Norton County Hospital's Rehabilitation Department has a goal to reducing knee and all lower extremity injuries in student athletes. This involves four phases:
Phase 1: Implement improved warm-up programs aimed at injury prevention.
Phase 2: Screen athletes once per year with DARI Motion Analysis.
Phase 3: Implement an individualized program for the most vulnerable of the athletes discovered in screening.
Phase 4: Continually educate coaches and athletes on jumping, landing and lifting techniques.
Selected Podcast
Student Athlete Injury Prevention Program
Featured Speaker:
Spencer Shirk, DPT
Spencer Shirk is a physical therapist in the Rehabilitation Department at Norton County Hospital. Spencer graduated from Wichita State University with a Bachelor of Exercise Science, followed by a Doctorate of Physical Therapy in 2017. During his education at Wichita State, Spencer spent his clinical rotations in a wide variety of settings that included hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and outpatient clinics in Whitefish, Montana, and Jackson, Wyoming. Through these clinical experiences, Spencer said he gained valuable knowledge in working with patients of all ages and diagnoses. He went from working on balance training with older patients to working with some of the top skiers in the world. Transcription:
Student Athlete Injury Prevention Program
Prakash Chandran: Norton County Hospital's Rehabilitation Department has seen an increase in student athlete joint injuries, and now has a plan to assess joint vulnerability to help prevent these major injuries. The project with funding support from the Norton Regional Health Foundation will benefit Norton and surrounding area athletes. Physical therapist, Spencer Shirk is here to tell us more. From the plains of rural northwest Kansas to you, this is Health in the Heartland, presented by Norton County Hospital, where medical experts aim to empower health at any stage of life. I'm your host, Prakash Chandran. So Spencer, thank you so much for joining us today. I truly appreciate your time. Now, I mentioned the project up top. I'd love for you to talk a little bit more about some of the data that backs up the need for this project.
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah, so thanks for having me. I've been working at the hospital here in Norton for about three years, and over that time we've seen approximately 13 teenage kids with ACL injuries. Most of those all being surgeries. I looked up some data on what's a normal amount of ACL injuries for any population and it shows as an annual rate of one for 3,500 people. Our county itself has like 5,000 people, so with 13 injuries over two or three years, we're having like four or five injuries, specifically ACL injuries, a year, which is way over a normal amount.
So we looked into a little more data and we found how that was affecting our school insurance. The school's injury insurance had 73% of all of its bills were knee injuries, specifically ACL injuries, and that was $160,000 billed to the insurance over that time, which resulted in their premium having to go up $5,000 for this last year. We looked into that and thought we need to do something to try to prevent our athletes from getting hurt. A more realistic number or expected number of ACL injuries might be like one or two a year.
Prakash Chandran: Yeah, that's quite a bit. And before I want to talk about the different phases of the project, but can you talk broadly about why an ACL injury is just so costly?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah, it's a long process. So any surgery, that's a huge expense. And then these athletes have to go through therapy for six to 12 months. I would say nine to 12 is probably the average. So it's just a very long drawn out process. That's probably one of the longest rehabs and injuries you can do. And I mentioned some numbers of what we've seen for ACLs, but then there's a lot more of hip and ankle and other knee issues that we've also seen. So, our prevention program we're working on is not just spec specifically gonna do the ACL, but hopefully work to prevent all lower extremity injuries as much as we can. So there's other dollars I guess, that aren't kind of shown there.
Prakash Chandran: Understood. So let's talk about the different phases of this project. Can you talk about those phases and the goals for each phase?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yep. So we've tried to break things down a little bit. What we've been calling phase one was trying to implement with our coaches, some different warmup programs that have been shown to be effective in reducing injury. And specifically those have been the FIFA 11 plus and then the Santa Monica PEP program, which stands for prevent enhanced performance. So we're preventing injuries we're improving mechanics, we're enhancing performance through that. So that's our phase one. Our phase two, is a program we're trying to run in March, which is with Dari Motion.
It's a 3D analysis system. Our goal is to scan a hundred athletes in that and pick up on joint vulnerabilities. And then hopefully people that show up as vulnerable in a specific. Joint, whether that's hip, knee, or ankle. We can work with them more directly, to reduce the injury. Then phase three, is basically what I talked about there, is implementing that program for vulnerable athletes. Phase four is continuing to work with coaches and athletes or trainers on safe jumping, landing, lifting, decelerating techniques.
Prakash Chandran: Okay. Understood. Now you mentioned that Dari, I guess motion analysis. Can you talk a little bit more about what students can expect when they go in for it?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: So in my opinion, the Dari analysis system is the best system out there. I mean, it's very legit. It has a lot of research to back it up, and it's primarily used by high level programs, NFL College big level stuff. So, what athletes can expect is we're gonna have. Run through the scan, it will take about five or seven minutes, is all they're gonna do 10 to 12 motions. We worked with Dari to figure out what those motions would be and we decided to go with, the model that Notre Dame, university of Notre Dame and Clemson House set up because that kind of best matches our needs as well.
After the five to seven minute scan, then we'll, talk with them, probably for five to 10 minutes. Also on what the results show. And if they show up as someone that needs some more training, then we'll work afterward talking to their local coach, trainer, therapist in their town and go from there.
Prakash Chandran: Wow, it's amazing what kind of insight you can get from such a short amount of time. And this is like what professional athletes use, right?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: It is. Yeah. Every team uses different scanning motions, I guess you could say. I know the New Orleans Saints, they do two motions like every week on their athletes and pick up on, on where they might be vulnerable to help reduce injury. Because It's, I mean, it's a big deal to anyone to have injuries, but pro teams, they don't wanna lose players. it's even a bigger money risk for them. And then like Notre Dame Clemson, they're probably doing it more, a couple times a year. We're hoping to do this maybe once a year and continuing to follow up with athletes throughout the year.
Prakash Chandran: So, I think we're kind touching on some of the overall benefits to the students and obviously the prevention of injury, I can definitely see that, but I would love to understand a little bit more about how this project benefits a community as a whole?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah. I hope this project can help build awareness, to how everyone moves. but specifically our athletes on preventing injuries and improving our mechanics. I've also seen like four ACL injuries who were not teenagers. So those numbers I said earlier I've seen others who are just out of our working group right now. So we hope in our whole we can learn to be better in those areas. it's gonna help reduce insurance costs for our school district or any school district that participates. It's gonna help keep our kids healthy and then not to really brag, but this, does put Norton on the forefront of this injury prevention program.
There's not a lot of programs that involve scans like this, really not at all. There's lots that follow FIFA and PEP, but Dari wants to replicate what we're trying to do all over the country, so that's why they're willing to work with us and. trial it this year and then hopefully we can replicate it and they can replicate it throughout the country as well.
Prakash Chandran: Amazing. Now obviously DARI's plans are to go more national with everything, but what are your future plans for this project?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah, we want this to be our standard, so I hope that we can do it every year. Maybe around the times kids get physicals, which is in the spring, so that then we have the off season training time of the summer to help shore up anything that we pick up on. This is gonna be a hundred athletes this year. We have the potential, if there's a lot of interest to do more, for this year. But my hope is that we can, in the future do 100 to 200 at Norton, and then maybe the same thing at Philipsburg or Smith Center or just surrounding towns to really help everyone and just have it be what we expect to do every year.
If for some reason we can't keep funding or can't keep doing it, it won't be a wasted effort, we're gonna learn a lot just from this year. Pick up on where our athletes are deficient and know that, that may be what we need to change in their off season or in-season training programs.
Prakash Chandran: Gotcha. And just as we start, to close here, I guess I had like one question as potentially a parent of a student athlete that's listening to this, a lot of parents might be weekend warriors and obviously as we get older we're more prone to injuries. Is there anything like Dari or this four phase program that you offer for people that are not student athletes?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah, that's something about what I hope to do with the future is we can open up scanning, two other people in the community. And Dari has a lot of different types of scams, I guess is joint vulnerability. They have more like workplace scans as well. Scan this specific no, I don't know of any of that the community can go get right now. but if, someone wanted to look into, like the Santa Monica PEP program, the FIFA 11 plus program, those are very proven programs to help reduce lower extremity injuries and specifically ACL injuries.
Prakash Chandran: Okay, FIFA 11 and the Santa Monica PEP program. And you said that's prevent, enhance and performance. Right?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yep.
Prakash Chandran: Okay. Awesome. Well, just before we close here, is there anything else that you'd like to share with our audience?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: I would like to thank the Norton Regional Health Foundation for helping make it possible, through funding. And then we work a lot with Dr. Gaskill as well at OSMC in Manhattan and learning what, Kansas State does for their athletes and helping make us more aware of what we can do for ours. Thanks to our coaches and local athletic directors for helping spread the word and hopefully getting their athletes here. And then Hopefully everyone can find a flyer, but if not, you can call our PT department here in Norton or email me at spencershirk This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I can get you any information you might need.
Prakash Chandran: Awesome. Well, Spencer, thank you so much for your time. I truly appreciate.
Dr. Spencer Shirk: I appreciate it. Thank you.
Prakash Chandran: That was Spencer Shirk, a physical therapist at Norton County Hospital. Thanks for listening to Health in the Heartland. You can find out more information about Norton County Hospital online at NTCOHOSP.com. Thank you so much again for listening. Take care of yourself and others and be well.
Student Athlete Injury Prevention Program
Prakash Chandran: Norton County Hospital's Rehabilitation Department has seen an increase in student athlete joint injuries, and now has a plan to assess joint vulnerability to help prevent these major injuries. The project with funding support from the Norton Regional Health Foundation will benefit Norton and surrounding area athletes. Physical therapist, Spencer Shirk is here to tell us more. From the plains of rural northwest Kansas to you, this is Health in the Heartland, presented by Norton County Hospital, where medical experts aim to empower health at any stage of life. I'm your host, Prakash Chandran. So Spencer, thank you so much for joining us today. I truly appreciate your time. Now, I mentioned the project up top. I'd love for you to talk a little bit more about some of the data that backs up the need for this project.
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah, so thanks for having me. I've been working at the hospital here in Norton for about three years, and over that time we've seen approximately 13 teenage kids with ACL injuries. Most of those all being surgeries. I looked up some data on what's a normal amount of ACL injuries for any population and it shows as an annual rate of one for 3,500 people. Our county itself has like 5,000 people, so with 13 injuries over two or three years, we're having like four or five injuries, specifically ACL injuries, a year, which is way over a normal amount.
So we looked into a little more data and we found how that was affecting our school insurance. The school's injury insurance had 73% of all of its bills were knee injuries, specifically ACL injuries, and that was $160,000 billed to the insurance over that time, which resulted in their premium having to go up $5,000 for this last year. We looked into that and thought we need to do something to try to prevent our athletes from getting hurt. A more realistic number or expected number of ACL injuries might be like one or two a year.
Prakash Chandran: Yeah, that's quite a bit. And before I want to talk about the different phases of the project, but can you talk broadly about why an ACL injury is just so costly?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah, it's a long process. So any surgery, that's a huge expense. And then these athletes have to go through therapy for six to 12 months. I would say nine to 12 is probably the average. So it's just a very long drawn out process. That's probably one of the longest rehabs and injuries you can do. And I mentioned some numbers of what we've seen for ACLs, but then there's a lot more of hip and ankle and other knee issues that we've also seen. So, our prevention program we're working on is not just spec specifically gonna do the ACL, but hopefully work to prevent all lower extremity injuries as much as we can. So there's other dollars I guess, that aren't kind of shown there.
Prakash Chandran: Understood. So let's talk about the different phases of this project. Can you talk about those phases and the goals for each phase?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yep. So we've tried to break things down a little bit. What we've been calling phase one was trying to implement with our coaches, some different warmup programs that have been shown to be effective in reducing injury. And specifically those have been the FIFA 11 plus and then the Santa Monica PEP program, which stands for prevent enhanced performance. So we're preventing injuries we're improving mechanics, we're enhancing performance through that. So that's our phase one. Our phase two, is a program we're trying to run in March, which is with Dari Motion.
It's a 3D analysis system. Our goal is to scan a hundred athletes in that and pick up on joint vulnerabilities. And then hopefully people that show up as vulnerable in a specific. Joint, whether that's hip, knee, or ankle. We can work with them more directly, to reduce the injury. Then phase three, is basically what I talked about there, is implementing that program for vulnerable athletes. Phase four is continuing to work with coaches and athletes or trainers on safe jumping, landing, lifting, decelerating techniques.
Prakash Chandran: Okay. Understood. Now you mentioned that Dari, I guess motion analysis. Can you talk a little bit more about what students can expect when they go in for it?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: So in my opinion, the Dari analysis system is the best system out there. I mean, it's very legit. It has a lot of research to back it up, and it's primarily used by high level programs, NFL College big level stuff. So, what athletes can expect is we're gonna have. Run through the scan, it will take about five or seven minutes, is all they're gonna do 10 to 12 motions. We worked with Dari to figure out what those motions would be and we decided to go with, the model that Notre Dame, university of Notre Dame and Clemson House set up because that kind of best matches our needs as well.
After the five to seven minute scan, then we'll, talk with them, probably for five to 10 minutes. Also on what the results show. And if they show up as someone that needs some more training, then we'll work afterward talking to their local coach, trainer, therapist in their town and go from there.
Prakash Chandran: Wow, it's amazing what kind of insight you can get from such a short amount of time. And this is like what professional athletes use, right?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: It is. Yeah. Every team uses different scanning motions, I guess you could say. I know the New Orleans Saints, they do two motions like every week on their athletes and pick up on, on where they might be vulnerable to help reduce injury. Because It's, I mean, it's a big deal to anyone to have injuries, but pro teams, they don't wanna lose players. it's even a bigger money risk for them. And then like Notre Dame Clemson, they're probably doing it more, a couple times a year. We're hoping to do this maybe once a year and continuing to follow up with athletes throughout the year.
Prakash Chandran: So, I think we're kind touching on some of the overall benefits to the students and obviously the prevention of injury, I can definitely see that, but I would love to understand a little bit more about how this project benefits a community as a whole?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah. I hope this project can help build awareness, to how everyone moves. but specifically our athletes on preventing injuries and improving our mechanics. I've also seen like four ACL injuries who were not teenagers. So those numbers I said earlier I've seen others who are just out of our working group right now. So we hope in our whole we can learn to be better in those areas. it's gonna help reduce insurance costs for our school district or any school district that participates. It's gonna help keep our kids healthy and then not to really brag, but this, does put Norton on the forefront of this injury prevention program.
There's not a lot of programs that involve scans like this, really not at all. There's lots that follow FIFA and PEP, but Dari wants to replicate what we're trying to do all over the country, so that's why they're willing to work with us and. trial it this year and then hopefully we can replicate it and they can replicate it throughout the country as well.
Prakash Chandran: Amazing. Now obviously DARI's plans are to go more national with everything, but what are your future plans for this project?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah, we want this to be our standard, so I hope that we can do it every year. Maybe around the times kids get physicals, which is in the spring, so that then we have the off season training time of the summer to help shore up anything that we pick up on. This is gonna be a hundred athletes this year. We have the potential, if there's a lot of interest to do more, for this year. But my hope is that we can, in the future do 100 to 200 at Norton, and then maybe the same thing at Philipsburg or Smith Center or just surrounding towns to really help everyone and just have it be what we expect to do every year.
If for some reason we can't keep funding or can't keep doing it, it won't be a wasted effort, we're gonna learn a lot just from this year. Pick up on where our athletes are deficient and know that, that may be what we need to change in their off season or in-season training programs.
Prakash Chandran: Gotcha. And just as we start, to close here, I guess I had like one question as potentially a parent of a student athlete that's listening to this, a lot of parents might be weekend warriors and obviously as we get older we're more prone to injuries. Is there anything like Dari or this four phase program that you offer for people that are not student athletes?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yeah, that's something about what I hope to do with the future is we can open up scanning, two other people in the community. And Dari has a lot of different types of scams, I guess is joint vulnerability. They have more like workplace scans as well. Scan this specific no, I don't know of any of that the community can go get right now. but if, someone wanted to look into, like the Santa Monica PEP program, the FIFA 11 plus program, those are very proven programs to help reduce lower extremity injuries and specifically ACL injuries.
Prakash Chandran: Okay, FIFA 11 and the Santa Monica PEP program. And you said that's prevent, enhance and performance. Right?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: Yep.
Prakash Chandran: Okay. Awesome. Well, just before we close here, is there anything else that you'd like to share with our audience?
Dr. Spencer Shirk: I would like to thank the Norton Regional Health Foundation for helping make it possible, through funding. And then we work a lot with Dr. Gaskill as well at OSMC in Manhattan and learning what, Kansas State does for their athletes and helping make us more aware of what we can do for ours. Thanks to our coaches and local athletic directors for helping spread the word and hopefully getting their athletes here. And then Hopefully everyone can find a flyer, but if not, you can call our PT department here in Norton or email me at spencershirk This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I can get you any information you might need.
Prakash Chandran: Awesome. Well, Spencer, thank you so much for your time. I truly appreciate.
Dr. Spencer Shirk: I appreciate it. Thank you.
Prakash Chandran: That was Spencer Shirk, a physical therapist at Norton County Hospital. Thanks for listening to Health in the Heartland. You can find out more information about Norton County Hospital online at NTCOHOSP.com. Thank you so much again for listening. Take care of yourself and others and be well.