The Sports Reaction Center (SRC), Bellevue, Wash, reports that it often attracts elite and professional athletes due to its use of innovative technology such as the OptoJump, Microgate USA, Mahopac, NY. Among SRC’s clientele are members from Club Northwest’s track and cross-country teams, and one team member recently accomplished notable results with the OptoJump.

Neil Chasan, PT, MMT, SRC’s founder, says the 36-year-old, 5,000-meter competitor was determined as fit and healthy, but was experiencing nonspecific hip pain that hampered her performance. “Her physical exam showed a very subtle local weakness of her right hip muscles that most people who tested her did not pick up, but even so I was skeptical that this subtle weakness could account for her complaint,” Chasan says.

Based on this observation, Chasan then performed functional tests using OptoJump, including gait analysis, leg jumps, lateral jumps, acceleration tests, and stop-and-go tests. 

Chasan describes the OptoJump as “analysis technology, which blends race timing and light gathering technology with video offering data about how the foot interacts with the ground.” The technology features an optical measurement system made of a transmitting and receiving bar and two video cameras. It reportedly shows function at shutter speeds of 1/250th of a second and records data in milliseconds.

Along with providing data about the patient’s asymmetry, the OptoJump’s video analysis of the various dynamic functional movements and the patient’s gait revealed that “she was actually failing to support her pelvis in the frontal plane under her body weight.”

Chasan concludes that, “The subtle weakness we found during her physical exam in a non-weight-bearing posture actually became a profound functional deficit that interfered with her ability to perform at full capacity during full weight bearing.” He was able to explain this to the patient and recommend exercises that could help improve her performance.  

[Source: Sports Reaction Center]

Posted by kpanchuk on 5/16/12 at 12:02pm

Representatives for Nationwide Title Clearing, a privately owned company that processes documents for mortgage servicers and performs land record searches, met with members of Congress in April to discuss industry best practices.

NTC, which is based in Palm Harbor, Fla., provides services to eight of the nation's 10 large residential mortgage servicing firms. The company met with Congress to serve as an advocate for industry best practices in servicing.

"We welcome the opportunity to work with members of Congress and their staff to identify and incorporate industry best practices into a new, national standard for residential mortgage servicing, as well as provide feedback to help avoid excessively onerous legislation for mortgage lenders and servicers," said John Hillman, NTC CEO.

Click here to learn more about the meeting.

kpanchuk@housingwire.com

Clearwater Beach, Florida -- Organizers have named 25 restaurants that will be taking part in the 3rd Annual Clearwater Beach Restaurant Week.

It will be held May 13 - 19 on South Gulfview Boulevard next to the Beach Walk and is expected to be the largest event of its kind to date.

The restaurants, which will be offering specifically chosen menu items at special pricing, are:

Britt's Island Grill
Brown Boxer Pub & Grille
Caretta on the Gulf
Casanova Restaurant
Clear Sky Beachside Cafe
Clearwater Wine Bar & Bistro
Cooters Restaurant & Bar
Crabby Bill's Seafood
Crabby's Beachwalk Bar & Grill
Frenchy's Rockaway Grill on the Beach
Frenchy's Salt Water Cafe
Frenchy's South Beach Cafe
Gondolier Italian Restaurant
Island Way Grill
Jimmy's Fish House
Lobster Pot Bistro
Marlin Darlin Key West Grill
Palm Pavilion Beach Bar
Reflections at The Hilton
Rumba Island Bar & Grill
Rusty's Bistro
Salt Rock Grill
Shephard's Restaurant
SHOR American Seafood Grill
Watercolour Steakhouse and Grille

For more information, contact the Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce.

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Kathleen Cabble

Clearwater Beach

Clearwater Beach Restaurant Week will return for a third year beginning with a May 11 kickoff party on Beach Walk between the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa and Crabby’s Bar & Grill.

The outdoor gathering will feature samplings, live music, a chef’s auction and a fireworks display.

Restaurant Week, scheduled May 13-19, will offer three-course, prix fixe menus from $15 to $35 at participating restaurants.

Presented by Bright House Networks, Restaurant Week “gives restaurants a much-needed boost during a time when business often slows,” according to its website.

The event will also raise money for nonprofits Clearwater Marine Aquarium and the Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce    Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce Latest from The Business Journals ‘Floating Palace’ Fisherman’s Paradise beckons off coastTourist ‘season’ may be waning, but Clearwater's Winter is nowClearwater Beach retail complex nears completion Follow this company .

CLEARWATER — The third annual Clearwater Beach Restaurant Week will launch today with a kickoff party, but it won't be on the sand.

At only age 3, the event already has grown so large that the party has moved to S Gulfview Boulevard, which will be closed in front of the Hyatt Regency Resort from 5 to 9 p.m. today.

For the party, 40 restaurant tents will line Beach Walk, each offering tastes of its menu favorites and competing to prove it is the best.

Bands will play on two different stages. And raffle tickets can be purchased for a chance to win baskets full of goodies from local sponsors such as Crabby Bill's Beachwalk Bar and Grill, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Busch Gardens, Frenchy's restaurant and Island Dog Outfitters.

Those who enjoyed the event last year will find this year's bigger and yummier, with more restaurants participating and a dozen sponsors and vendors.

Like wine? Check out the wine tasting, which will be part of Friday night's festivities.

A Live Chef's Auction will also make for an interesting evening, and after the event, which ends around dusk, fireworks will fill the sky.

Tickets for the kickoff party cost $20 a person and give the purchaser access to 40 restaurant tents, where tasty morsels will be offered for no additional charge. For those who want a wine-tasting wrist band, it's an extra $10. Want more than a taste of wine? Beer and wine will be for sale.

Tickets can be purchased during the event, or online at clearwater beachrestaurantweek.com/events-activities.html or through the Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce office.

"All the restaurants are competing to see which one has the best booth," said Darlene Kole, executive director of the chamber. "It will be very entertaining. Each booth is really going all out to win that night."

But the fun won't end with the kickoff party. Starting Sunday and continuing through May 19, 26 restaurants will participate in Restaurant Week, offering special three-course, prix fixe menus ranging from $15 to $35. Restaurant patrons will have a chance to vote for their favorite food items and chef.

"The restaurants are listed on our website, along with their prix fixe menus," Kole said. "Last year we had 1,300 people attend, and this year we're anticipating over 2,000."

Check out the prix fixe menus at clearwaterbeachrestaurantweek.com/the-restaurants.html.

Patrons will be given a Restaurant Week Passport at their first restaurant. If they get stamps from four different participating restaurants by the end of the week, they can qualify for a drawing for gifts and a grand prize Clearwater Beach getaway.

"People will have an opportunity to sample tasty morsels from all their favorite restaurants," she said, "and perhaps some restaurants they've never had the opportunity to visit before."

Though the culinary creations are the focus, Restaurant Week is not just about food. It's also about supporting local restaurants and helping nonprofit organizations.

Since the event started in 2010, it has raised thousands of dollars for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and the Clearwater Beach Chamber. Last year the event raised $17,000 for the aquarium.

Hana-li is a great friend and awesome artist - I hope you love her voice as much as I do!

Tickets are on sale NOW for the Kick Off Party on May 11th, 2012!!
http://www.clearwaterbeachrestaurantweek.com/

CLICK HERE now to buy tickets: https://www.beachchamber.com/kickoff_form.html

While not a medical doctor, Neil Chasan certainly has his hands full with treating and coaching his patients in impactful ways.

After moving to Seattle from Johannesburg, South Africa, and then graduating from the University of Washington in 1982, Chasan decided his calling was to work with athletes. He founded the Sports Reaction Center in Bellevue in 1997 to focus on working with professional and amateur athletes using innovative technologies.

Having been a competitive athlete in his formative years, Chasan has always been drawn to what he calls “thinking in terms of biomechanical and physical levels of performance from the paradigm of physical therapy.” He sought to gain a deeper understanding of function and human performance.

Chasan has acted as a consultant to the U.S. Olympic Training Center and U.S. Rugby Sports Medicine, is the author of the book “Total Conditioning for Golfers,” and the creator of the video “The Swing Reaction System.” He’s even got an iPhone app, “Pain Free Back,” put out by Smart Health Software, LLC, which was heralded as a model for “the future of health care” in Future Trends magazine in 2010.

After finishing school at UW, Chasan decided to stay in Seattle, as he is an avid outdoorsman and loves the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Seattle attracts a large population of athletes.

“Seattle has been rated as the second most active city in the country,” Chasan says.
Chasan feels the most essential work and research he and his colleagues are doing currently is with concussion recovery. Having a protocol in place and dealing very specifically with athletes returning to play after overcoming a concussion injury can be vital, especially for young athletes.

“The more we understand about concussion management,” Chasan says, “the more seriously we must take it.”

While Chasan works with athletes competing in a variety of sports, the most rewarding work for him, he says, is with rugby players.

The Sports Reaction Center has been involved with the Old Puget Sound Beach Rugby Club, and Chasan attends training sessions, travels with the team to games, and provides sports physical therapy coverage on the sideline.

“I’m a longtime coach, so to be part of the coaching squad is a way in which I can be directly involved in their performance,” Chasan says.

He points out that being able to help athletes figure out what’s wrong with them, getting them on the right track, and then helping them ultimately do better in their competitions is the most rewarding part of his job.

When dealing with sports physical therapy, Chasan says the most important aspect to focus on is how to prevent preventable injuries.

“Hard bodies don’t get hurt, soft bodies do,” points out Chasan. “The best way to treat a sports injury is to prevent it.”

Chasan emphasizes the ideals of being a strong athlete in the most complete way possible.

“Being responsible and stretching, being responsible about nutrition, rest, being mindful of your body” are important parts of being at the top of your game as an athlete, he says. But Chasan also asserts that being a consumer of information is just as important.

“Being physically and mentally fit is all part of your consideration as an athlete,” he says. “You need to be both mentally tough and physically tough.”