Professional and elite amateur athletes alike are flocking to Bellevue, Wash.-based Sports Reaction Center, which incorporates cutting edge technology
(Bellevue, Wash.) – Whether they participate in a contact or a non-contact sport, most athletes eventually suffer injuries. The key to sustained health and success is how these injuries are managed. From World Championship marathoner Mike Sayenko and Olympic hurdler Virginia Powell to players on area professional, college and youth teams, athletes are flocking to the Sports Reaction Center physical therapy clinic to recover from their ailments and enhance their durability.
With more than 500 local athletes as clients, SRC performs sports physical therapy services that incorporate innovative technology like OptoJump and NASA-developed Alter-G as well as offering the local community a sophisticated concussion management approach for return to contact sport. Awarded the title Best Rehab Clinic for their geographical region by Competitor Magazine (Best of Awards, 2010), SRC serves the Bellevue, Seattle, Kirkland and Redmond areas, but with its renowned reputation SRC attracts athletes from around the country.
“Injury management during the season is different that injury management during the off-season,” SRC founder Neil Chasan said. “Considering that we work with competitive athletes every day from contact sports like rugby, soccer, football and basketball to endurance sports like cross country, triathlon and marathon makes us uniquely qualified to help athletes manage their training during the recovery period.”
Along with Sayenko and Powell, SRC’s clientele includes running group Club Northwest’s elite track and cross country teams, VO2 Multisports’ triathletes and the Seattle and Beach Rugby Clubs. Chasan and his staff have worked with players on the U.S. National Team rugby squads along with athletes who have competed at the Track and Field and also the Triathlon World Championships. SRC’s clients also include multiple athletes who have qualified for the Olympic Trials in Track and Field as well as NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball players.
Chasan founded SRC in 1997 after he graduated from the University of Washington’s physical therapy program in 1982 and remained in Seattle. He has served as a consultant to the U.S. Olympic Training Center and U.S. Rugby Sports Medicine, the author of the book “Total Conditioning for Golfers,” and the creator of the video “The Swing Reaction System.” Chasan’s iPhone App, “Pain Free Back” was identified as an example of “the future of health care” in Future Trends, (2010). A clinical faculty member of the University of Washington’s physical therapy program since 1990, Chasan teaches and consults with physical therapists around the world. The expertise of Chasan and his team of physical therapists, and the company’s cutting edge technology, attract athletes of all levels and ages.
Developed in Italy, the OptoJump is what Chasan calls “analysis technology” that allows SRC to examine the way athletes behave and function. According to Chasan, the technology provides information regarding asymmetries in performance and in form, and OptoJump also provides objective details about power, acceleration, stride and more. This data helps guide runners and other athletes improve their performance. The data also helps coaches identify specific issues for their athletes to address, and OptoJump helps Chasan and his team analyze asymmetry in their patients.
“We evaluate athletic performance with great precision” notes Chasan, “human motion occurs significantly faster than our eye can see, and with Optojump we can “see” deeply into their function allowing us to identify specific issues that we can address in the clinic. Using this tool, we evaluate the athletes with video and also collect motion data regarding actual performance,” Chasan said. “This is a case where on one hand, a picture is worth a thousand words and on the other, we have real time instant feedback with objective data that we can analyze. This tool allows us to implement quick adjustments to help an athlete improve their form gradually over time.”
Powell had struggled with a nagging injury that prevented her from participating in international competition, until after she traveled to SRC from Los Angeles. Other clinicians had unsuccessfully treated her hip or thigh, but after evaluating her and analyzing her motion patterns with the OptoJump, Chasan determined that the ailment was a subluxation of her Sacro Iliac Joint. Powell was treated at SRC, and within weeks she returned to the 100 meter hurdles in the Diamond League in Europe. Multiple elite and sub-elite runners from Club Northwest and VO2 Multisport have benefitted from the OptoJump analysis as well.
Produced by NASA, the Alter-G technology uses air pressure which permits athletes to run on a treadmill with reduced weight, pain free when the foot interacts with the ground. For athletes preparing for a race, a nagging injury that might otherwise interrupt their training can now be worked around. The Alter-G is truly a unique tool that is now available to the running community at SRC.
SRC continues to expand its relationships with local sports leagues and athletic organizations, providing services at games, practices and in the SRC office. For example, SRC recently worked with Lake Hills Youth Soccer to educate their coaches on precisely how to perform baseline screenings for concussions. SRC uniquely offers local athletes post-concussion return to play management.
“We combine science with personal expertise to help athletes of all levels,” Chasan said. “We are a true sports specialty clinic that almost exclusively works with athletes and active people. We resonate with athletes because we combine technology with our experience to produce an approach that is difficult to find anywhere else.”
About Sports Reaction Center
Based in Bellevue, Washington and attracting athletes of all levels from the Bellevue, Seattle, Kirkland and Redmond areas – and around the United States – Sports Reaction Center (SRC) was founded by Neil Chasan in 1997. SRC performs sports physical therapy services that incorporate innovative technology like OptoJump and NASA-developed Alter-G as well as concussion management with manual therapy and a biomechanical approach. SRC’s clients also include multiple athletes who have qualified for the Olympic Trials in Track and Field such as marathoner Mike Sayenko, Olympic hurdler Virginia Powell, and NFL and Major League Baseball players. The clinic works closely with area organizations like Club Northwest, VO2 Multisports and the Seattle Rugby Club (including OPSB, the Super League team). A graduate of the University of Washington’s physical therapy program in 1982, Chasan has served as a consultant to the U.S. Olympic Training Center and to U.S.A. Rugby Sports Medicine, the creator of the iPhone app, “Pain Free Back” (2010), author of the book “Total Conditioning for Golfers” (2000) and the creator of the video “The Swing Reaction System.”(1997) A clinical faculty member of the University of Washington’s physical therapy program since 1990, Chasan teaches and consults with physical therapists around the world