Category: Heat Illness

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Texas Athletic Trainers Battle the heat

Heat illness is a general term used to describe the harmful effects on the human body of being exposed to high temperature and or humidity.

The training staffs at Burleson and Centennial were watching for any signs of heat illness beginning Monday morning as the Elks and Spartans hit the field to open fall football drills.

With the possibly of 100-plus degree temperatures all week, the coaching and training staffs at both schools decided to hold practices from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. in an attempt the beat most of the heat.

“Our main concerns are dehydration, cramps and heat exhaustion,” said Centennial head trainer Ben Bowles. “Most of our players have been out in the sun in during summer conditioning so they should be acclimated to the heat.

But there are always some who spent their summer under air conditioning.”

The worries are the same at Burleson where head trainer Kaitlin Worley keeps an eye on the 200 or so players through her troop of student trainers.

“The student trainers are our eyes and ears since we can’t see everyone at once,” Worley said. “All of the student trainers have been taught about heat illness prevention and know the signs set out by the National Athletic Training Association.”

Burleson held a mid practice break each day under the stands at the Burleson ISD Stadium. Players had the opportunity to drink Gatorade, eat fruit and cool off before heading out to finish practice.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.burlesonstar.net/news/ci_28638725

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Education, observation, hydration helps athletes beat the heat

Temperatures are reaching their summer peaks, climbing into the triple digits.

But hot weather hasn’t kept the Denison High School football team staying motivated during outdoor practices.

These athletes are outside longer than most people, and in such extreme heat, it can cause safety concerns. But this team says they have been preparing for the heat for months.

“We do a nutrition deal in the morning in the spring so they know how to hydrate, what to recognize when they start to get dehydrated and the risk of dehydration,” Denison head coach Chad Rogers said.

Athletic Trainer Kara Garrett said they also work on monitoring their intake. “We educate them on nutrition and make sure they’re eating right, drinking right, and getting the electrolytes that they need to,” she said.

They also limit outdoor practices to the mornings in the summer, before moving to cooled, indoor facilities in the afternoon.

“That’s been a huge asset that we’ve been able to keep them cool in the afternoons, but slowly get them acclimated,” Rogers said.

Finally the team’s trainers are always at practices to provide care if they see any signs of dehydration.

“If the coaches notice it, if the kids notice it, they get them directly to us, we get them inside, we get them cooled down as soon as possible so it’s not escalating past dehydration,” Garrett said.

While the triple digit temperatures can be uncomfortable, this team knows that outdoor practices are key in helping them succeed once the season kicks off.

“We have a scrimmage in a week,” Rogers said, “so if we don’t get acclimated to the heat, we ha ve to because it’s gonna be hot on those games.”

The team’s trainers want to remind everyone that drinking water is the easiest way to stay safe when it’s this hot outside.

But, make sure you start hydrating hours, or even an entire day, before outdoor activities and try to include beverages with potassium and electrolytes, like Gatorade, which will replace nutrients you lose when you sweat.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/Education-observation-hydration-helps-athletes-beat-the-heat-321301831.html

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Athletic Trainer Doug Long provides expert opinion on Heat Illness

Central Nebraska has experienced hotter summers than 2015, but that doesn’t mean athletes need to stop monitoring hydration.

“The heat and humidity combination is the thing you have to pay most attention to,” said Doug Long, certified athletic trainer for Great Plains Health Sports and Therapy Center in North Platte. “In 100 percent humidity, if the ambient temperature is 75 or 78 you’re at high risk for heat illness. It’s the humidity that doesn’t allow the sweat to evaporate off the skin.”

Long was part of the Nebraska School Activities Association committee that drafted new practice rules for the 2015-16 school year. Those new guidelines are aimed at reminding coaches to be aware of the heat and humidity during August practices and the risks it poses for their players.

“The goal was to keep that in the forefront of coach’s minds,” Long said. “Out here, our coaches do a great job. We don’t spend a long time barking at them about adding more breaks. They are all pretty conscious of doing those things.”

Two-a-days, once a staple of the training regimen for preseason programs, are mostly gone now. Those have been replaced with walk-throughs and film studies. For example, the new NSAA rules restrict padded practices to four each week.

“One of the schools [in our area] does a walk through in the city park where they can do it in the shade under the trees. They can do that and keep the kids a little cooler,” Long said.

Those types of regulations have trickled down from the NFL and the NCAA as governing bodies become more conscientious of the effects of heat and dehydration.

While athletes are urged by coaches and health professionals to take more breaks during practice and drink plenty of fluids, Long said it doesn’t stop there. Athletes also need to continue to drink low-carbohydrate liquids throughout the evening hours in preparation for the next day’s practice, as well.

To help monitor that, Long encouraged athletes to watch the color of their urine — the clearer, the better — and to weigh themselves before and after each practice.

“Make sure they drink that weight back so they don’t start the next practice in a pre-dehydrated state,” he said.

Long encouraged parents to watch athletes when they get home for dizziness, nausea or muscle cramps, which can all be signs of heat illness.

While the focus is primarily on football athletes at this time of year, athletes in other sports also need to make sure they are hydrated.

“We think football, football, football, but volleyball, softball and cross country are running the same risks,” Long said.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.nptelegraph.com/sports/local_sports/beat-the-heat-staying-hydrated-after-between-practices-also-important/article_dc12db14-c90d-5958-b114-e9949449fa5b.html

MORE ABOUT DOUG LONG:

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High school football players try to beat the heat

KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana
Southwest Louisiana is hot. Cookies could be baked in cars, eggs fried on sidewalks. Advisories say to limit sun exposure, but hundreds of student-athletes are battling the heat every afternoon preparing for football season.

At Oakdale High School, cheerleaders are able to move their practices inside the auditorium. Chanting indoors is much preferred to standing in the 104 degree heat, but for Warrior Football that’s not an option.

Head Coach Randall Gordon not only has an athletic trainer on standby, but he says the real MVP’s are the student-trainers, who volunteer to spend their afternoons at practice handing out bottles of water.

“The student training staff, they go around to each drill bringing a little 6-pack of water so they can get water throughout the whole practice,” said Gordon.

Jessica Veillon is an athletic trainer with the Center for Orthopaedics. She serves four area schools and says keeping players safe isn’t an easy job in triple digit temperatures.

“Bring ice towels out and during water breaks put ice towels on their necks,” Veillon said is just one way to keep players’ body temperatures down.

Gordon also has some unconventional methods.

“We have a little sprinkler set up off the practice field,” said Gordon.

The make shift “cooling station” provides much needed relief during these hours-long practices.

“It’ll make you dizzy and confused,” said Veillon about the heat, “and if you start missing plays a lot, you kind of have to think that might be a reason.”

“What we do, too, is after practice we have some big tubs setup for ice baths, because what happens is when you start losing all your water and get dehydrated, the next day is really a tough day,” said Gordon.

Of course, “the next day” means another day of practice for the Oakdale Warriors, and for most high school football teams.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.kplctv.com/story/29755359/high-school-football-players-try-to-beat-the-heat

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Administrators, coaches, Athletic Trainers work to keep players safe from heat-related illnesses.

It’s been more than 60 years since Paul “Bear” Bryant held Texas A&M’s preseason football practices in Junction, Texas. After a breakfast of vitamins, orange juice and salt pills, the players hit the field for practice sessions conducted without water breaks. The 10-day camp saw several triple-digit temperatures and many heat-related illnesses.

It’s safe to say no one in Christian County will see that kind of preseason camp.

With time has come better information about the effects of heat and dehydration on athletes, and administrators, coaches and certified athletic trainers are doing a better job of minimizing exertional heat illness and exertional heat stroke.

“This kind of heat and these kinds of conditions have been around since we were all kids and everybody survived,” Ozark High School Activities Director Terry Jamieson said. “We all got through it, we all kept ourselves hydrated. Dealing with the heat requires thoughtful coaches and thoughtful administration. The kids can make it through it and you can work out in it as long as you’re intelligent and plan ahead.”

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association says that from 2010-15 there were 20 athletic heat stroke fatalities reported. None were in Christian County, however, and several coaches can’t recall any problems with heat-related illnesses.

“We’ve got our (certified athletic) trainer and he lets us know what the heat index is going to be and we have to make changes accordingly,” Nixa soccer coach Evan Palmer said. “If it’s between 95 and 105, we have to take more breaks. I usually make sure they get water every 10-15 minutes when the heat index is that high. If it’s over 105 we have to push back practice times until it goes back down.”

That guideline has been passed down from MSHSAA, which published a “Position Statement and Recommendations for Maintaining Hydration to Optimize Performance and Minimize the Risk for Exertional Heat Illness” on its website. The organization has also implemented a 16-day acclimatization period, with a schedule of practices to make sure that athletes aren’t forced into doing too much too soon.

“MSHSAA does a good job,” Jamieson said. “They’re very thoughtful about all the information they put out to us. I think since MSHSAA’s got involved it’s drawn some awareness to it.”

On-site certified athletic trainers also play a vital role in keeping players healthy. Neil Moore, of CoxHealth, is the certified athletic trainer for Nixa. He not only provides education on EHI and EHS to the athletes, but he is also there to monitor things first-hand.

“While I am at practice, I am always monitoring the condition of my players, being on the lookout for those who are particularly heavy sweaters, or ‘salty’ sweaters as indicated sometimes by the white rings of sweat that form on the T-shirts around the arm pits,” Moore said. “But I am also looking for individuals who have stopped sweating, or who are starting to show signs of distress. Coaches and other players also sometimes can spot when someone is struggling and will often bring it to my attention. In those cases, it is wise to not take chances.”

Not taking chances has included adjusting practice times. Nixa softball, for instance, starts its tryouts at 6:30 p.m. Nixa football didn’t start its first day of fall practice until 5 p.m.

“I know for me personally, all the years I coached, I enjoyed practices later in the evening when the sun wasn’t straight overhead,” Jamieson said. “But occasionally we would do the 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon practices just to make sure, because sometimes in the fall you may have to play a game on a 90-degree day.”

That’s especially true for sports like football and soccer, which are typically played on artificial turf in Nixa and Ozark. The turf, with its black rubber pellet fill, radiates and intensifies the heat.

“It gets pretty hot out there at times,” Palmer said. “But we have to get used to it in case there are games that are at that time and in that heat.”

Jamieson said a healthy balance of workouts and breaks is key, as is common sense. Communication, Moore said, is also important.

“Constant communication is really key to avoiding an emergency situation, and everyone involved has a duty to speak up if something doesn’t seem right — whether it is a symptom one is experiencing himself, or a sign one is seeing in someone else,” Moore said. “The bottom line is that EHI can kill, and therefore, it must be taken seriously, which means cautious preparation and diligent monitoring are two of the best defenses in fighting its effects. When those efforts fail, immediate, rapid and thorough emergency measures being employed could very well be the only difference between life and death. So, ‘be prepared, be alert, and be swift to intervene’ is my motto.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://ccheadliner.com/be-prepared-alert-swift-administrators-coaches-trainers-work-to-keep/article_0991113a-70c5-5d50-9f22-8697c4283d89.html

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North Carolina AT Provides Expert Opinion

High school football practices started last Saturday, and temperatures have been in the nineties every day since (with the exception of today).

With such high temperatures, players, coaches and parents have had to take extra precautions in preparation for practice.

“This summer probably has been the hottest in the 12 years that I’ve been involved,” said Jennifer Smith, athletic trainer at East Forsyth High School.

East Forsyth High has had to delay their practices until after 6 in the evening, when the temperatures dropped to a safe level.

“When you’re talking about kids being outside and playing in 90 above weather, it’s just too dangerous,” Smith said.

By measuring the temperature and humidity, Smith is able to determine when and where it is safe to practice. Usually, they will begin practice without pads or helmets and do drills in the shade.

“Normally your body, when it gets hot, manages that heat by moving your blood out into your skin, where your skin radiates it away,” said Dr. Casey Glass, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

With helmets and pads on, it makes it harder for the heat to escape the body.

“The helmet is essentially an incubator for their head,” Smith said. Symptoms of heat exhaustion or heat-related illnesses can strike in minutes.

“Headaches, dizzy, cramping, sick to their stomach, feel like they’re [going to] throw up,” Smith said.

Cramps are also a sign that an athlete may be overheating. Athletes can suffer muscle and organ damage as a result.

“In the worst cases they would suffer brain injuries, fortunately, those are pretty rare,” Dr. Glass said.

Proper hydration and nutrition are key, experts say, especially during the summer months. Many times, they say, athletes do not properly prepare their bodies while unsupervised.

“If they were at school, they’re more likely to make sure that they’re eating breakfast and lunch and then coming out to practice,” Smith said.

Symptoms may not appear until after an athlete completes practice.

“Your student should still be able to finish their dinner, do evening activities. They’ll need to rest, but they shouldn’t have nausea and vomiting, confusion or other symptoms,” Dr. Glass said.

If your child is experiencing symptoms of heat-related illness, you should contact emergency responders or a health care professional immediately.

“We do things like ice packs, or cooling blankets, in an effort to bring their temperature down pretty quickly,” Dr. Glass said.

Symptoms can also carry over from day to day. By not sitting out practices while experiencing symptoms, they may become worse.

“If they have confusion or other problems, they really should be out of practice for a week,” Dr. Glass said.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Experts weigh in on dangers of practicing in the heat

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Beat the Heat: Keeping student-athletes safe during the hot summer months

Summer is in full swing, and that means outdoor activities, plenty of sunshine and an increased risk of heat-related illness, especially for student-athletes.

There are several types of heat illness and they range in severity, from heat cramps and heat exhaustion, which are common but not severe, to exertional heat stroke, which is a medical emergency. Heat stroke can occur even in cooler conditions, but death from heat stroke is preventable if treated properly.

USA TODAY High School Sports and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association have partnered on a monthly column to address injuries, prevention and related issues to help schools, coaches and student-athletes. Here is the first column from Scott Sailor, the president of NATA.

Here’s what you should know:

Heat Cramps

You might develop cramps when performing strenuous exercise in the heat; however, athletes such as hockey players can develop cramps in colder environments. You will feel intense pain along with persistent muscle contractions that continue during and after exercising.

What you can do: Stop your activity and stretch the muscle that is cramped. Have your athletic trainer assess your cramp to be sure you’re OK to return to activity. If you experience an increase in pain or in the number of muscles cramping, go to the emergency room for treatment.

Heat Exhaustion

When you have fluid or sodium loss while in the heat, you might develop heat exhaustion, a moderately serious illness. Symptoms can include loss of coordination, dizziness, fainting, profuse sweating, pale skin, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach/intestinal cramps or persistent muscle cramps creating an inability to continue exercise in the heat.

What you can do: Get to a cool, shaded area right away. Elevate your feet, remove any equipment and drink fluids. If you don’t improve within minutes, proceed to the emergency room for an evaluation.

Exertional Heat Stroke

This is a very serious illness in which your core body temperature usually exceeds 105 degrees. Exertional heat stroke can lead to loss of consciousness, seizures, confusion, emotional instability, irrational behavior, aggression, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, headache, dizziness, weakness, increased heart rate, low blood pressure or dehydration.

What you can do: Immediate treatment is critical and includes cooling your entire body, preferably in a bath of cold water, to lower your core body temperature. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association recommends that schools have a tub on site that can be used for this purpose. Even a kiddie pool works in a pinch. Go to the emergency room immediately after cooling for treatment. If an athletic trainer or physician is not on site, call 911 and immediately begin cooling the athlete.

Prevention

It doesn’t matter your sport, gender or where you’re playing – exertional heat illness can happen in any situation when you are not properly acclimatized to the climate in which you’re playing or practicing. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Texas or Maine, playing indoors or outside, what matters is what your body is used to.

Although heat illnesses can be fatal, death is preventable if the symptoms are quickly recognized and properly treated. In general, whether during the summer or when you’re back at school, you can beat the heat by:

  • Having cold sports drinks or water on hand
  • Hydrating before, during and after activity with frequent fluid breaks
  • Removing your helmet, padding and any other equipment that’s not absolutely necessary
  • Wearing clothing that’s lightweight and a light color
  • Properly acclimatizing to the environment and activity

13 STATES HAVE ADOPTED SAFETY GUIDELINES

To date, 13 states have adopted recommended safety guidelines on preseason heat-acclimatization for high school athletes. The guidelines were developed by an inter-association task force spearheaded by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and established to reduce the number of heat-related illnesses among high school student-athletes.

It takes seven to 14 days for a body to adapt to exercising in the heat. Because of this, the guidelines emphasize the importance of phasing in equipment use and gradually increasing the intensity and duration of exercise and total practice time.

NATA also has created a Heat Illness Infographic that offers safety tips on avoiding heat illness.

The states listed below have adopted preseason heat-acclimatization guidelines and the year the guidelines were adopted. If your state is not on the list, work with the athletic director and athletic trainer at your school, as well as your state high school athletics association to implement the guidelines.

2011: New Jersey, Texas

2012: Georgia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida

2013: Connecticut, Iowa, Missouri, Utah, Mississippi

2014: Alabama

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Beat the Heat: Keeping student-athletes safe during the hot summer months

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Brookville Athletic Trainers Keep ‘Cool Eye’ on Players During Hot Practices

WSET.com – ABC13

It’s August, the month of scorching heat and hard-hitting plays on the practice field.

Football is back in action. The wait is over for local athletes like Brookville High School defensive end Danny Adcock.

“This is the work you have to put in for Friday nights to really pay off,” said the senior.

This month isn’t just a pay off for the players on the gridiron, there’s also work on the sidelines beyond the plays. The water girls fill up the coolers, while head athletic trainer Breanne Piatt is out gauging the temperature. The temperature on Monday, she says, is 89 degrees.

The real feel? 91.

“We got a nice little breeze out here,” said head coach Coach Jonathan Meeks. “Compared to last week, this is a bit of AC for the guys.”

“It’s very good that it’s not hotter than it was or that I anticipated,” says Piatt, “but it also tells me that if I’m in street clothes and I’m feeling this way, than my kids that are working out are still going to psychologically think that it is hotter than what it is.”

Piatt says while players learn routes and formations, they’re also educated on their bodies and the effects of heat, heat illness and dehydration. She’s still monitoring the temperature outdoors every hour, while keeping a close eye on each kid. Water breaks are also mandatory throughout practice, says Piatt.

The eight-year athletic trainer at Brookville checks on two varsity football players who were pulled on Friday.

“We’re not going to have this issue this year, right?” Piatt says to the player as he downs a drink of water. “You’re looking dehydrated already.”

Piatt says, if it gets too hot, they’ll start telling coaches to take off pads, helmets, have extra water breaks or take practice inside

“Feeling fatigued is normal, but if you feel like you’re dragging through the mud, you can’t sweat, you’re getting confused, you’re excessively thirsty and you’re wanting water, then you’re already dehydrated and we need to start catching you up on that.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.wset.com/story/29700699/brookville-athletic-trainers-keep-cool-eye-on-players-during-hot-practices

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football practices begin, heat managed differently than before

Enloe football coach David Green can remember when his high school coach, who after first reading about Gatorade in Sports Illustrated, came to practice with a homemade concoction that he was sure would help the team’s hydration.

It was Kool-Aid made with salt instead of sugar. After all, the story talked about Gatorade having sodium. The coach was no chemist. “Awful,” Green said. “Nobody wanted it.”

Green also recalled the popular practice of kids taking salt pills and using water only to wash out their mouths.

“I don’t know how they didn’t kill all of us,” he said.

High school football coaches and heat-related hydration practices have come a long way.

Gone are the days that a water break was a reward or motivational carrot to dangle in front of players. Coaches have water available at all times. Players are free to walk over, even during drills, and drink as needed.

“I tell them if you need water, go get it,” Fuquay-Varina coach Jeb Hall said. “If you absolutely have to have it, go get it. Nobody’s going to cuss you out.”

IT’S HARD TO MONITOR THE NEW GUYS, THE NINTH-GRADE KIDS YOU DON’T KNOW.

Fuquay-Varina coach Jeb Hall

Most current high school coaches experienced some kind of water experience akin to the ones Green described in their playing days.

“I don’t know that my coach in high school put water out,” said North Johnston coach Ashley Ennis. “We just went and drank it out of a hose pipe. It was just a different time, but then again we were outside all the time. We worked outside and played outside and we were acclimated to it. We got central heat and air conditioning in 1990.”

Summer heat difficult

Athletic trainers must be present starting from the first day of practice – Aug. 1 – through the rest of the season, but sometimes they are not around during the summer. This puts the onus of player safety on the coaches.

Hall, working with several freshmen and sophomores, cut one summer practice short. He didn’t want to stop the drill but wasn’t familiar with many of the players.

“It’s hard to monitor the new guys, the ninth-grade kids you don’t know,” Hall said. “During the summer when there are no trainers here and it’s on us, it’s tough.”

Hall said he sometimes looks at his most experienced and in-shape players – four-year starter at linebacker Austin Pluckhorn and two-way starting lineman Jonathan Cole – and knows if they’ve got their hands on hips, it’s a good time to take a break.

Green, who said he does have a trainer at his offseason workouts, said he’ll delay practice if it’s too hot outside. Sometimes, he’s started a practice, scheduled for 5 p.m., closer to 7 p.m.

“The parents understand that,” Green said. “I’ve never had one parent complain that we’re going to push practice back one hour because it’s too hot.”

Trainers’ word is final

Many trainers have a wet bulb globe temperature monitoring device that monitors all conditions that go into having a safe environment for practice – temperature, humidity, wind and solar radiation – and gives it a numeric value.

A reading under 82.0 is ideal for practices. From 82.0 to 92.0, different restrictions are put into place on how long practice is , how long breaks must be and what players can wear.

I’VE NEVER HAD ONE PARENT COMPLAIN THAT WE’RE GOING TO PUSH PRACTICE BACK ONE HOUR BECAUSE IT’S TOO HOT.

Enloe football coach David Green

Anything 92.1 or above is an immediate cancellation. Practice must stop or move inside.

“I’m not going to say ‘Give us 10 more minutes’ because if somebody falls out, then that would be on me,” Hall said. “It’s like a concussion. … If a trainer says he’s got a concussion, I’m not going to argue it. There’s no reason to argue it.”

Green, who coached at Leesville Road before leaving for Burlington’s Williams High, said he remembers Wake taking steps such as making trainers mandatory before the rest of the state.

“You can’t underestimate the value of having a trainer, particularly a good one, which we have,” Green said.

Ennis follows the heat guidelines and helps his players acclimate to the temperatures by scheduling practices and offseason workouts early in the morning.

“There’s a thin line there, but we make sure we (follow the heat guidelines),” Ennis said. “If it’s oppressively hot, we’ll try to curtail what we do.”

Heat-related deaths

Around the time Green was sipping salted Kool-Aid from his high school football coach, heat-related deaths were more common than today. The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina says there were 15 heat-related deaths in high school football from 1960-64.

There were five in 2000. The next year, Korey Stringer, a Pro Bowl offensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings, died of complications from heatstroke, creating national awareness.

There were two high school football heat-related deaths in 2014, both from overhydrating – or water intoxication, which occurs when water in consumed in high quantity without giving the body nutrients it needs. No heat-related deaths were reported among high school football players in 2013 and one in 2012.

Ennis urges his players to do their part at home, warning them “You can’t hydrate when you get to practice; it’s too late.”

Hall said he’s seen more kids become ill as a result of their eating – either skipping breakfast or eating too much breakfast – than heat.

I’VE SEEN A NUMBER OF GAMES THAT STARTED AT 7 O’CLOCK THAT WERE HOT. IT’S STILL HOT AT 6 P.M.

North Johnston coach Ashley Ennis

Wake County and other school systems do not allow coaches to practice in the middle of the day before school starts. Green said his teams will mostly practice in the evening, while others opt for times closer to dawn.

“They were doing things in Wake, when I was here before, that the rest of the state hasn’t come up to that protects the players and forces the coaches to take care of these players in the heat,” Green said.

“From my experience with it, it’s been common-sense type of things rather than knee-jerk reactions. It’s been ‘These are things we need to do to keep players safe.’ All in all, it’s been a good move forward and ahead of everybody else. Rather than waiting for something to happen and having some overreaction to it, Wake’s just been out in front of it. They’re listening to good people.”

Careful after school starts

Coaches and trainers won’t be done with monitoring the heat once the season starts. It’s still hot when the season begins in late August, and that’s why coaches know they have to get their teams acclimated.

“I’ve never seen them call off a football game on Friday or Thursday because it was hot, and I’ve seen a number of games that started at 7 o’clock that were hot,” Ennis said. “It’s still hot at 6 p.m.”

Once school starts, practices are often right after school, in the late afternoon.

In practices, a WBGT reading of 87.0 or higher makes the pads come off. But a regular-season game proceeds as normal.

“Friday night it could be hot, humid and nothing’s done then. I don’t know what the best way to do it is because the kids have to get adjusted to the heat, but once we start school we’ll start with our 2:30-5:30 p.m. practices,” Hall said. “Those first couple of weeks back to school, that’s when you really have the heat every single day.”

NCHSAA GUIDELINES

All day limits are for individuals, not teams. A player who misses time may have to sit out a team scrimmage or do non-contact drills while the rest of the team practices separately.

Aug. 1: First practice date. No pads and no hitting are allowed whatsoever on the first two days of practice.

Aug. 4: Players with two days of practice in helmets can wear pads, but no hitting.

Aug. 7: Body-to-body contact begins for players with five days of practice.

Aug. 11: First scrimmages allowed. Players must have three days in full uniform before participating.

Aug. 21: First game. Players must have three days in full uniform before participating.

*Players are allowed to wear helmets and shoulder pads in offseason workouts, but all hitting is banned.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article29651365.html#storylink=cpy

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article29651365.html

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South Carolina Athletic trainers talk safety at practice

The official football practice season is still quite young in South Carolina. High school athletes in the Palmetto State got back out on the field on Friday for the first practice of the season. However, in other states, practice had already started, and in some cases, had tragic endings.

A player in Indiana died earlier in the month at football practice, and on Wednesday, a 16-year-old in Tennessee died after a practice where the heat-index reached 109 degrees.

At several of the local schools on Friday, athletic trainers were on hand to help assure the safety of the athletes returning to practice. In the case of Silver Bluff and Midland Valley these trainers came from the Georgia Regents Sports Medicine Outreach Program, which provides certified athletic trainers to recreational, high school and college sports teams.

Longtime Midland Valley athletic trainer Ashle Cooper, who started the educational efforts of the program in Aiken County, said a big part of keeping the kids safe on the field is educating them about proper nutrition and their bodies.

“Heat-wise, obviously we talk to them about hydration. That’s your No. 1 defense against heat-illness, making sure you’re properly hydrated,” Cooper said. “Coming out here on little to no food or little to no fluids is setting yourself up for disaster. We preach pre-hydration. They have to start before they get to practice.”

Cooper’s coworker in the program and Silver Bluff athletic trainer Christina Haupt, who head coach Al Lown called a huge help to have on the sideline, added that being dehydrated is like a domino effect when it comes to rigorous practice during a season.

“If they’re out here from Monday to Friday and Monday they already come out here dehydrated, on Tuesday it just spirals downward. By Wednesday or Thursday, they’ll be nauseous, dizzy and throwing up,” Haupt said.

Passing on information like that is a vital part of why Cooper said it’s important for every school to have an athletic trainer on staff, not just someone who shows up on Friday night for games. The reality of the situation, however, is that many schools can’t afford to have the type of athletic trainer Cooper refers to.

Cooper offered up some helpful tips for those athletes in the area that may not have the trainers on staff to educate them. She said athletes should eat carbs before practice. Carbs provide the energy for pre-practice. She also said it’s important to take in a protein after practice to help muscles recover. In addition, having a fruit and vegetable as part of a post-practice meal is advised.

Another big part of keeping the athletes safe are the various regulations put on practicing. The South Carolina High School League provides safety recommendations to all high school coaches and athletic directors to make them more aware of how to handle situations.

“Obviously all teams don’t have trainers, so you cant force them into doing anything, but these are adults out there leading students. We expect them to conduct their practices in a way that will keep athletes safe,” said Bruce Hulion, who is in charge of sports medicine and health related issues at the SCHSL.

At football practice, athletes gradually add layers as the first few days go by in order to allow the players’ bodies to get acclimated. On Friday, teams were only allowed to wear helmets. No team in the state is allowed to practice in full pads until Wednesday.

While regulations now exist for many safety risks in youth sports, it took a while for some of those rules to be put into place officially. One of the biggest health issues in the game of football has been concussions, and South Carolina was the second to last state to pass a youth concussion law in 2013.

Both Midland Valley and Silver Bluff take extra steps to assure the athletes safety by performing baseline neurocognitive tests on each athlete which gives the cognitive levels of an uninjured athlete as a tool to aid in recognizing potential concussions or brain injuries.

Cooper said laws and regulations have been especially important in Aiken, where there are many schools in rural areas where the closest medical facility is a great distance away.

“The laws and rules make everybody accountable. In the state, all of the coaches have to take a concussion safety test, and they have to complete education on a yearly basis,” Cooper said. “If I were a football coach, I wouldn’t want to be making the medical decisions for my athletes, but unfortunately sometimes they may be put in a position where they have to be involved with the medical aspect out of necessity. That’s where it becomes important to have the laws and training.”

Student athletes who suffer from a concussion must go through a seven-step return-to-play protocol before returning to action. They must follow up with a physician who is trained in evaluating concussions and then must pass each step symptom free. Once an athlete gets to the fourth step of the return-to-play protocol, the trainer conducts another neurocognitive test and compares that to their baseline test. At that point, the trainer has that information coupled with the sideline concussion assessment done at the time of injury. All of that information is then sent to a physician to look over all of the testing and the athletes progression. Trainers do not allow athletes to go back onto the field of play until they have a signed SCHSL form from an authorized medical proffesional. The SCHSL stipulates that only a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine licensed to practice in South Carolina can release an athlete diagnosed with a concussion to return to competition.

Once an athlete is returned to contact, they have to complete a full practice without any symptoms of the concussion before getting approved to play in a game.

“You have to monitor them closely. Kids can sometimes not realize that they’re having symptoms because there are so many symptoms associated with concussions that can mimic other things,” Cooper said. “Sitting them down and educating them about the dangers of it and educating the parents is a pretty lengthy process. It’s definitely worth it though. You only get one brain.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20150801/AIK0301/150809958