Written by Beth Stafford

Firefighters and elite athletes share a lot of the same challenges. That realization serves as the driving force behind the Developing the Occupational Athlete Project.

Designed to advance performance and health of Milwaukee firefighters, the project is a collaboration among the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Health Sciences, Athletico Physical Therapy and the Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD).

“Two years in the creation, this partnership represents a paradigm for teaching, learning and research – with the long-term goal of advancing safety in Milwaukee,” says Kyle Ebersole, associate professor of kinesiology and director of the Human Performance & Sport Physiology Laboratory at UWM.

Impetus for the project came from Jason Mims, MFD health safety officer. He and Athletico manager Luis Rivera began working together on a project to improve firefighter injury rehabilitation. P

Rivera brought Ebersole into the discussion. “We decided to join forces and establish a model program for advancing the performance of firefighters, reducing injury, improving injury care and enhancing life-long health for firefighters,” Mims says.

An opportunity, not a problem

Ebersole emphasizes that the project wasn’t a response to a fire department “health problem,” but to the idea that fire department personnel could capitalize on current exercise science to be healthier and improve performance.

The partners designed a plan that included redesigning the fitness and performance evaluation process, implementing exercise programs aimed at improving mobility and power, integrating psychological skills and creating an effective pathway for injury evaluation, treatment and return.

To help implement the plan, a Peer Fitness Training program was launched. The MFD supported firefighters to become certified personal fitness trainers (PFTs). A firefighter who wants to establish a personal fitness program can go to a PFT for assistance.

“The PFTs also are actively involved in helping with data collection and acting as the liaison between me, rehabilitative facilities such as Athletico and the firefighters,” says Ebersole. “As this program evolves, the PFTs will become more comfortable identifying someone who might need further evaluation by UWM’s labs or facilities such as Athletico’s in order to optimize health and/or performance.”

Ebersole brought UWM students at many different levels of study into the project through his role as faculty in the Doctor of Physical Therapy, Undergraduate Athletic Training, PhD in Health Sciences, Master of Science Kinesiology and Undergraduate Kinesiology programs.

From classroom to the real world

The project has transferred classroom learning to the real world by bringing students to the Milwaukee Fire and Police Safety Academy to participate in the initial fitness evaluation process.

In turn, fire chiefs came to the Klotsche Pavilion to attend Ebersole’s Advanced Exercise Physiology course. In another example of “town-to-gown,” the fire department donated equipment for class experiments.

In addition to the graduate students from Ebersole’s lab, graduate students from the Laboratory for Sport Psychology & Performance Excellence, directed by Professor Barbara Meyer, are actively involved. In November, MFD representatives attended a thesis proposal presentation by a Master’s in Kinesiology student, representing Meyer’s lab, working with the project.

There also are six Doctor of Physical Therapy students engaged in a health literacy project through a course taught by Kathy Zalewski, associate professor of kinesiology and director of the Doctor of Physical Therapy program.

Ebersole says a powerful element of the project is that all students, regardless of level, work in teams to directly contribute to the collection of data, teaching and learning from each other.

In addition, Ebersole’s Foundations of Injury Prevention & Performance class has participated in the initial fitness evaluation process at the academy, and a second class has explored the physiological influence of the firefighters’ protective gear on power production. A student from the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program also is assigned to the project.

Ebersole points to a definite advantage for both students and clients when practitioners and researchers bring the appropriate professional partners into the process. “When that happens, the whole person is treated. The result is a much more inclusive and effective form of care,” he says. “Yet it is only possible when all of the key players share the same vision. That is the unique strength we have with the partnership with MFD and Athletico.

“The students are participating in a truly integrated and interdisciplinary approach to performance and health – something many courses discuss, but few actually demonstrate. As these students enter their professional fields, this hands-on experience will truly set them apart.”

Written by Adam McCalvy / MLB.com
mlb.com/news/brewers-proactive-with-injury-prevention-at-symposium/c-40284572

MILWAUKEE — Brewers medical director Roger Caplinger will gather the organization’s doctors and athletic trainers beginning Friday for the team’s annual medical symposium, a three-day discussion to focus as much or more on preventing injuries as on treating them.”What I envision in the future is [players] want to come to Milwaukee because we’re at the cutting edge of medicine and we’re going to keep you healthy,” Caplinger said. “How many times have you heard, ‘We’ve got a lot of talent on this team. If we can just stay healthy, we’re going to go a long way.’

“You hear that every year. Every single year. And you know what? Health does, after talent, play a major role in the success of your team.”

So Caplinger will host 45 men and women at Miller Park this weekend for an across-the-board examination of the club’s medical efforts. Participants run the gamut from front-office personnel to team physicians, athletic trainers and strength-and-conditioning specialists from every level of the organization.

The Brewers have quietly been on the cutting edge of medical matters in Major League Baseball, with the second-fewest disabled-list days over the past 10 seasons, according to Caplinger. The White Sox have had the fewest.

Caplinger, who spent 10 years as a Brewers athletic trainer before a September 2011 promotion, believes Milwaukee was the first club to schedule a formal medical symposium that has become a model across MLB. This year marks Milwaukee’s ninth symposium, and the earliest it’s ever been held. The gathering typically occurs in January, but because Caplinger transitioned from his daily duties as head athletic trainer and moved into a more administrative role, he pushed the event to an earlier date.

“We’ve had so many good ideas, so many prospective programs to implement, and you can’t do it in a half a month when you’re getting ready for Spring Training,” he said. “Now, if we do it in November, we can start implementing this stuff in the last half of November, December, January, and get it ready to roll out in Spring Training. …

“The nature of this game is people get injuries,” Caplinger said. “What we want to try to do is minimize that risk of getting hurt, and then if they do get hurt, to return them to the field as fast as possible. That’s our goal.”

With that goal in mind, here are some of the topics on Caplinger’s agenda:

• Biomechanical analysis. Dr. William Raasch, the Brewers’ head team physician, has led a program at Milwaukee’s Froedtert Sports Medicine Center for eight years and has compiled a database of upward of 150 professional pitchers after taking measurements of their deliveries with eight high-speed cameras and 42 digital markers. They measure the forces applied to a pitcher’s body while throwing a baseball, and Raasch and the Brewers are trying to use that data to avoid shoulder and elbow injuries.
• Range of motion. Caplinger launched an organization-wide study two seasons ago that has been charting pitchers’ range of motion every month, looking for red flags that could cause injuries.
• Workload. The Brewers have created a database that charts pitches and innings for every pitcher from the Rookie Leagues through the Majors and creates personalized limits. Caplinger will also lead a discussion of the merits of various starting rotation strategies, from a six-man rotation to the typical five-man rotation to a “piggyback” system used often in the lower level of the Minors.
• Presentations from Sports Illustrated injury expert Will Carroll and astrophysicist Dr. Meredith Wills about how data from Pitch f/x and the new Field f/x tools can be used to predict injuries, and from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee associate professor Kyle Ebersole about his work in biomechanics and exercise physiology.
• A review of ongoing academic studies involving the Brewers, including one pilot program that measures players’ heart rate, core temperature, pulse, oxygen saturation and breathing via a “puck” embedded in a pitcher’s shirt. Ebersole is helping the Brewers construct a computer algorithm to analyze those results and create fatigue profiles for individual players.
• Elbow injuries. Caplinger has gathered anecdotal injuries that Tommy John surgery has a six-to-eight-year shelf life before a pitcher redevelops troublesome symptoms, from forearm strains to changes in range of motion.
• MLB’s league-wide medical records system, which is gathering and organizing information with the aim of improving injury prevention and continuity of care. All of the Brewers’ medical records are now digital, such that assistant general manager Gord Ash can be sitting in the dugout during batting practice at Miller Park and use his iPhone to access the latest medical information about any of the club’s dozens of Minor League prospects.

“We made sure we put on the topics that are really at the forefront of medicine and we want to know more about,” Caplinger said. “We want to be sure we can deliver that level of expertise to our players.”

Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Brew Beat, and follow him on Twitter at @AdamMcCalvy. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.