Profeet welcomes St Mary’s University to the Lab

Key learnings from the visit

Feedback from Rik:
“Students gained excellent knowledge from Profeet’s Sports Lab Manager, Tom, around the approach Profeet takes when appraising a runner, their situation and factors that could help the runner to perform and remain injury free. Plus, students received lots of insight from Tom’s personal experience of working with runners over the last few years and also how customisation of elements like insoles and footwear plays a significant part of a service and solution.”

What’s new in the field of Biomechanics?

This was also an opportunity for the Profeet team to explore the latest research and learnings at the academic end of the spectrum.

Rik shared his views:
“Emerging trends in the field of human movement and injury in the past 5-10 years are based around paradigms such as the “preferred movement pathway” which suggests that every individual human, and their body systems, can find a way to achieve a required movement which they don’t always achieve via strict criteria; as such we cannot merely direct humans into prescribed movement models, or prescribe set interventions or devices, in every case and that small tweaks of multiple factors can help both performance and injury situations.”

He continued:
“Around running footwear in particular the science is now firmly identifying some types of running shoes as ergogenic aids, i.e. if your body is ready for the change in footwear you can perform significantly better with minor changes in training.”

An interesting proposition, however, Rik pointed out that “this development is in the infancy of proven research since some runners are considered ‘non-responders’!”

The benefits of collaboration between education and business are huge!

We asked Rik for his thoughts on linking business with education:
“All university degrees relating to sport science, sports medicine and strength & conditioning are aiming to develop the skills, knowledge and experience of the applied workplace so any links with relevant commercial industry is very valuable.

Additionally, alongside topic-specific practical experience students on these courses often do not gain sufficient knowledge and experience of the business concepts, e.g. the profit margins and essentially how to earn money using their degree-learning!”

The Profeet team were able to illustrate the how biomechanics can be used in a business environment to provide the general public with valuable services in an economically viable way.

Meanwhile, Profeet were interested to pick up more understanding of current research and new paradigms in biomechanical studies. This interaction led to dialogue and thought-provoking exchanges. We are always looking for ways to enhance and improve our offering to ensure that Profeet remains on the cutting edge and this was a source of valuable input.

Thanks to Rik Mellor and the students of St Mary’s University, all in all it was an afternoon well spent and we look forward to welcoming more students in the future.