Intermountain Health Medical Group announces partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard

Intermountain Health Medical Group announces a three year partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard. Photo: Hannah Soar

PARK CITY, Utah — On Monday, January 24, the Intermountain Health Medical Group announced a special collaboration and partnership with the U.S. Ski & Snowboard to aid athletes in both their preparation and recovery in anticipation of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

This three-year partnership will utilize the high-tech sports science lab at Intermountain TOSH (The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital) in Murray, to perform tests on athletes and identify any potential weak points. Once collecting the data, the sports medicine team will then collaborate with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard coaching staff to design plans in order to improve the athletes’ performance.

“I’ve presented about our collaboration to people from around the world, and no one is doing anything close to this,” Josh Bullock, athletic development coordinator for U.S. Ski & Snowboard said. “By combining movement data with targeted training prescriptions and explicit coaching, we’re helping athletes avoid injuries, return from injury quicker with a greater success rate and improve performance.”

Using advanced technology, the tests will primarily consist of utilizing sensors attached to the athlete and a high-speed 3D motion capture to track the movement and identify any deficiencies that would otherwise be unnoticed by the naked eye.

“Our return to sport model consists of state-of-the-art biomechanical and strength assessments and provides regular feedback about an athlete to our physicians, therapists, and trainers,” said Bill McDermott, PhD and clinical biomechanist at Intermountain TOSH. “During this partnership we’ve expanded our testing and training of athletes to ensure they’re not only ready to return to sport safely, but they’re also at their peak level of competing.”

As these athletes prepare to compete on the world stage, McDermott expressed that the goal of this collaboration is to first and foremost prevent injuries, and if need be, help them recover faster if they are sidelined.