Biomechanics can be a competitive edge for Vols

Tennessee running back Bryce Brown looked like a video game model, wearing a black bodysuit covered with electrodes while performing agility tests.

Instead, biomechanics expert Patrick Moodie was collecting data about Brown's movements that could be used to help diagnose problems that might lead to future injuries or help them find ways to improve their performances.

Moodie's company, Kansas City-based Dynamic Athletics Research Institute, offered Tennessee free tests as it develops its athletic programs. Brown and four other athletes were tested last week and another five will be tested.

"Everything out there was saying, 'You're compared to an average,' " Moodie said. "If you have that healthy baseline, you're no longer comparing to averages. You're comparing to yourself. That's how you really track movements. That's how you see improvements."

The program uses 12 video cameras to capture the movement of the athlete's body suit and create a three-dimensional image as the athlete runs, jumps or performs sport-specific skills - such as catching balls. It also compares how the athlete's movements change as he becomes fatigued.

"Do they have a range of motion issue? Do they have a strength issue when they do a certain movement pattern that maybe we're not aware of right now because you can't see it with the naked eye," Tennessee director of sports medicine Jason McVeigh said. "Potentially that could be an injury risk down in the future if they're not using a normal motion pattern when they're fatigued."

Doctors, athletic trainers and strength coaches can review the information provided by DARI to see if the athlete is favoring a particular body part in a way that might lead to injury, especially non-contact injuries like stress fractures and ligament tears.

Trainers also can use the information to determine whether an athlete is fully recovered from an injury.

"The problem is most athletes will adopt a new movement to achieve that performance goal," Moodie said. "You may be doing new movements that are you going to have new aches, new pains and possibly new injuries and ping-pong all over your body."

Brown likes the competitive advantage it might bring. Tennessee is the only SEC school using such testing and one of only a few Division I schools - most biomechanics testing is done with professional athletes, Moodie said.

"For us to be the only school in the SEC that does it, I think that gives us a bit of an edge down the road," Brown, a freshman from Wichita, Kan., said while catching his breath. "You probably won't see it short term, but I think you'll see the effects of it."