The Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic uses brain function assessments to help athletes optimize sports performance
Surrey and North Vancouver, B.C. (March 4, 2021) – Brain health meets elite sports performance. The North Shore Basketball Academy is upping their game by working with the Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic. Together they are using the NeuroCatch® Platform for cognitive performance benchmarking as part of the Brain and Body Performance Optimization (BBPO) program. The BBPO program provides a comprehensive assessment of cognitive and physical abilities to complement rigorous athletic training at any point in the season.
“We are excited to work with the Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic to kick start this elite sports optimization program,” says Ryan Lenarduzzi, Founder and Head Coach of the North Shore Basketball Academy. “Many of our young athletes are already enrolled in the program and are looking to push the limits of performance, so optimizing their brains in addition to their bodies makes perfect sense.”
The BBPO program leverages state-of-the-art methods and neuroscience-based technologies to objectively measure an athlete’s physical and cognitive abilities. For example, the NeuroCatch Platform provides an objective, millisecond-timing measure of brain function to benchmark cognitive information processing. The goal of the program is to provide an accessible and affordable enhancement to training for athletes to help them keep sharp even during pandemic times.
“NeuroCatch, together with the BBPO program, can identify the most effective ways to optimize athletes to think faster and break through performance limits through deliberate practice with observable brain changes,” says Dr. Rick Celebrini, an internationally renowned sport and orthopedic physiotherapist and one of the co-founders of this partnership concept.
The BBPO program measures several domains of cognitive and physical function in the context of the athlete’s sport, and helps clinicians and coaches to develop training recommendations to enhance an athlete’s areas of challenge and leverage their areas of strength.
“These areas could be, but are not limited to, an athlete’s ability to understand balance and positioning in the game, power output, carry out pre-planned plays, plan where to put their hands or feet during sport, and keep their eyes focused on what is ahead despite passing distractions in their peripheral vision,” says Mathieu Gagnon, a Kinesiologist at the Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic who developed the BBPO program.
Peak performance requires disciplined focus and an emphasis on full spectrum health optimization to gain incremental advantages in targeted areas. That spectrum typically includes physical training, practice, weight management, nutrition, hydration, and sleep. Adding a focus on optimized brain health has the potential to improve decision making, cognitive agility and mental well-being. These are also critical factors in peak performance, where the ability to react and respond as quickly and accurately as possible is key.
Dr. Bruce Pinel, a mental performance consultant at the Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic, who has worked with professional athletes, and elite athletes competing in world championships and the Olympic Games says, “By harnessing the power of innovative neuro-technologies and neuroscience, and pairing it with sports and kinesiology expertise, we can now aim to elevate an athlete’s overall performance by also enhancing their mental performance in ways that have not previously existed.”
For more information on the Brain and Body Performance Optimization (BBPO) program at the Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic, visit www.snpc.tech.
About the North Shore Basketball Academy:
North Shore Basketball Academy is focused on providing fun, high-quality basketball programming for our community. The Academy prides itself in its versatility in serving both the elite athlete pursuing a college career and the five-year old who is just being introduced to the game (and everyone in between) with the same level of focus, effort and attention. The Academy offers year-round programming for youth ages 5-16 including club teams, development leagues, school programs and camps. www.northshorebasketballacademy.com
About Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic:
The Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic (SNPC) opened in 2019 as a neuro-rehabilitation clinic in Surrey, British Columbia, focusing on comprehensive therapies using advanced, non-invasive brain technologies to help treat people with neurological conditions. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of HealthTech Connex Inc., developer of the NeuroCatch® Platform, an objective, rapid neuro-physiological brain function assessment system that is licensed by Health Canada as a Class II medical device. The SNPC clinical team consists of multidisciplinary therapists expertly trained with the latest, innovative technologies to support the brain’s ability to heal, adapt, retrain and transform itself. The SNPC is proud to be Western Canada’s first clinic to have access to the cutting-edge PoNS Treatment™. More information: www.snpc.tech
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Media contact:
Yvonne Chiang, 604-880-5090, [email protected]