Athletes injury prevention is focus with strength, speed
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – You don’t have to drive too far in the city of Slidell to recognize the many places offering workout or training services of many kinds.
But Alan Miller, founder of Core Performance Academy, believes he is offering something you will likely not find anywhere else.
Miller has been involved in sports from his days at Northshore High School, going on to earn an Athletic Training degree at Southeastern in 2012. As well as working as a student athletic trainer for the Lions athletic teams, he has already put together an impressive resume of training success at several high schools and Southern University.
As someone who saw his share of athletes being sidelined with injuries, he began to focus much of his research on helping athletes prevent injuries, as well as increase speed and strength with their training.
It led to him going on his own in 2020 with today’s Core Performance Academy that already has an amazing record of success.
“In every sport there are a few specific injuries that show up more than others,” he said. “And that’s why I began to create a system that prevented injuries by strengthening and training those different muscles and joints, depending on your sport.”
Miller, 34, is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to athletes and the best way for them to train, but his record of keeping athletes on the field without injury is statistically proven to be a success since he keeps track of every athlete he trains.
“We track injury data after they have worked with us,” he said. “We follow them to see how they do the next year, and if they get injured, and so far we have trained 241 athletes, with 237 remaining injury free the following sport season. This system positively works.”
For athletes in general, Miller said, the most common injury is a sprained ankle, or “rolling your ankle,” while for throwing athletes the most common injury is rotator cuff injuries, including anything in the shoulder and elbow.
More specifically, basketball players have ankle and knee injuries, including shin splints; baseball players have various injuries that are all related to the fact most baseball actions involve twisting in some manner; soccer athletes have ankle and knee injuries; and all sports have their share of hamstring injuries.
Besides studying in college and with hundreds of hours on the job training with area teams, Miller has researched many studies that were conducted in other countries including in Scandinavian countries.
“One of the studies showed that certain exercises cut hamstring injuries in half, so that is something we utilize here,” he explained.
Miller’s approach to helping athletes begins from the minute they walk in the door as he begins with a movement analysis, measuring the symmetry of the body from all the movements.
“If one side of a body is overloaded when you run, then you are at higher risk of injury,” he said. “We measure everything to determine your power, distance and time for jumping, reacting—whatever you are doing in your sport.”
From there, he creates a personal workout routine for each individual that focuses on whatever sport they are involved in.
“Our program isn’t just to help you prevent injuries,” he said. “We include exercises that will improve speed and strength, geared to get you stronger and faster.”
Ultimately, he remarked, the goal is to “teach athletes to be self-sufficient with their training. We help them learn to spot misleading information on the Internet, and want to teach them enough to train on their own.
“And hopefully, they see that we will treat them so well and help you so much that you will keep coming here,” he added with a smile.
Miller is sa certified athletic trainer, as well as a certified strength and conditioning specialist. He has group classes as well for youth or adults which you can find on his website at: millerspt.com
In only three years with his own training academy he is already working with over 50 athletes, as well as a number of local teams.
He is married to a Slidell elementary school teacher, and they have two children.
For more information, call him at 985-768-8150 or go to the website.
The club is located at 107 South Military Road in Slidell.