Inside An Olympic Sprint Coach's Hamstring Testing Protocol
What to measure. When to progress. When to clear.
Physiotherapist and Olympic sprint coach John Nicolosi shows how he uses AxIT to test, track and clear hamstrings across rehab, prevention and performance.
Save your seat
Free to attend. Places on the live Q&A are limited.
Can't make it live? Register anyway and we'll email you the full recording plus John's testing summary the following day.
Guesswork is still the biggest risk factor
Hamstring strain injury has one of the highest recurrence rates in sport, and most of that recurrence traces back to the same thing: athletes returned to running and to sport on feel, symptoms and time frames rather than on data. This session is about closing that gap.
What to actually measure
The tests that earn their place in a hamstring assessment, and the ones that just add time to your session without changing a single decision.
Reading the numbers properly
Peak force, limb symmetry index and rate of force development. What each one tells you about a hamstring, and where symmetry alone will mislead you.
Building return to run criteria
How John sets objective gates between stages, so the decision to progress an athlete is defensible to the athlete, the coach and the referrer.
Strength data meets running mechanics
Where force output shows up in the running stride, and why a hamstring that tests well can still fail at top speed if coordination has not been retrained.
Testing for prevention, not just rehab
Using pre-season and in-season screening to flag the athletes carrying risk, and how often you need to retest for the data to mean anything.
Communicating the result
Turning a testing session into a one page report that an athlete understands, a coach acts on and a referrer respects.
Built for practitioners who have to make the call
- Physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors managing hamstring injuries in running and field sport athletes
- Strength and conditioning coaches responsible for return to play and in-season screening
- Exercise physiologists and rehab professionals wanting objective progression criteria
- Existing AxIT users who want to get more out of Pull IT, Stomp IT and AxIT Connect
- Clinicians weighing up whether objective testing is worth bringing into their practice
- Final year students who want to see how this works in a real clinic
No AxIT gear? Still worth your time.
This is not an equipment demo. The framework, the criteria and the interpretation apply whatever you currently test with, including handheld dynamometry and field based measures. Come for the decision making. If you are curious about how the testing runs on AxIT, John will show that too.
John Nicolosi
Director and Head of the MAD Track Team, Melbourne Athletic Development
- Bachelor of Physiotherapy
- Master of Exercise Science
- World Athletics certified sprint coach
- Two Olympic Games of sprint coaching experience
- Former sprinter and long time AxIT user
A physio who also has to get athletes to the start line
John sits in a position most clinicians do not. He treats hamstring injuries as a physiotherapist, then coaches the same athletes through top speed sprinting as a World Athletics certified sprint coach with two Olympic Games behind him. That means every rehab decision he makes gets tested at full pace, in front of him, weeks later.
It has made him unusually specific about what he measures and when he progresses. In this session he opens up the testing process he runs at Melbourne Athletic Development, including the numbers he wants to see before an athlete runs again and the ones he will not compromise on before they return to sport.
Hamstring Strain Injury & Running Biomechanics
John's full online course. Six hours of hamstring content built around the framework he uses in clinic, taken step by step from mechanism through to return to sport.
- Online lectures on hamstring strain injury grading, mechanisms and biomechanics
- Practical running assessment demonstrations you can copy straight into your clinic
- Podcasts with the researchers working in the field
- A practical resource library plus access to live webinars
- Built for physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors and performance coaches
Full course
Lifetime access
Six hours of content. Yours to revisit whenever a hamstring walks through the door.
View the courseHosted by MAD Education
Common questions
Is it really free?
Yes. The webinar is free to attend live and the recording is free as well. John's online course is a separate paid product and is entirely optional.
What if I can't attend live?
Register anyway. Everyone who registers receives the full recording by email the following day, whether they made it live or not. If you want a question answered, send it through with your registration and John will cover it on the night.
Do I need AxIT equipment to get value from this?
No. The testing framework, the interpretation and the return to run criteria apply regardless of what hardware you use. The live demonstration shows how the workflow runs on AxIT, which is useful if you are considering objective testing or already own the gear.
How do I join on the night?
Registration is handled through the form on this page, which connects directly to Zoom. You will receive your unique join link by email as soon as you register, plus reminders before the session starts.
Does this count towards CPD?
Attendance can be logged as self directed professional development under most Australian registration frameworks. A confirmation of attendance is available on request after the session.
Stop clearing hamstrings on a hunch
Sixty minutes with John Nicolosi on testing hamstrings properly, from acute rehab through to top speed. Free, live, and recorded for everyone who registers.
Register for the webinarPresented by Strength by Numbers, makers of AxIT.