Late Late’s leg up for Galway inventor’s sports injury preventor!

AN invention by Galway man Ned Burns to measure and compare leg flexibility to help prevent many recurring sports injuries, was featured on last weekend’s Late Late Show.

The SpeedFlexer was demonstrated to an estimated audience of 650,000 viewers using Russian high jumper Olga Kaliturina and an audience member.

An athlete with top class flexibility will be able to achieve a 90 degree plus upright stretch on both legs as displayed by the Russian high jumper but for some individuals, their range could be as low as 50 degrees.

According to the Abbeyknockmoy man, the problem for many people, including top class footballers, is that there a serious imbalance between their two legs, leading to an extra strain being placed on the weaker leg.

A trainer of many club, colleges and inter-county teams over recent years, Ned created the SpeedFlexer while studying strength and conditions under Dr. Liam Hennessy at Setanta College.

The SpeedFlexer, costing in the region of €500, is manufactured for Ned Burns by John Concannon’s JFC in Tuam, and is now being used by many clubs and schools across the county.

His flexibility programme is based on a four step programme in the following order: measure flexibility; identify the problem; enter into a three stage flexibility programme and re-measure periodically to assess progress.

Now, a leading researcher based at the University of Limerick, Dr. Kieran O’Sullivan, is using the SpeedFlexer device as part of a study on activity, obesity and flexibility across a large group of adolescents.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune