Buffalo NY – On Thursday, May 25th, Tim Gabbett, PhD completed his European-American lecture tour in Buffalo. Dr. Gabbett is the 16th guest lecturer to present to the University at Buffalo’s Department of Orthopaedics for the Ralph & Mary Wilson Gift Lecture series. Visiting from Brisbane, Australia, Dr. Gabbett presented to an auditorium of orthopaedic and sports medicine physicians, orthopaedic residents, athletic trainers, physician assistants, nurses, and others interested in sports medicine and athlete safety. His presentations were titled “A Best Approach to Training Monitoring” (chronic and acute workloads) and “Monitoring Training Loads for Injury Prevention and Performance”.
Dr. Gabbett holds a PhD in human physiology, as well as “Applied Science of Professional Football”, with special reference to physical demands, injury prevention, and skill acquisition. His work with coaches and athletes led to his interest in the science behind sports medicine and athlete physiology. Dr. Gabbett has worked with elite international athletes over several Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, as well as athletes covering the spectrum of sports across Australia, Europe and the United States.
With over 20 years’ experience working in sports science, and over 200 published scientific articles, Dr. Gabbett brings his respected and well-researched perspective to the Department of Orthopaedics. During his lecture, Dr. Gabbett first presented on the scientific approach to analyzing acute load vs chronic load. He stressed the importance of proper training in increments and the risk factors associated with pushing athletes to exceed their limitations. He stated that “spikes in [work]load are the best predictors of injury”, summarizing that athletes are much more likely to be injured when they don’t train adequately. He also presented a chart that coaches, trainers and physicians can reference to gage the risk of injury for individual athletes. The subsequent presentation focused on examining the optimum amount of training required to attain specific performance levels. Dr. Gabbett reviewed his studies on the significance of pre-season training, stating that the rate of missed games during the season decreases when sufficient pre-season training is completed. He suggested that players are exposed to high loads, mixed with their low-to-medium load training. He states that high load introduction leads to good fitness, which reduces risk of injury and hopefully leads to good performance.
The lectures concluded with Q&A where audience members asked real-life situation questions, and Dr. Bisson presented Dr. Gabbett with the traditional crystal buffalo gift.
This Ralph & Mary Wilson Gift Lecture was the sixteenth presentation given since the series began in 2011. The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation made a $1 million donation to UB’s Department of Orthopaedics at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in September of 2011. The donation supports research and education in sports medicine, including the Gift Lecture. The generous donation was made by the Wilson family to honor the Buffalo Bills team physicians who care for the players on and off the field. In November 2015, after the passing of Ralph C. Wilson, Mary Wilson and her fellow trustees gifted $4.2 million to the Department of Orthopaedics. The endowment established the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Center of Excellence in Sports Medicine in the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Patients of UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, the clinical practice plan comprised of the orthopaedic providers in the University, benefit from the ideas exchanged at the Gift Lecture, and the innovations in care resulting from research and education supported by this endowment.