HydroWorx Celebrates Exceptional Athletic Trainers with Annual Award Ceremony at NATA Event in Indianapolis
Middletown, PA (PRWEB) June 18, 2014 -- The highly competitive worlds of collegiate and professional sports demand successful outcomes of their players, whether those players compete on the field, on the court or on the gridiron. Yet this laser-focused desire to win must often be tempered by the reality that injuries can and do occur as a result of intense practices and games. Athletes experiencing injury-related setbacks regularly turn to savvy athletic trainers to assist them in coming back to 100 percent or near-100 percent capability. This places an enormous expectation on athletic trainers to rise to the challenge and adopt the latest technologies like aquatic therapy in a HydroWorx therapy pool to safely get players off the injured list and back in the game.
Though some might still see hydrotherapy as an unconventional method to rehabilitate players with common sports injuries, it has become more mainstream in its usage. This may be due in part to the numerous scientific studies that have been conducted. Each study has proven that aquatic therapy techniques applied in a specialized pool complete with underwater treadmill and resistance jets speeds up healing, helps maintain muscle strength and lean muscle mass, and provides a low-impact methodology to keep athletes from losing ground while rehabbing injuries. As is often the case with individuals operating “behind the scenes,” athletic trainers at the high school, college and pro levels have rarely been celebrated for their heroic efforts to help the injured athletes in their care… until now.
At the National Athletic Trainer’s Association’s (NATA) 65th Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposium in Indianapolis, Indiana, HydroWorx will be honoring the efforts of athletic trainers by presenting the 2014 Excellence in Aquatics Award (SMED) on Friday, June 27th. The HydroWorx Excellence in Aquatics Award was created as a way to annually recognize an athletic trainer who has shown the utmost innovation in using advanced water therapy to achieve exceptional rehabilitation results.
This year’s nominees for the Award include:
• Barry Lippman, MS, ATC, NASM-PES (Coastal Carolina University). Lippman successfully helped a Division 1 Second Baseman overcome severe atrophy and weakness in his right shoulder in August 2012. The Second Baseman’s offseason and pre-season therapeutic exercises in the team’s HydroWorx therapy pool safely strengthened his shoulder, enabling the player to compete throughout the 2013 baseball season. After the season ended, the athlete underwent shoulder surgery and continued his therapy in the HydroWorx pool, running on the underwater treadmill against the force of the resistance jets. Today, the Second Baseman has returned to play faster than expected and in exceptional shape.
• Nick Held, M.HK, CSCS (Fortius Sport and Health). Held helped Vancouver Whitecap Jay DeMerit come back from an Achilles rupture that was thought to be potentially career-ending. Following surgery to reattach his injured tendon, DeMerit began working in the HydroWorx therapy pool at Fortius Sport and Health, British Columbia, under the guidance of Held. Through the progression of systematic exercises, DeMerit became stronger and healthier and was able to return to his team less than six months post-op.
• Tony Testa, Med, ATC, CSCS (Seton Hall University). Testa used his professional abilities to help a baseball player and a softball player return to play after the athletes experienced hamstring and knee pain. Both players underwent a Focused Aspiration of Scar Tissue (FAST) procedure, after which they began rehabbing in a HydroWorx therapy pool. At the end of the rehabilitation period, which included no land-based therapy, the baseball player attempted a 60-meter dash test and received the best time of his career. The softball player had an oddly identical experience when she did her agility test.
A public voting for the winner of the 2014 Excellence in Aquatics Award is taking place online. Visitors to the webpage can cast one vote per day until June 18, 2014.
Join HydroWorx for their pep rally and award ceremony on Friday, June 27, 2014, at 11:30 a.m. in Booth #1131 at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s (NATA) 65th Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposium in Indianapolis, Indiana. In addition to the Excellence in Aquatics Award ceremony, HydroWorx will be giving away over 25 prizes and giveaways, free food and beverages. In honor of HydroWorx’s first sports customer, the Indiana Pacers, their Mascot, Boomer, will also be in attendance and available for photographs and autographs.
About HydroWorx:
HydroWorx, based in Middletown, Pennsylvania, offers a wide range of underwater treadmill pools, underwater treadmills, and peripheral products and services. Every day, more than 23,000 athletes and patients use HydroWorx technology to recover from injuries and health conditions.
More information about HydroWorx’s upcoming events, as well as archived webcasts from previous events, can be found by visiting http://www.HydroWorx.com.
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Nicole Biesecker, HydroWorx, http://www.hydroworx.com, +1 (800) 753-9633, [email protected]
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