Pushing Therapeutic Limits in High-Performance Athletes

Successful treatment using trigger point therapy in a high-performance obstacle and endurance racing athlete

As a therapist or trainer, I’m sure you can identify with the immense satisfaction of knowing that your work has had a direct impact on an athlete being able to achieve their goals. Another one of these proud moments happened for me recently.

I first met Tim Kacprzak at the start of his obstacle racing and ultra running athletic journey when he was training for World’s Toughest Mudder, a gruelling 24-hour race in freezing conditions held in the United States.

More recently, I worked intensively with Tim for a month prior to his Hardcore 100 event in Australia. I applied all that the NAT lower limb and hip protocols had to offer in order to get his legs right. It really came down to the wire in the end, but receiving this email from him made the hard work all worth it:

'Hardcore 100', 100 Mile Trail Run, 160km / 3200m elevation gain / 6:24min average pace / 17hrs, 3mins / 1hr, 45min PB / sub-18hr Gold Buckle / 2nd place overall…and the best racing experience of my life!

This sums up yesterdays race. Where to start? I have never had to push so hard for so long, I always thought the race would start at the 80km mark and it sure did, at times being minutes off the lead, the grit and determination of the first placer had me pushing right to the very end. It was an unbelievable experience and I sure as hell got everything and more out of my body.

The goal was simple: get a PB, and I smashed that, along the way breaking the previous course record by 10 minutes, but a new one was set by an amazing athlete in Andrew Hough, he had me chasing his tail all day and night, and what a race experience he created for me.

Looking back, I could not ask for more, running 2 hrs faster than last year, beating all my expectations and getting that elusive Gold Buckle. Simply put, this race has changed my perception of what I thought my body was capable of.

Stu Hinds, thanks to your hard work over the past month mate, we managed to cross the line without the legs falling apart.

 So, there it is. After 27 years in practice, this type of feedback still gives me enormous satisfaction; it’s one of the major reasons I am so passionate about treating high-performance athletes and teaching the highly effective techniques that I use to achieve these results.

The NAT protocols have been developed to help you achieve long-lasting results for your clients, the NAT courses provide treatment routines and protocols that address not only the ‘target’ trigger points involved with a particular condition, but also the secondary trigger points that arise from the biomechanical, postural, and pain referral factors at play.

You may identify with having a client return time and time again without any real progress, even though freeing the soft-tissues seems to offer temporary relief. But, there are effective treatments for athletes that demand high-performance. Using NAT protocols you can prompt changes that are both profound and long-lasting.

You can follow Tim’s obstacle and endurance racing adventures on Facebook, here https://www.facebook.com/TimKacprzakEliteObstacleAndEnduranceRacer

Treating Hip Pain & Dysfunction - Master Course