
Ben Ashworth
Alistair McKenzie
Dylan Carmody

Episode 139: Dr Dylan Carmody chats to Erik Meira. Erik discusses his background in physical therapy and his approach to rehab and sports medicine. He emphasises the importance of applying scientific principles to practice and the need for critical thinking and generating alternative hypotheses. He highlights the importance of collaboration between different professions in the field of rehabilitation and the need to focus on objective outcomes and force production. Erik also provides insights on practicing in a more scientific manner in elite settings, emphasising the focus on building capacities rather than recreating specific tasks.
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Topics Discussed 
Bringing Science to Practice
Causal Models and Hypotheses
Machine Learning and Rehab
Practicing Scientifically in Elite Settings



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Where you can find Erik:
Instagram
X (Twitter)
Elite Basketball Conference
Elite Hockey Conference
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Sponsors
VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training.
- 
Where to Find Us
Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:
 
Instagram
Twitter
Our Website
-
Our Team
Andy McDonald
Ben Ashworth
Alistair McKenzie
Dylan Carmody

Episode 138: In this Research Unpacked Episode from Inform Performance, Dr Dylan Carmody chats to Matthew DeLang a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Kristian Thorborg (Copenhagen University) examining youth football hip & groin performance and pathology. Matt's currently works at Right to Dream Academy (Old Akrade, Ghana) and partner club FC Nordsælland in the Danish Superliga. Matt has also previously worked at FC Dallas (MLS), Carolina Hurricanes (NHL) and The Toronto Blue Jays (MLB). In this episode Dylan and Matt discuss the critical role of adductor strength monitoring in football.



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Topics Discussed 
 
Early Detection
Interpreting Adductor Monitoring
Individualising Adductor Interventions
Challenges in Research
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Where you can find Matthew:
LinkedIn
X (Twitter)
Research Gate
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Sponsors
VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training.
- 
Where to Find Us
Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:
 
Instagram
Twitter
Our Website
-
Our Team
Andy McDonald
Ben Ashworth
Alistair McKenzie
Dylan Carmody