Dr. Heebner joined the University of Kentucky in August 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Athletic Training and Clinical Nutrition. He is currently the Executive Associate Director of the University of Kentucky Sports Medicine Research Institute. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology / Athletic Training from the Pennsylvania State University and his Master’s and Doctorate degrees from the University of Pittsburgh in Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Science. Dr. Heebner is currently the Director of the University of Kentucky’s Sports Medicine Research Institute and his current research activities focus on injury prevention and performance enhancement in military and collegiate athletes. His previous work has also focused on lower extremity injury and biomechanical and neuromuscular risk factors for musculoskeletal injury. His other research interests include injury prevention and performance enhancement in the ultra-endurance athlete and the application of portable/wearable technology for injury prevention and rehabilitation.

Selected Publications:

• Clark NC, Akins JA, Heebner NR, Sell TC, Abt JP, Lovalekar M, Lephart SM. Reliability and Measurement Precision of Concentric-to-Isometric and Eccentric-to-Isometric Knee Active Joint Position Sense Tests in Uninjured Physically Active Adults. Physical Therapy in Sport. (In Press)
• Nagai T, Clark NC, Abt JP, Sell TC, Heebner NR, Smalley BW, Wirt MD, Lephart SM. The Effect of Target Position on the Accuracy of Cervical Spine Rotation Active Joint Position Sense. J Sport Rehab. (In Press)
• Akins JS, Heebner NR, Lovalekar M, Sell TC. Reliability and Validity of Instrumented Soccer Equipment. J Appl. Biomech. 2015; 31(3): 195-201
• Heebner NR, Akins JS, Lephart SM, Sell TC. Reliability and validity of an accelerometer based measure of static and dynamic postural stability. Gait and Posture. 2014; 41(2): 535-539
• Nagai T, Heebner NR, Sell TC, Nakagawa T, Fu FH, Lephart SM. Restoration of Sagittal and Transverse Plane Proprioception Following Anatomic Double-Bundle ACL Reconstruction. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc, 2012; 21(9): 2048-2056