The Ground Reaction: Force Data in ACL Rehab

How to use force plate data to make sharper, more confident return-to-sport decisions after ACL injury.

Most return-to-sport decisions in ACL rehab still lean heavily on time-based milestones, clinical feel, and a handful of jump tests. The data is often there, but it's not always being used to drive the decision.

This session is about closing that gap.

Join Dr Nico Furlan — Clinical Lead of the Athletic Performance Program at Jointli (St Leonards, Sydney) — for a practical, evidence-informed look at how force plate testing can sharpen decision-making across the ACL rehab continuum, from early-stage criteria through to clearance.

With a PhD in Applied Sports Science and experience spanning the Chinese Olympic Committee through to orthopaedic-integrated rehab at Jointli, Nico sits at the intersection of high performance and clinical practice — and brings both lenses to the conversation.

YOUR PRESENTERS

DR. NICO FURLAN CLINICAL LEAD OF THE ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE PROGRAM AT JOINTLI

Nico has been an S&C coach for over 20 years. For the past four years, he has led a team of rehabilitation specialists at Jointli, a knee-focused clinic within Landmark Orthopaedics in Sydney.

JAMES HANISCH MANAGING DIRECTOR ASIA-PACIFIC AT HAWKIN DYNAMICSJames Hanisch is the former Director of Performance Science at the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL, the Sport Science Coordinator at the University of Oregon, and spent 8 years as a performance analyst in Aussie Rules football.

What you'll walk away with:

A clear testing roadmap — which force plate tests to use at each stage of rehab, and what each one is actually telling you
Confidence beyond jump height — how to read asymmetries, movement strategy, and force-time characteristics to detect risk the headline numbers miss
A decision-making framework — how to integrate force data into return-to-sport criteria alongside clinical and on-field markers
Better testing, not just more testing — protocols and coaching cues that make your data reliable enough to act on
Monday-morning application — practical principles you can take into your next session, not theory you'll forget by the end of the week