Highlights of the Team Concept Conference 2010: Collaboration on a Global Scale
December 2-4, 2010 Las Vegas 
Cha- Ching! Normally I would honor the code of “What happens in Vegas…” but:
WebPT proudly exhibited at the Sports Physical Therapy Section’s Team Concept Conference in Las Vegas this week. This was our 1st time attending and it was a very successful show. Mary Wilkinson and Mark De Carlo of the admin team for SPTS should be very proud of the caliber of information and attendance at the show. Housed in the conference center of Hotel Rio, the approximately 250 attendees were offered 2 full days of excellent programming and an optional ½ day pre-conference. The “global” concept stemmed from the members of the International Federation of Sport Physiotherapy being a part of the collaboration this year. We noticed the international presence of quite a few Canadian PTs who were in attendance and interested in EMR.
If you are in outpatient rehabilitation, specifically sports medicine, I would highly recommend this conference. Lectures and instructional course labs from the likes of Mike Reinhold, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC, CSCS, Kevin Wilk, PT, DPT, Mike Voight, PT, DHSc, OCS, SCS, ATC, Rob Manske PT, DPT, Med, SCS, ATC, CSCS and orthopedic surgeons Stephen Nicholas, MD and David Altchek, MD (just to name a few) were full of new evidence based information from up to date literature reviews and pertinent experience related pearls of wisdom. The topics explored included: The Unstable Throwing Shoulder, UCL Injuries, Chondral Injuries to the Knee, Patellofemoral Injuries, and Soccer Injuries.
I was most impressed with the amount of prevention discussion that took place for all of these topics. As rehab professionals, we obviously treat post injury and post operatively, but its great to see the amount of evidence based studies that are now coming out showing how implementing certain exercise and flexibility routines ARE lowering injuries. If you treat soccer athletes, check out ” The 11+” warmup from the FIFA’s Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC); excellent usable data and exercise suggestions proven to prevent groin and knee injuries.
Second most impressive was the Rio buffet. Vegas knows how to put on a spread and this hotel is known for its Seafood Extravaganza, all we can say is WOW! Great time was had by all topped off by an excellent learning experience. The sales team assures me that no one woke up with a tiger in their room and there were no guest appearances by Mike Tyson – at least not that I know about.
