Lightning Performance Solutions

Recently, we had the pleasure of catching up with Brett McQueen, founder of Lightning Performance Solutions (LPS) and Suji super-user!

Brett Founded LPS in 2013 and has since evolved the facility into a thriving hub for athletic training and rehabilitation in Kansas City MO, mainly catering to a younger athletic population.

In our conversation, we learned of LPS’ unique attitude and approach to Sports Medicine, and the pivotal role Suji now plays in their cutting-edge strategies.

Here is what Lightning Performance Solutions had to say about Suji:

What are Lightning Performance's Philosophies and who are your usual demographics?

"As an overarching theme, we believe in practicing evidence-guided care as opposed to evidence-based care. Everything we do is guided by evidence and science, but not solely based on literature. Otherwise, we would be stuck practicing on information that is old and outdated.

We believe in treating the whole person and place big emphasis on mental and emotional well-being in conjunction with treating the physical side of injury and performance. Since we only treat athletes and active individuals, most of our clientele are 12-30 years old and actively competing in a sport. In addition, we see a variety of highly complex cases with chronic pain issues related to activity and active lifestyles."

Your previous experience using BFR?

"I (Brett) attended my first BFR certification course in 2012 and have been through coursework with 6 other companies to date. Aaron began learning about and using BFR in 2018 and is credentialed with one other company. Over the years, our practices have adapted based on the literature and anecdotal evidence on where we see results."

How did you learn about Suji?

"The man, the myth, the legend, the education guru for Suji, Mitch Hauschildt was a preceptor and mentor for me many years ago in school. We kept in touch through the years, attended numerous continuing education events together, and routinely collaborated on practice theories. Prior to Mitch’s involvement with Suji, I was growing frustrated with the business practices of some other BFR providers and the industry. Easily one of the best moves we have made for our clinic from a patient care perspective."

How do you currently implement Suji, do you use Suji across multiple use cases? If so, what is your most novel use case?

"The most simple answer to this question is 'yes.' We utilize BFR with almost all of our cases. Certainly, the standards outlined in the literature with bone healing, tendon loading, strength adaptations, metabolic gains, recovery, etc. At this point... we use ischemic preconditioning protocols: it helps reduce conditioning loss, it stimulates a host of positive hormones for healing, and it stimulates a more normal metabolic process when an athlete goes from active to sedentary."

Specific athlete use cases you think are noteworthy where Suji played a vital role?

"We could talk about cool cases all day long in the rehab world, but some of the neatest ones are in the performance arena with teenagers. We have had numerous teens who already are on meal plans, workout/train regularly, and do the right things. The only thing that was added to them doing the right things was 1-2 BFR sessions per week. Since adding in regular training with our philosophies and Suji BFR, these kids who were struggling to make headway while doing the right things have all gained 2-5 inches in height and 15-20 lbs in lean muscle mass in a 4-6 month time range. Our belief on this is simple, when you stimulate the optimal homeostatic environment, the body will respond incredibly well hormonally for performance gains."

How other clinicians could/should use BFR

"Yes, you should be using BFR. Get some education and figure out what works best. Learn what the literature says as a guidance and then apply it better to your patients. The protocols out there are old and outdated. In general, it is patient-specific when you get into the nitty-gritty details of things. Don’t get stuck doing the same 30-15-15-15 research-based things that have been done for a long time. If you have questions, ask someone who has been doing it for awhile."

Future Plans for Lightning Performance

"We are exploring options to move to a larger facility currently and add at least one more treating clinician. The world of value-based care and a cash-based model are growing as patients are more frustrated than ever with the insurance-driven healthcare market. We just want to get people back to doing what they want to do as fast, safe, and effective as possible. Suji helps us do that. Now we need a bigger space in which to accomplish that goal."