Assessment & Treatment Protocols for Athletic Injury & Performance

Dates: September 19th-20th, 2026

Location: Albany, NY

Venue: TBD

Times: Saturday 9am-6pm; Sunday 9am-5:30pm

CEUs: We will apply for 15 NCCAOM PDAs

Instructor: Anthony Lombardi, DC

Assistants: Moses Alvarez, L.Ac. and Lolane Glundal, L.Ac.

Pre-requisite: EXSTORE™ Orthopedic System

Course Description

This intensive two-day, assessment-driven sports acupuncture course is designed to fundamentally change how you evaluate and treat athletic pain, dysfunction, and performance limitations. Rather than chasing symptoms or relying on static point prescriptions, this course teaches a fascial-line and movement-based clinical system that prioritizes assessment that drives treatment protocols.

Participants will learn how to identify hidden drivers of pain and injury risk using performance screens, gait analysis, and fascial bias mapping—then apply five reproducible clinical protocols for the most common upper- and lower-body sports presentations. Emphasis is placed on motor-point acupuncture, electro-acupuncture dosing, tissue response, and real-time reassessment.

Through lecture, live demonstration, hands-on practice, open lab time, and supervised live-patient treatment, practitioners will gain the confidence to assess and treat athletes with greater precision, consistency, and clinical impact.

This course is ideal for practitioners who want a clear clinical framework, improved outcomes with complex athletic cases, and a system that integrates seamlessly into high-performance, orthopedic, and sports-based practices.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Perform assessment-first evaluations using functional movement screens and gait analysis

• Identify fascial bias and directional tension prior to point selection

• Differentiate local pain from global movement and fascial drivers

• Apply five standardized, assessment-based sports acupuncture protocols

• Locate and needle motor points within relevant fascial lines

• Select appropriate electro-acupuncture parameters for stability, rehabilitation, and performance

• Reassess patients post-treatment to confirm clinical change

• Integrate a repeatable clinical decision-making system into sports and orthopedic practice

Itinerary

DAY 1 — SATURDAY

Assessment, Fascial Lines; Upper Body & Spine Protocols

⸻

9:00 – 9:30 AM | Welcome & Course Orientation

• GUEST PATIENT
• Philosophy of sports acupuncture: performance, prevention, resilience
• Why assessment + fascial bias must precede point selection
• Overview of the five clinical protocols
• Safety, electro-acupuncture parameters, and scope

⸻

9:30 – 10:30 AM | Foundational Sports Assessment

Lecture + Demo

• Why pain location is misleading
• The 3 Performance Screens:
  • Squat test
  • Push-up test
  • Wall test
• Identifying hidden weakness, inhibition, and injury risk
• Transition from observation → fascial bias → protocol selection

The Chaos of Gait

Lecture + Demo

• Why gait is never symmetrical
• Fascial lines expressed through gait
• Identifying compensations and force leaks
• Translating gait findings into treatment

⸻

10:30 – 11:05: Practice

– functional tests

– gait analysis

– subtalar joint assessment

11:05-1215 – Fascial Lines of Tension (Lecture)

30-Minute Lecture

• The 6 Fascial Vectors
• Anterior torsional
• Posterior torsional
• Anterior linear (clavicular mechanics)
• Posterior linear
• Lateral vector
• Deep vector
• Directional tension and force transmission
• Why treating “locally” fails in athletes
• Visual mapping of fascial bias
• Palpation cues and movement confirmation
• Choosing lines before choosing points

⸻

11:30 – 12:15PM | Fascial Line Needling Practice

Hands-On Practice

• Needling along fascial vectors
• Motor-point identification within fascial lines
• Needle depth, angle, and tissue response
• Electro-acupuncture placement considerations

12:15– 1:00 PM | LUNCH (Open Lab/Guest patient)a

⸻

1:00 – 2:15 PM | Protocol 1: Shoulder Pain & Dysfunction

Assessment-Based Shoulder Base Protocol

• Shoulder assessment:
• Scapulohumeral rhythm
• Clavicular mechanics
• Fascial bias identification
• Motor-point packages for shoulder athletes
• Electro-acupuncture setup
• Demo → Supervised Practice

⸻

2:15 – 3:30 PM | Protocol 2: Acute Cervical Pain

Sports-Based Neck Pain Protocol

• Acute vs chronic neck patterns
• Fascial involvement of cervical pain
• Motor-point selection:
• Upper trapezius
• Levator scapulae
• Deep cervical stabilizers
• Electro-acupuncture dosing
• Demo → Supervised Practice

⸻

3:30 – 4:45 PM | Protocol 3: Acute Low Back Pain

• Assessing lumbar vs pelvic drivers
• Fascial bias in acute low back presentations
• QL and psoas motor-point strategies
• Manual release integration
• Demo → Supervised Practice

⸻

5:00 – 6:00 PM | OPEN LAB (Saturday Only)

• Guided repetition of all Day 1 material
• Fascial line reassessment
• Needle placement refinement
• Clinical troubleshooting

⸻

DAY 2 — SUNDAY

Lower Body, Gait, Performance & Live Patient Integration

9:00-1030am| Protocol 4: Iliac / SI Joint Pain

• Differentiating SI joint vs lumbar referral
• Pelvic mechanics and force transfer
• Fascial drivers of iliac pain
• Motor-point selection:
• Glute max / med
• Deep hip rotators
• Electro-acupuncture for pelvic stability
• Demo → Supervised Practice

⸻

1045– 12:00 PM | Protocol 5: Foot & Ankle Pain

• Review of foot and ankle joint mechanics
• Fascial connections of the lower kinetic chain
• Importance of:
• Adductor hallucis
• Abductor hallucis
• Electro-acupuncture for ankle propulsion and stability
• Demo → Supervised Practice

⸻

12:00 – 1:00 PM | LUNCH – Guest patient

⸻

1:00 – 2:00 PM | Performance-Based Electro-Acupuncture

Lecture + Demo

• Perfusion treatments
• Fascial-based electro strategies
• Motor-point packages:
• Upper kinetic chain
• Hypogastric abdominal package
• Lower kinetic chain
• Programming for performance vs rehabilitation

⸻

2:30-3:00 – Practice of Packages

⸻

3:00– 5:00 PM | LIVE PATIENT LABS

Supervised Clinical Application

• Real patients with real conditions
• Student-led assessment and treatment
• Fascial line identification in live cases
• Instructor-guided correction and refinement
• Immediate re-assessment outcomes

⸻

5:00 – 5:30 PM | Course Wrap-Up

• Clinical integration strategies
• Protocol selection flowcharts
• Programming care plans for athletes
• Final Q&A

About Dr. Lombardi, Instructor & Founder of the EXTORE™ Orthopedic System

Anthony Lombardi, DC is a 2002 graduate of the New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls, New York and completed the McMaster Contemporary Medical Acupuncture program in Hamilton, Ontario. He founded the Hamilton Back Clinic in 2002 and has since become a private consultant to athletes in the NFL, CFL, and NHL. Dr. Lombardi has accumulated some 190,000 treatments over the past 22 years of practice.

In addition to practicing, Dr. Lombardi was also an instructor in the Contemporary Medical Acupuncture Program at McMaster University from 2004 to 2013. In 2010 he developed EXSTORE™, an organized system of assessment and treatment that produces fast results using motor points, electro-needling/electro-acupuncture, soft tissue work, and other modalities. Dr. Lombardi has a library of on-demand education that continues to grow, with some 75 webinars available covering a variety of musculoskeletal conditions and practice management topics. He also teaches his EXSTORE™ system through live, in-person seminars throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Dr. Lombardi maintains a busy practice, averaging 170 patient visits a week, including 12 new patients every week, for over ten years.

About Moses Alvarez, L.Ac., Teaching Assistant

Moses Alvarez, RN, L.Ac. is a licensed acupuncturist and registered professional nurse specializing in orthopedics and electroacupuncture. Moses has over 20 years of total experience in the fields of rehabilitation therapy, pain management and exercise science, with acupuncture specialty training in EXSTORE, pelvic floor, and trigger point dry needling.

In addition to practicing, Moses is an assistant instructor for all of Dr. Anthony Lombardi’s and Dr. Jamie Hampton’s seminars. He has private practices in Central Pennsylvania serving athletes and the general population, treating musculoskeletal conditions, pelvic floor disorders, and post-surgery patients.

Lora Lolane Glundal, L.Ac. — Teaching Assistant

Lora “Lolane” Glundal, L.Ac. is a licensed Acupuncturist & Chinese Herbalist with over 17 years of experience. Lolane has training in a variety of areas including Orthopedics and Dry Needling and Pelvic Floor Acupuncture. In addition to this, Lolane is also certified as both a Hatha/Vinyasa and Kundalini Yoga teacher.

Lolane currently has a private practice in Central New York, assists in the Dry Needling and Pelvic Floor seminars with ASE Seminars LLC,
and will teach Pelvic Floor Yoga starting in 2025.