Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists
Sports Medicine Newsletter
Fall 2019
|
|
Respiratory Issues in Athletics
People are often quick to call any breathing difficulty asthma. Asthma is a chronic inflammation in the airway. What most athletes experience during exercise is vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) or exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction (EILO). While you should have your athlete speak to their doctor if they experience any respiratory difficulties, there are a couple key features you can look for and simple tips to help manage the symptoms.
Asthma is an exhalation issue. Which means the wheeze will come when they are exhaling. VCD and EILO are inhalation issues. This means they will struggle to get air in and there will be a high-pitched sound with the inhalation. Check out the infographic from the National Athletic Trainer's Association on the left.
There are treatment options for both issues, but in the midst of an attack, the most important thing is to get the athlete calm and help them get control of their breath. Slower, deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth, with their hands above their head will help open the airway and calm the breathing. Often times the athlete gets into a panic cycle, difficulty breathing causes anxiety, which in turn causes panicked breathing, and they feed into one another. Getting the athlete calm will help calm the attack.
|
|
Q:
My teammate had meniscus surgery and was walking on it almost immediately, why do I have to wait for weeks?
Meniscus tears, and therefore meniscus surgeries, come in many different patterns and types. Some tears require only a trimming or removal of the torn fragment. This type of surgery can be rehabilitated quite quickly, and usually involves no special precautions or protection afterward. On the other hand, some tears require repair with sutures, or even reattachment of the meniscus to the bone. In these cases, postoperative treatment may include a brace and/or crutches with restricted weightbearing for a number of weeks. In addition, there is no absolute standard for any specific meniscus surgery, meaning that the same tear and same surgery might be managed differently by different physicians... some might allow immediate weightbearing, some might not; some might prescribe a brace, while others might not. So for all these reasons, it is quite common for two people who have both had "meniscus surgery" to have received very different postoperative instructions and limitations.
Q: If my child is showing promise and really enjoys one sport, why shouldn't they focus on just that one sport?
It is likely your child has a favorite subject in school. No one would consider going to just one class. The same goes for sports. It is wise to diversify. There are performance benefits to playing multiple sports, allowing for development of musculoskeletal, nervous, and cardiovascular training adaptation across a broad spectrum. Moreover, there are health benefits. Playing multiple sports allows for more proper rest and recovery, and reduces injury risk, especially for overuse injuries, more common with a single sport or single position focus. This is most important at the youngest ages, 5-14. If you really think your child needs to specialize, waiting until later is a good idea.
Q:
How do I decide when to go to Urgent Care immediately or wait to call my regular doctor?
I would recommend going to urgent care/ER if there is extreme pain or any obvious deformity to a limb or joint. I would define extreme pain, as pain that does not dissipate after about 30 minutes, or get better with ice, Tylenol, or anti-inflammatory medicine.
Q: What is a cortisone injection?
A cortisone injection is a general term to describe a form of injection that is used in orthopedics for a variety of conditions including arthritis, inflammation, tears, sprains and a variety of other injuries. It usually contains 2 different types of medications: a local anesthetic (numbing medicine), and a corticosteroid (pain reliever/anti-inflammatory). The corticosteroid can sometimes take a few days to "kick in." The injection can be performed in the office and is usually directed into a joint or the fluid around the joint. Sometimes, it can be injected directly into a tendon, or muscle (e.g tennis elbow), but usually we try to avoid injecting directly into tendons as it can sometimes weaken the tissue. The pain relief varies across patients and depends on the severity of their condition.
|
|
|
|
Team Building
The fall season is a transitional season in many ways. Athletes often spend their summer playing on travel teams, traveling with family, working, and generally not spending much time with their school peers and teammates. There are only a few weeks of practices before games and competitions begin. As a coach, the focus is on conditioning and learning the plays. That doesn't leave much time for building team cohesion.
Conflicts on teams often arise because team members haven't learned how to work together or established clear roles for everyone on the team. Creating a good team dynamic is as important as physical conditioning. You can have a team full of all-stars, but if they can't communicate on the field and don't work together, you will struggle to compete.
Fortunately, it doesn't have to be an either/or between working on physical conditioning and team building. In practice you can separate into teams by position, offense vs defense, etc. and do relay races or see which team can do the most reps of an exercise in a time period. You can also create collaborative challenges, meaning they will need to work together to complete the task. Some examples of this include, flipping tires, pushing sleds, and climbing obstacles. The critical thinking component will force the athletes to communicate and work together to find a solution.
You can also bond with activities completely outside of sports. Sometimes athletes need to get to know one another as people outside of sports to find things they have in common and can bond over. Teams can become full of cliques that can cause divides. Some of this is natural because people of a certain position tend to practice together more, or the starters practice as a unit more. Try to mix up how they get grouped during practices. Simple activities like a team dinner or a field trip can be great opportunities to get everyone mingling outside of their typical group on the team.
Here are a few fun and easy team building activities you can try.
Click Here
|
|
Hydration and Hyponatremia
During the warmer weather, people put a lot of focus on hydration. Like most things in life, too little or too much can be dangerous. Water is your body's universal solvent, it is needed to facilitate most of the reactions in your body.
However, when there is more water in your system than needed, your body can actually become watered down. There is a balance of electrolytes your body needs to maintain to function. When you introduce excessive water, the concentration of electrolytes decreases. Think of it like adding water to juice. A little extra water and it still tastes and looks like juice. A lot of extra water and pretty soon you can't even call it juice anymore.
This video sums up the idea pretty well.
|
|
SOS Sports Medicine works with area high school, college, and professional teams to keep the athletes in our community performing at their best. Check out what's going on with some of our teams!
|
Today's spotlight school is Phoenix Central Schools.
Team Physician: Dr. Brad Raphael
Athletic Trainer: Laura Goodwell-Velez, MS, ATC
Phoenix CSD has around 200 athletes competing in 14 sports
. Laura and Dr. Raphael work together to keep the athletes healthy and in the game. Laura works on-site at the school covering practices and games. Last school year Laura had 670 patient interactions, including preventive exercise programs, injury evaluations, and post-injury rehab.
|
|
Laura grew up in Southern California and came to New York to attend Ithaca College where she was a 4-year member of the swim team. After completing her BS in Athletic Training, she returned to California to attain her Masters in Kinesiology with an option in Sports Medicine from Cal State Long Beach. While completing her masters she worked with junior colleges, high schools, and gained a lot of experience in the dance medicine field working with Disney cast. She has been at Phoenix since starting at SOS 3 years ago. Outside of work, Laura loves the outdoors. She and her husband are working on backpacking through each of the National Parks. Last summer they did 2 peaks and 3 falls at Yosemite!
|
|
What's happening at Phoenix Central Schools?
|
The Phoenix Firebirds have a lot to be proud of from the 2018-19 school year. In a school of only 600 total students and 200 athletes, three of the senior class athletes will be starting college this fall with an athletic scholarship. Emilie Hilliard will be playing soccer at Gannon, Ross McFarland will be wrestling at Hofstra, and Gianna DeRoberts will be running track at Binghamton.
Phoenix High School is going through quite a makeover. They broke ground on the new athletics complex in the spring and are scheduled to unveil the new turf field and stadium this fall. This is the first stage in a capital project updating the athletics facilities and music classrooms. The next stage will include a new wrestling room and athletics offices.
|
|
Construction is trucking right along. Check out the footprint of the new turf field. Can't wait to see the finished product!
|
|
|
|
Tips for a Healthy Season
|
- Teambuilding exercises and team cohesion can be just as important to success as a team as physical conditioning.
- Hydration is important in performance, but trust your body and drink when you feel thirsty.
- Talk to your doctor if you experience any respiratory difficulties related to physical activity.
|
|
Have a team, tournament, or game coming up?
|
Click Here
to request an SOS Athletic Trainer for your team or upcoming event. Athletic Trainers are available for regular coverage for your school or team as well as per diem coverage for individual games, tournaments, or camps!
|
|
SOS Sports Medicine Physicians
|
|
|
SOS PLUS
After-Hours Care
|
Convenient, immediate, evening & weekend care for acute orthopedic injuries. Treats medical conditions that need prompt attention, but are not life-threatening.
|
|
Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists | Sports Medicine | 315.251.3100 |
sosbones.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|