CHCS - Perspectives Winter/Spring 2016

COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES • 25 From functional movement assessments and gait analysis to body composition measurements, the EXSC faculty members and students have participated in collaborative, student-centered research opportunities that have resulted in several published articles in peer-reviewed journals. Not only do HHP students and faculty members help collect data, but the EXSC students— with Mokha’s oversight—also compile and organize the data by team and work alongside the athletic trainers to help identify deficiencies. The athletic trainers, in tandem with the strength and conditioning specialists, provide corrective exercises or other interventions. “The program’s hands-on approach has given me a better understanding of the significance of all the departments collaborating together to enhance the effectiveness of the treatments applied to the athletes,” said Kourtney Kostzer, a senior in the Exercise and Sport Science Program who has witnessed this full- circle approach every step of the way. This culture of interprofessional collaboration was established in 2004 by former head athletic trainer Larry Starr, Ed.D., ATC, CSCS, and former AT program director, Elizabeth Swann, Ph.D., ATC, who believed that necessary athletic health care could not be delivered without the expertise of a multi- disciplinary team. Starr assembled expert physicians, athletic trainers, physical therapists, sports nutrition- ists, sports psychologists, and exercise scientists. This belief is the impetus for the quality interprofes- sional clinical and research opportunities that are available to the HHP students and faculty members, as well as the Department of Athletics staff team. According to Zevon Stubblefield, NSU’s assistant athletic director of sports medicine, “The collaborative relationship between the HHP faculty members and the athletic training staff allows us to get the help we need to make sure all new NSU student-athletes are properly screened to ensure their medial safety to participate, while allowing the HHP students to gain valuable hands-on experience,” he explained. “From assessing vital signs and assisting the NSU athletic training staff members with orthopedic evaluations, NSU’s ATEP students have the opportunity to utilize the same skills they will need when they enter the athletic training profession.” This mutually beneficial collaboration between the CHCS Department of Health and Human Perform- ance and the NSU Department of Athletics has led to a student-centered approach that embodies NSU’s Core Values. Please visit www.nsusharks.com for more information about the sports medicine inter- disciplinary team. ■ A three-dimensional stick figure is generated by the Vicon Motion capture system in the Exercise and Sport Science Laboratory.