How do ATs decrease pain and reduce recover time? IASTM!!

***Please note, this blog entry is part of an assignment for my DAT program at AT Still University.  The research quoted throughout the text is fictitious and has NOT been actually performed.  Any claims of effectiveness of the IASTM Gua Sha treatments are not based on actual data***

Pain, muscle soreness, tendinitis, and overuse injuries are synonymous with sports but a team of secondary school athletic trainers (ATs) from [the local] Sports Medicine and Performance Center (SMPC) are studying a solution to the problem.  Gua sha is a form of Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM) which has been used by Chinese for centuries.   Gua Sha is a scraping technique that intentionally raises blood flow to the area using small instruments and a massage oil.¹ 

The ATs studied the affects of Gua Sha on lower extremity musculoskeletal injury for the high school athletes in their care for the 2017-2018 school year.  The 6 high schools of the [the local] Valley School District (BVSD) were assigned to be Gua Sha treatment (n=3) or a control group treatment (n=3).  BVSD had approximately 4,500 athletes over the course of the school year.  Of these 4,500 athletes, 365 qualified for the study with 190 athletes receiving Gua Sha treatment from the AT.  Athletes at all 6 sites received standard treatment for their injury with the treatment group receiving an additional Gua Sha treatment 3-5 times per week for 30 to 120 seconds.  The published results can be found here [link to website}.  Results indicated the additional Gua Sha treatment had a significant and immediate effect on pain by decreasing pain an average of X%.  Additionally, the treatment group returned to play on average X days faster than the control group.

These results are especially promising for secondary school ATs, physical therapists, and team physicians who work with high school athletes.  Gua Sha is a simple IASTM technique which does not require specialty certification course work, is safe, is fast, and effective.  The immediate significant decrease in pain allows the athlete to perform effective rehabilitative exercises and the faster return to play decreases the workload on the busy clinical time of the AT.

If you are an athlete experiencing an overuse injury, contact your local sports medicine clinic and inquire about their athletic training services!

 

References

1. Nielsen A, Knoblauch NT, Dobos GJ, Michalsen A, Kaptchuk TJ. The effect of Gua Sha treatment on the microcirculation of surface tissue: a pilot study in healthy subjects. Explore (NY). 2007;3(5):456-66.

 

Change – Part 1

 

Introduction

The book “Switch.  How to Change When Change is Hard“¹ applied to changing the public perceptions of the profession of athletic training.  Please make sure you have watched the previous blog entries as a prologue to this entry.  It will help you as you process the ideas and hopefully contribute your own ideas in the comments.

Prologue Part 1 – A TED Talk on “Sweat the Small Stuff”

Prologue Part 2 – A review of Heath and Heath’s book “Switch How to Change  When Change is Hard“.

The Issue

The general public perceives ATs as a fitness professional, not a healthcare provider.

The Goal

To shift the public perception of athletic trainers from a fitness professional to a healthcare provider.

The Plan

Follow the Bright Spots.  Our profession understands the athletes we interact with the most have the greatest understanding of who we are and what we do.  Among NCAA Division 1 and Division 2 athletes there is a direct correlation between access and interaction to perception of healthcare professionals.²  Athletes with consistent access and regular interaction with the AT had a higher perception of the AT as a healthcare provider than those who didn’t access the AT.  Access and interaction with the AT develops understanding of the healthcare provider role of the AT.  For our professional identity to change, we must consistently accessible and regularly interact with our patients.

The Takeaway. Be accessible and be conscious of your accessibility and interactions.  Every interaction you have effects the public perception of you AND the athletic training profession.

Essential Questions

What bright spots have you observed in making change?  Why do some recognize ATs as a healthcare provider while others perceive us as fitness professionals?

References

1. Heath C, Heath D. Switch. How to Change Things When Change is Hard. New York: Broadway Books; 2010.
2. Unruh S. Perceptions of athletic training services by collegiate student-athletes: a measurement of athlete satisfaction. J Athl Train. 1998;33(4):347-50.

Change

I recently read Heath and Heath’s book on change titled “Switch. How to Change when Change is Hard”. It is available here on Amazon.  The book outlines change by appealing to the rational mind, motivating the emotional center, and shaping the situation.  Here is a video review of the book on YouTube.  If you are in any type of a leadership situation, or plan to be, I highly recommend spending $15 and purchasing the book.

How does this relate to this blog?  How does change relate to athletic training?  How does this book and idea about change have anything to do with promoting the profession of athletic training?  Great questions!

Our profession has long suffered from professional identity.  We have complained and whined among ourselves, many have quit the profession, few have worked hard to affect our identity on the national level, but still we suffer from a lack of professional identity.  We all want to do something, but what?

My previous blog entry highlighted a TED Talk with the idea that great change often comes from small adjustments.  Watch the talk if you haven’t.  Start thinking on what small changes we can make as professionals to make the Switch.

Change is hard.  We need to change our professional identity.  HOW?

Over the next few weeks, I will go through the outline in Switch to discuss my ideas on affecting a change in our professional identity.  I can’t do this alone and the more discussion we can have the greater affect we can have.

Sweat the Small Stuff – TED Talk

It has been a long time since I have posted, much has happened in life.  I won’t air the laundry here as it isn’t the forum for it.  I will say I am back and contributing again.

Below is an outstanding TED Talk entitled “Sweat the Small Stuff”.  The key take away is little change can produce big results.  Please 12:29 of your time and watch.  It is thought provoking and has far reaching implications and applications.

https://embed.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_sweat_the_small_stuff

Soon to follow blog entries will build on this idea as I seek to tackle a huge issue within the profession of athletic training – our professional identity.

More to come!

Athletic Training – A world of adventure

I love being an athletic trainer!  Why? Variety and adventure.  This career, certainly in the traditional setting, is never dull, never the same, always changing.  Every season brings new athletes, a few new coaches, new opponents, new game strategies and new injuries.  No injury is the same because the athlete’s are different.  This alone keeps you thinking, keeps you fresh.

But the think that I think makes athletic training so fun is the world of adventure that you can enjoy within the profession.  In my 20 years, I have gotten to experience

It is About Relationships

The mission of this blog is to Promote the Profession of athletic training.  The blogs are focused on skills and views that the AT has that promote the profession.  But the biggest strength we have, the biggest impact we have is in our interpersonal relationships.  The relationships aren’t just limited to the injured athletes.  It extends to

The 3 Fundamental Purposes in Life

For the past several months, a group of men and I have met every 2 to 3 weeks for lunch and discuss a book.  This is a group of men from church and the conversation is decidedly from a Christian world view, but the topic is real life, not religion.  Our current book study is “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge.  In the book, the author writes about 3 fundamental needs in life  to fulfill what God made us to be.  In my own interpretation of his teachings, these 3 areas are relationships, adventure and challenge.   I have found that these 3 fundamental needs are true and so profound.  I think one of the things I love about being an AT is that all 3 of these fundamental needs are met within the profession.

Relationships

ATs are all about relationships and the relationships we experience are unique within

A High School AT’s Lament

I love my job.  I really, really do.  I love working with high school athletes, they keep me young.  I love working with other professionals (teachers, coaches, physical therapists, MDs, DOs, DCs) who pour their lives into the lives of others.  I enjoy being a role model for student athletic trainers.  I enjoy being a CI for a local ATEP.  I like writing occasionally in this blog and giving back to the profession.  I enjoy the work I get to do for PATS and for the BOC.  But there are also things I don’t like about my job.  I don’t like the weird hours that took so much from my personal life.  I don’t like the mountains of paperwork that seem to grow through the years.  I don’t like the added stress of RTP decisions when

Are you a financial asset or liability?

There is no doubt that this current economic climate is tough.  Administrators, Boards of Directors, CEOs and Presidents across the country are having to make tough financial decisions to streamline costs and maximize revenue.  For the profession of athletic training, school boards and administrators are often taking a hard look at the athletic training position.

An article from CA piqued my curiosity when I read the headline “Audience Angry Over COS Athletic Training Decision.” This situation at the College of the Siskiyous is not unique.  I personally know of 3 instances of the same exact decision being made at 3 high schools within a few miles of me just within the last year.  In all of these cases, a good AT lost their job and were replaced by

The Athletic Trainer’s Role in Youth Sports

Wow, the month of February and March have been a flurry of activity for me.  I have been able to provide athletic training care to thousands of athletes at a youth soccer tournament, PIAA District Wrestling Championships, PIAA State Wrestling Championships, PA Junior Wrestling State Championships as well as my own athletes at my employer.  While providing these services to these groups, I was keenly aware of the amount of athletes who don’t get these services.

In an article on the Discovery Networks website, the author explores the possibility of “Smart Helmets” changing the future of youth sports.  The author quotes:

Identifying the injury is only the first step, the authors note. Smart helmets aren’t a diagnostic tool; rather, the technology could help make the connection between an athlete who may have an injury and a medical assessment. When a sensor is triggered, the athlete would need evaluation from a trained professional on-site or a referral for off-site medical evaluation.

This one paragraph clearly delineates our profession’s role in Youth Sports.  I am all for this smart technology that will clearly indicate when a possible concussive hit has been absorbed by an athlete of any age.  But a fancy LED display that indicates an excessive force is useless if their isn’t a medical professional there to clinically evaluate the athlete.  Youth football leagues need to provide athletic training services to these athletes.

Little Baseball is suffering a similar issue with pitch counts, curve ball debates and pitchers throwing with sore arms.  Pitch counts are a great tool, but they are limited in scope.  Many of the better players are playing on 2 or even 3 baseball teams at the same time.  Other youth baseball players are playing for 9 or 10 months of the year.  Research has shown that it isn’t the type of pitch that is thrown (i.e. curve ball), it is the volume of pitches that are thrown.  The volume of pitches thrown dramatically increase when you play for 2-3 teams a year.  Who is watching out for these young athletes?  Who can these young athletes approach to evaluate their arm pain without their parents making the first contact?

I firmly believe it is our profession of athletic training that can make a difference in these young athletes’ health and lives.  As my friend and colleague has in his email tagline “Every athlete deserves an athletic trainer.”  I wholeheartedly agree from ages 7 to 70 and up.  If you are involved in organized athletics, you not only deserve an athletic trainer; you need an athletic trainer.