May/June 2020 - 39

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Do athletes have any control over their
own concussion risk?
One company spends every day believing - YES they do.
Sports provide countless
benefits and we want all
levels of athletes to stay in
the game. Unfortunately,
many sports are seeing
lower participation rates
from fear of concussion.
No longer can anyone deny
the devastating effects a
concussion can have on
athletes at all levels, youth
to professional.
Dr. Theo Versteegh, PhD, co-developer of the TopSpin360.
Now that we know better, we need to do better.
WE NEED FEWER CONCUSSIONS IN SPORT. PERIOD.
This is why everything we do at TopSpin Technologies
is to decrease concussion risk. Most preventive measures
tend to focus on awareness, diagnosis, education, rule
change and enforcement, fair play, and improvements in
equipment design.
OUR FOCUS IS ON THE ATHLETE. PERIOD.
Game and equipment level strategies have provided
only limited success so far as witnessed by the ongoing
concussion statistics. These are still very important, but
an athlete has no individual influence or control over
these areas and has had no way to mitigate their own
concussion risk.
UNTIL NOW.
Dr. Versteegh is a physical therapist with 20+ years of
clinical experience in sports medicine and a research PhD
in neck strengthening. He was frustrated seeing so many
athletic careers ended early from concussions and thought
there must be something missing. So, he started to research
the role that neck muscles play to help stabilize the head in
space. He found several studies across a multitude of sports
that have shown increased neck strength is associated with
lower concussion risk.
But increasing neck strength is easy; anybody who
has taken training 101 can show you how!
We agree, but improving neck strength to decrease
concussion risk is not as simple as it sounds. This is because
muscles respond very specifically to the type of training
they are exposed to. Traditional neck strengthening involves
pushing or pulling against a heavy weight in a single plane
of motion. This will improve your neck's ability to push or
pull a heavy weight in that same plane of motion. However,
it will NOT improve the neck muscle's ability to RESPOND
and REACT quickly and appropriately to stabilize the head
against a potentially concussive blow. This is why doing
the same old neck training techniques have not lead to a
decrease in concussion risk.
THINK DIFFERENTLY. TRAIN DIFFERENTLY.
Typical training is only five minutes, two to three times
per week, and has been scientifically shown to improve both
static and dynamic multi-planar neck strength.
Some of our recent TopSpin360 teams and athletes,
both men's and women's, had ZERO concussion seasons
in volleyball, soccer, alpine skiing, and football. We proudly
continue to conduct and participate in formal clinical
research to determine effectiveness.
We are the first to admit it looks absurd, and we know it
won't be for everyone.
We are for those who are frustrated with losing key
players to concussion year after year and feel their current
concussion mitigation training is not working. We are for
those who view the athlete's long-term health after sport is
as important as championships, if not more - and realize
that they often go together. We are for those who want to try
something completely different. We believe in listening to
science and not the old school ways from the gym.
INTRODUCING THE TOPSPIN360 - THE REVOLUTION IN
NECK TRAINING
The first patented multi-planar neuromuscular training
device that's consistent with the science on how to reduce
concussion risk by improving dynamic neck muscle
strength and function in all planes of neck motion.
In 2019, the NFL recognized the significant technological
advancement of the TopSpin360 by awarding TopSpin
Technologies first prize for Innovations to Advance Athlete
Health and Safety in the 1st & Future competition during
Super Bowl LIII.
TopSpin360 trains the neck muscles to be lightning fast.
Below is EMG data of the sternocleidomastoid. The
right shows a one-rep max (1RM) using traditional neck
strengthening (pushing or pulling against a weight).
The left shows the same muscle group training on the
TopSpin360. Each individual spike is a full contraction
with amplitudes more than double the 1RM. When athletes
achieve over 300 RPM on the TopSpin360 they produce
more than five high amplitude contractions per second!
THE REVOLUTION IN NECK TRAINING.
info@topspin360.com
www.topspin360.com
1-855-578-7360
http://www.topspin360.com
May/June 2020

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