Category: Higher Education

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Grand View University to Add Masters of Athletic Training

Zeb Sullivan grew up in Dunlap and graduated high school in Woodbine.

He went to Iowa State to study agriculture, economics and animal nutrition – specifically swine nutrition.

He finished ISU with a doctorate in kinesiology – the science of human movement. Instead of better pigs, he ended up helping athletes move better.

“I was powerlifting and competing in Strongman competitions at the time and when I was exposed to kinesiology, I thought ‘This is what I want to do,’” Sullivan said.

Now he’s a member of the Grand View University faculty in Des Moines. He and his colleagues are in the planning stages of offering a master’s program in athletic training.

Sullivan teaches the next generation of professionals who help heal people with muscle and bone injuries and illnesses.

The field is expected to grow by 21 percent over the next decade – much faster than other jobs – according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

And the job is becoming increasingly more complex. Professional associations for athletic trainers are pushing for a master’s degree to be required for entry-level jobs.

The tragic story of Oskaloosa native Tyler Sash illustrates why the field is rapidly changing.

Sash was a popular safety for the Iowa Hawkeyes who also played pro football for the New York Giants. He died last year from a drug overdose. He was 27 years old.

Last week, his family revealed he had advanced stages of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease associated with concussions and head injuries.

Sullivan and his colleagues teach athletic training with the philosophy that job No. 1 is injury prevention.

“A lot of people think a trainer’s most important job is improve athletic performance,” Sullivan said. “It’s not. That’s secondary to making sure bodies are healthy and strong.”

More than 60 years ago, famed college football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant conducted a hellish training camp for his Texas A&M squad.

Bryant denied players water in marathon sessions in the broiling west Texas sun.

Those practices are understood as barbaric today, but the shake it off and play through pain mentality still lingers in sports – especially now that competition is such big business.

The NFL spent years trying to discredit the severity of CTE. Now “concussion protocols” are part of the league’s vocabulary.

Not all the blame lies with leagues, coaches and owners, Sullivan said.

“An athlete is a competitor and wants to play,” he said. “Players at all levels will lie or stretch the truth to stay in a game. Part of our job is being able to see through that and know when it’s time to come out.”

The work Sullivan and his students do is largely invisible. While trainers rush to the side of an injured player in the middle of a game, that’s only a fraction of what the job requires.

Sullivan preaches prevention. His students study a list of subjects from physiology and nutrition to psychology and sleep cycles.

Psychology, of course, is the study of how the human brain works. The better an athletic trainer knows that, the more likely they are to provide quality care.

A sudden onset of depression, for example, could be a symptom of an undiagnosed concussion, Sullivan said.

Mental wellness is as important to performance as muscles and mechanics. As the late baseball philosopher Yogi Berra is said to have said, sports are “90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”

Sports are practically religion in America. Nearly every day at the paragraph factory, readers click on stories about the Hawkeyes and Cyclones more than any other subject.

College coaches at big universities are the highest paid public employees in most states including Iowa.

Pro teams are worth billions of dollars. A 30-second advertisement in next week’s Super Bowl costs $5 million.

The pressure to keep great athletes at the peak of performance is enormous.

But Sullivan and his colleagues and students are more concerned with long-term wellness of the gladiators in their charge.

“You have to value you the person more than the result of any game,” Sullivan said. “A healthy athlete is our victory.”

Daniel P. Finney, the Register’s Metro Voice columnist, is a Drake University alumnus who grew up in Winterset and east Des Moines. Reach him at 515-284-8144 or dafinney@dmreg.com. Twitter: @newsmanone.

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Boston University Makes the Move to a Masters degree

Sargent College is pumping up its program in athletic training starting in May, replacing the bachelor’s degree offering with one that leads to a master’s degree. The change will enable the school to meet a Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education requirement that as of 2025 accredited programs offer a master’s instead of a bachelor’s as their entry-level degree. And in response to a recommendation (but not a requirement) by the American Occupational Therapy Association, the college this fall will start a doctoral program in occupational therapy (OT), replacing the current master’s program.

Christopher Moore, dean of SAR, says the changes will place BU graduates “well ahead of professional requirements in both fields for a number of years.”

“We’re among the early adopters,” he says. “But health care providers in all disciplines are tasked with increasingly broad scopes of practice and greater responsibility for patient outcomes. These increased levels of training reflect these advances in the clinical workplace.”

Moore says the changes will allow BU to continue competing for the best students in the two fields and better prepare them for the increasingly complex challenges facing providers in today’s health care environment.

“There are profound philosophical and professional changes in the baseline expectations of our graduates,” he says. “You’re seeing athletic trainers responsible for life-shaping decisions when you’re talking about making judgments about possible traumatic brain injury. And that’s just one small area of their scope of practice.”

Ellen Cohn (SAR’76,’00), a SAR clinical professor and director of the master’s and doctoral OT programs, says Sargent administrators “felt it is important for us to be at the forefront of preparing our profession’s future leaders.”

BU’s occupational therapy program is ranked second nationally by U.S. News & World Report, behind only the University of Southern California. While undergraduate athletic training programs are not ranked in the same way, BU’s has a high-caliber reputation. Over the last three years, 98 percent of its graduates have passed their certification exam on the first try, compared to the national average of 78 percent.

“We talked as a department…to say, how can we reinvent this program to capture all the benefits of graduate education,” says Sara Brown, a SAR clinical associate professor and director of the athletic training program.

Brown was one of the authors of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association white paper, published in December 2013, recommending the change.

The athletic training program will be primarily academic during the first year, with 12 to 15 hours a week of related clinical work. The second year will start with a seven-week full-time clinical experience, allowing the students to experience the busy season for athletic trainers at high schools and colleges. They’ll return to campus for a 6-week focused academic semester and have a 12-week full-time clinical experience in the second semester, with regular faculty contact.

One big advantage in moving the athletic training curriculum to a graduate degree is that it will bring in students from a variety of undergraduate interests. “The neat thing is that you could be an art major and just get the right prerequisite courses, which is a heavy dose of sciences mostly, and apply,” Brown says. “I’m excited to see what we pull in in terms of people’s backgrounds. I’m hopeful that we’ll get some older students, and international as well.”

She says the professional programs will no longer have to compete for undergraduates’ attention with other required courses, and the students won’t have to miss key undergraduate experiences—such as study abroad—because of the time commitment required by clinical education.

Occupational therapy is well positioned to make the shift, Cohn says, given that it already has the master’s degree program as well as a successful online postprofessional doctorate program. The new program will include 2 years of academic work on campus, summer online classes, 6 months of fieldwork, and a 16-week mentored practice experience focusing on advocacy, clinical practice, research, or education.

Current undergraduate enrollment in the athletic training program is 118, Brown says; the first year master’s cohort will be 10 students, with a target of 40 total. There are about 120 students enrolled in the occupational therapy master’s program, with a target of 90 in total for the doctoral program.

Applications for the occupational therapy program are already closed; applications for the athletic training program will be accepted until February 1. Students currently enrolled in the existing programs will finish their courses of study.

Brown says one thing that will not change is the commitment to excellence. “The students will be making decisions every day that affect peoples’ lives and health, and we want them to be as educated as they can be.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

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Kentucky Professor Pens column

The end of the year brings a mad rush to meet deadlines, to plan for the holidays, abandon poor habits and make room for new resolutions.

It’s also a time when surgery may be more convenient because the holidays allow extra days for recovery at a time when end-of-the-year deductibles likely have been met.

No matter the time of year, joint replacements of the hip and knee are common surgeries that require an extensive period of limb immobilization during recovery. Patients are placed in braces or casts and are not allowed to place weight on the recovering joints. This period of disuse results in skeletal muscle loss, weakness and loss of function.

Hippocrates once said, “If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”

What is right amount during recovery? Exercise prescription and nutrition can counteract the effects of immobilization. Several factors contribute to muscle loss following injury and surgery.

One is a condition called muscle inhibition. A neurologic response to surgery, muscle inhibition results in the muscle not “turning on” as well as it did prior to surgery. Inhibition can be persistent and result in a difficulty to regain strength.

Muscle disuse atrophy is also attributed to a decline in basal muscle protein synthesis. Dietary protein consumption is of critical importance for stimulating muscle protein synthesis rates throughout the day.

Prior to surgery, it is very important to strengthen the muscles around the knee or hip. The stronger you are before, the better your outcomes after surgery. You will lose some muscle mass after surgery, the extent influences the level and duration of rehabilitation required.

After surgery, it is important to work with a health care professional to set a goal to gain no less than 90 percent strength compared to the uninjured limb. This goal is often not met because of limited visits and a lack of emphasis on the goal. Demand nothing less from your athletic trainer or physical therapist than returning your limb to near-normal levels.

Evidence suggests that maintaining or increasing daily protein intake helps prevent muscle loss. Supplementation with whey protein (easier to digest), creatine supplements and fish oils can help.

Now “use it” to achieve a goal of 90 percent bilateral strength. If you don’t, you may “lose it” and never get it back.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/living/health-and-medicine/article49549045.html#storylink=cpy
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.kentucky.com/living/health-and-medicine/article49549045.html
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Indiana State University Students Practice Emergency Scenarios


Indiana State University students got some hands-on experience on Thursday.

Students working on their doctorate in Athletic Training were put to the test with four real-life emergency scenarios for them to respond to.

Associate Professor Lindsey Eberman told News 10 that these experiences are important for students. It is a way they can put what they’ve learned in the classroom to the test.

“We need to be ready for those things,” Eberman said. “And so simulation helps to create those environments in advance. While they’re learning so that they’re ready that moment that emergency strikes, they’re ready.”

Friday’s simulations included a wrestling meet, a football experience, a tough mudder race and an experience like the Boston Marathon Bombing.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://wthitv.com/2015/12/03/isu-students-put-to-the-test-with-real-life-emergency-scenarios/

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NAU Expands Education Program

A national shift in credentialing for athletic trainers finds Northern Arizona University well positioned for expansion at its Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

The master of athletic training program on NAU’s Flagstaff campus will graduate its first cohort in May 2016, and in July the Phoenix campus will welcome its first entering class.

“The discussion started many years ago about moving the entry level for our profession from a bachelor’s degree to a master’s,” said Debbie Craig, director of the program at NAU. “As the conversation gained more steam, we knew it would be mandated eventually. So we decided to do the legwork and get ahead of it.”

That two-year process resulted in the first master’s students entering NAU’s program in the summer of 2014. Accreditation at NAU—and the anticipated national mandate—occurred in spring 2015.

The Flagstaff campus will continue to welcome 30 new master’s students per year, while the Phoenix Biomedical Campus will begin with 15. The undergraduate program at NAU will end with May’s graduating class.

Craig expects both campuses to benefit from the credentialing change and a heightened focus on the profession.

“As most people are aware, there’s a massively increased focus on concussions at the national level,” Craig said. “Not only are we thrilled there’s more attention for that problem, but it also brings a lot of attention to our profession. It’s the athletic trainers on the sidelines who are the first line of evaluation and protection for the athletes.”

The graduate program begins during the summer with classes in ethics and basic skills. Clinical rotations begin in August. Because NAU and two Flagstaff high schools can accommodate only 10 students each, the second year is spent at clinical sites around the state, with coursework performed online. Craig said the affiliation agreements with statewide clinics are a valuable asset to the program.

“There are fantastic educators who are also athletic trainers, and that’s where we like to send our students,” Craig said. “There is typically only one student at each site, so they have the clinical preceptor’s full attention. There’s a lot of learning that happens during that second year.”

Craig said that besides on-field evaluations, athletic trainers do everything from pre-practice taping to post-practice treatments for injuries that are playable. “For athletes who have had surgical injuries, the athletic trainers will often do all of the rehabilitation to get those athletes back into playing shape,” she said.

New graduates from the program, who often work at high schools, at the intercollegiate level or in rehabilitation centers, can expect starting pay of about $50,000, Craig said.

Applicants to the graduate program generally come from a background of exercise science or kinesiology, Craig said. But any student who takes the established pre-requisite courses and participates in the required number of clinical observation hours may apply.

Craig anticipates the program’s expansion will attract plenty of attention.

“People in Phoenix who are interested but can’t move up to Flagstaff for a year will be thrilled,” she said. “And we’re certainly excited about the facility in Phoenix. It’s a beautiful campus.”

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Purdue Professor elected to city council

West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis went out on a limb a week ago, crossing party boundaries to endorse a pair of city council candidates who weren’t Republicans.

His point: “I’m all about the team, man. I want great people who are all about the team, too.”

Did Dennis, running uncontested for his third four-year term as mayor, get what he wanted after Tuesday’s city council election?

“More or less, it looks like it,” Dennis said Tuesday night. “I look at the names up there and see a lot of people who know how to work together.”

Incumbents who ran again for West Lafayette City Council all won: Democrats Nick DeBoer, Peter Bunder and Gerald Thomas; and Republicans Gerry Keen and Steve Dietrich. The newcomers to the council will include: Democrats Larry Leverenz and David Sanders; and Republicans Norris Wang and Aseem Jha.

Those results won’t be certified until Nov. 13. Election officials still have to contact 95 West Lafayette voters who were given incorrect ballots in early voting to give them a chance to vote in the proper city council district. County Clerk Christa Coffey said she couldn’t be sure Tuesday night if there were enough votes in any of the districts to swing the results. She said she expected to know that Wednesday.

After a second term that included the historic annexation of Purdue University, Dennis ran again to keep pressing on the State Street Master Plan, a joint project with Purdue that is estimated to run between $60 million and $100 million, the development of what’s he’s called a new downtown and finding a home for city hall. Dennis’ endorsement of Thomas in the at-large race and Donnie Spencer, an independent who lost in to Jha in a three-way race in the student-heavy District 3, was still setting a tone for those who won Tuesday.

“I think very much I fit into the mix, from my point of view,” said Leverenz, a Purdue professor and athletic trainer at Purdue, who beat Republican Tom Andrew in District 4. “I support what the city is doing in general — on development along the U.S. 231 corridor, on State Street, on many things. … We might differ a little on where to put a new city hall, but that’s where the council can have a discussion.”

The city’s move from a third class city to a second class city meant a restructuring of city government, including increasing the size of the city council — from seven members to nine — with an additional district and an additional at-large member.

Sanders, a biology professor at Purdue, fill the at-large seat.

“I had a talk with John and told him I’m not running against John Dennis,” Sanders said. “If you know me, I do see myself as trying to restrain Mitch Daniels at Purdue. You know that, Mitch Daniels knows that. I make no secret about that. But that’s not how I feel about John Dennis.”

The city council drew District 3 so it centered on a cluster of Purdue residence halls.

On Tuesday, those campaigning for the three candidates told about the struggle to find votes in a district where many potential voters are freshman or sophomores and hadn’t bothered to update their voter registration information in time for an off-year municipal election.

“We’re getting a lot of, ‘I’m not registered,’” said Kristin Jones, who was campaigning outside the Purdue Memorial Union for her daughter, Democrat Joelle Jones, Tuesday afternoon. She said the campaign had registered more than 600 people in the district in time for the city election.

Around the way, a stack of pizza boxes piled up behind Spencer, who set up a table outside the Stewart Center on Tuesday. Beside a sign touting his campaign, Spencer said he was giving away slices of pizza to anyone who wanted one.

“If they ask, ‘What’s going on?’, I’m telling them about the election and where they can vote,” Spencer said. “A lot are asking. So that’s good.”

Asked about the legality of the tactic, Coffey said that as long as Spencer was outside the 50-foot “chute” outside the polling place, “it is not an issue for the election process unless he is giving the pizza in return for votes.”

In the end, Jha won.

“Right off the bat, I’m satisfied the voters put their faith in me,” Jha said. “I want to thank my opponents. It was actually great for me, getting out the vote, even if though it was a huge time commitment.”

As for not getting the mayor’s endorsement, even though they are both Republicans?

“I told my team to worry about what we could do, not what someone else said we could do,” Jha said. “I feel I’m ready.”

 

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.jconline.com/story/news/2015/11/03/wl-mayor-gets-his-team-more-less/75087820/

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Delaware Athletic Trainer featured in media day with Abby Wambach

The University of Delaware’s Tom Kaminski, professor of kinesiology and applied physiology, recently took part in a concussion media day with Triax Technologies in New York City. The day included interviews with Fox News, a lecture on head impacts in soccer and demonstrations at The Sports Center at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

Kaminski was featured with FIFA Women’s World Cup champion Abby Wambach of the U.S. national team, considered to be the most prolific header in the women’s game. The pair are old friends from their days at the University of Florida, where Kaminski was an athletic trainer and Wambach was the star player for the national champion Gators.

UD’s Tom Kaminski and Jaclyn Caccese discussed their research on concussions in soccer while FIFA Women’s World Cup champion Abby Wambach discussed heading technique and education.

Kaminiski’s research on heading in soccer, which includes 13 years of data at UD, actually began 20 years ago with Wambach’s team.

The forward became focused on the issue of head impacts in soccer after sustaining a concussion while playing with the professional Western New York Flash in 2013.

“My concussion wasn’t from me heading the ball; someone cleared the ball straight into my head,” explained Wambach. “I told the referee I was OK when I wasn’t.”

Both Wambach and Kaminski are advocates for taking the decision to continue to play out of the athlete’s hands.

For athletic trainers, new technology can help signal an athlete who had a hard impact, so athletic trainers can keep an eye on her and perform a concussion assessment when needed.

The University of Delaware was the first to pilot a new measurement tool, the Smart Impact Monitor (SIM) from Triax Technologies. With a small chip strategically tucked into the back of a headband, the monitor, also known as an accelerometer, relays information on the G-force of impacts right to a phone or tablet — extremely useful information for athletic trainers, researchers and parents alike.

When paired with the visual observation and baseline testing that Kaminski has used on athletes since the late 1990s, the monitor allows a deeper level of analysis.

“These accelerometers monitor the total number of impacts and the magnitude of those impacts,” said Kaminski, who is director of the Athletic Training Program at UD. “We can analyze trends to hopefully make practices and games safer.”

During the media day with Triax, Kaminski was accompanied by Jaclyn Caccese, a doctoral student in biomechanics and movement science who is studying soccer heading in collegiate, high school and middle school athletes.

“The Triax accelerometers are an important piece of the puzzle,” said Caccese. “This data cannot be used to diagnose head injuries during games, but it does provide us with key information regarding the impact.”

UD uses the sensors to compare players by position, the type of impact (e.g., pass, clear, shot) and the type of drill. While accidental head impacts are bound to occur, purposeful heading is an important and vital skill in soccer and learning the right technique is a crucial step.

“You want to force impact on the ball; you can’t be timid,” explained Wambach, who spent time teaching heading technique to young players in-between media interviews.

With 38 million U.S. children playing contact sports and the number of concussions ranging between 1.6 and 3.8 million annually, concussion research and education must continue to move forward.

“Let’s leave the game better than when we started, and change player safety from a hot topic to a call to action,” concluded Wambach.

Article by Dante LaPenta

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2016/oct/concussion-101515.html

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South Florida Professor Provides Expert Stance on Hydration

Tim Carey collapsed during a race because he drank too little water. He threw up during another race because he drank too much of it. Through trial and error, the Dallas runner seems to have found his Goldilocks amount.

“My secret now,” says Carey, 44, “is however much water I think I need, I’ll take a third of that away.”

For him, the net amount is one to two gallons a day. Emphasis on “for him.”

“Hydration is difficult because not everybody has the same fluid needs,” says Rebecca Lopez, an assistant professor and athletic trainer in the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida. She co-wrote the 2015 National Athletic Trainers’ Association position statement on exertional heat illnesses.

“It depends on the individual and the environment they’re in,” she says. “Too much water is bad, and too little water is bad as well. You want to be equally fearful of both.”

Even among people doing the exact same workout or race, the need varies depending on how much they sweat, how much they weigh, how long they’re exercising and what the overall environment is.

Plus — and perhaps especially in Texas and the South because of often higher temperatures and humidity — people tend to fear dehydration so they sometimes overcompensate. When that happens to the extreme, it’s called hyponatremia and, though rare, can be deadly.

“The idea of exercise-induced hyponatremia was first in marathon runners and ultra athletes,” says Dr. John Pease, chief of emergency services at Parkland Memorial Hospital and assistant professor of emergency medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. “But now it’s more in high school and college. In the hot Texas sun, and with sports doing double sessions, coaches often encourage athletes to drink and drink and drink.”

In August 2014, a high school athlete in Georgia tried to ease his workout-induced cramps by drinking gallons and gallons of water and Gatorade. He slipped into a coma and died.

What’s tragic about his death and others, Pease says, is that “they probably could be prevented by letting the body dictate how much we drink.”

“These myths get propagated that you want to stay ahead of the curve” when it comes to drinking enough water, he says. “You want to stay hydrated, but don’t want to overdo it. It’s more dangerous to be overhydrated.”

Being a little dehydrated is “no big deal,” says Meridan Zerner, registered dietitian at the Cooper Clinic. “I’d love for people to be hydrated because the brain is 70 percent water. There is a link between being hydrated and cognitive performance.”

“We don’t have to drink volumes and volumes and volumes. It can be four ounces here and four ounces there. We know there’s not a magic number.”

So what’s the best way to figure out how much water you need? Zerner calls her hydration assessment WUT: Weight, Urine, Thirst.

Weight. Weigh yourself before and after a workout. For every pound lost, rehydrate with 16 to 24 ounces of fluid, she says. If you gained weight, “you probably overdid it in terms of fluids.”

Adds Lopez: If you lost more than 2 percent of your body weight, you didn’t drink enough.

Urine. “If it looks dark yellow, like apple juice, you’re probably dehydrated,” Zerner says. “If it’s the color of lemonade, you’re good to go.”

Thirst. Zerner says she likes the idea of focusing on drinking when you’re thirsty, but we’re not always “mindful and paying attention,” she says.

One problem with focusing on drinking only when you’re thirsty, Lopez says, is that some people “feel a thirst sensation that’s not always accurate.” They might be running a race and feel the need to stop at every water station, rather than some who miss them and might need water.

“They might not be able to ask themselves, ‘Am I thirsty right now?’ It’s a good indication for certain people, but not in all circumstances.”

Carey thought he’d been drinking plenty of water when he crossed the starting line of the Tour des Fleurs race in September 2013. He’d been training for the Dallas Marathon, so the 20K distance was nothing new. So he was surprised, as he says, 10 miles in when “things were a little swimmy and my vision was a little crossed.” He collapsed on the route.

“My arms were shaking. My legs were shaking. I was terrified,” Carey says. “The last thing I thought was dehydration. I was working with a trainer and he had me drinking two gallons a day. It turned out to be an electrolyte imbalance. They gave me four liters of fluid and I was back on my feet in 30 minutes.”

He says he was almost in renal failure. Turns out his problem was caused by consuming energy drinks with extra caffeine, which, he says, “naturally dehydrated me.”

Fast-forward to earlier this year, when he was running a marathon in China.

“The water is a huge concern over there,” says Carey, who has set a goal of running a marathon on every continent. “You don’t brush your teeth with sink water; you don’t do anything. What they had for the electrolyte drink was mixed in a big 10-gallon tub. No way was anyone going to try it. I muscled through; I doubled up on [bottled] water, which I shouldn’t have done.

“I started getting the shakes. I didn’t feel good. I had the same initial symptoms as dehydration. I kept piling water on water till it was stuck to my gills. My body said, ‘You know what would feel good right now?’ And I threw up.”

Twice. He felt better, and better still after asking a fellow runner who was taking a break for part of her “big sourdough pretzel with big rock salt. I just sucked off the salt. Within minutes, I felt fantastic.”

Since then, he “played around till I found what works for me,” he says.

What he calls his “Goldilocks number, my Sleep Comfort number” varies, he says. Which, Zerner adds, is true of everyone.

“I don’t think people need to worry so much about the precision throwing down two liters or three liters,” she says. “There will be days when we need more and days when we need less.”

Thirsty for details?

Water is best. Diet sodas and iced tea are diuretics. And who wants to be making more bathroom stops on a run?

Electrolyte drinks are (sometimes) OK. In moderation. If you’re working out strenuously for an hour or more. “We absolutely overdo the sports drinks,” says Meridan Zerner, registered dietitian at Cooper Clinic.

Don’t overguzzle. As a general rule, Luke’s Locker recommends its runners drink two or three cups of water two hours before workouts, another cup 10 to 15 minutes before and a few ounces every 20 minutes or so while working out.

On Twitter:
@dmnhealth  @ @ohlesliebarker

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/health-and-fitness/health/20151012-water-wisdom-stay-hydrated-without-hurting-yourself.ece

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Student-athletes take on demands of athletic training program

One of the main priority of a student is balancing academics with extracurricular activities, but for some student-athletes, that can be a bit more difficult.

Athletic training is one of the most time-consuming bachelor’s degree programs at Ithaca College based on the students’ heavy workload. Participating in a varsity sport also requires an immense amount of time and dedication. Roughly 250 students out of approximately 7,000 undergraduates on campus embrace the challenge of doing both.

Because of the challenge, the college is part of a handful of athletic training programs in New York state to allow students to also participate in intercollegiate athletics. Four out of the 10 schools in New York state that have athletic training programs, including Alfred University, Marist College and Hofstra University, allow AT majors to play a varsity sport while in their program.

Majoring in athletic training at the college requires more than the hours spent in a classroom. In the second year of the major, students begin clinical education, which is only available on campus. Students work hands-on with one of the 25 intercollegiate sports teams in order to receive credit for their clinical education. Later, juniors and seniors are assigned to either on- or off-campus clinical rotations twice per year, and a minimum of 780 hours are required to graduate.

Athletic training majors who are also varsity athletes have to put in double the time and commitment. For intercollegiate athletes, practices are held every day during their season, while off-season practices depend on the team and coach.

Paul Geisler, program director and associate professor of athletic training, said participating in both the athletic training program and a varsity sport is a major commitment, and the students are informed of the challenge prior to enrollment.

“We are very proud of the hard work our students put in and that includes athletes who successfully complete both parts — the AT curriculum and their sport,” Geisler said.

Senior Carrine Putnam, an athletic training major who is also on the women’s crew team, had to give up crew for the fall season in order to focus on her major requirements.

“It’s challenging because all my teammates are practicing together, and I have to find time to work out with another teammate so that I won’t be behind for the spring season,” Putnam said.

This fall, Putnam is working with the women’s soccer team before transferring to the swimming and diving team in the winter season. Her responsibilities include attending all of the team’s practices, home games and treatments. In the spring, Putnam will be given several Hill Center clinic hours a week, and she will also be back in one of the boats of the women’s crew team.

Putnam said she has figured out how to balance both obligations despite how much they consume her time.

“The only things I try to avoid are classes after 3 because that’s when I either have to go to my sport assignment or have crew practice,” she said.

Truman State University, a Division II school in Kirksville, Missouri, with a similar athletic training program, does not permit its students to participate in the NCAA while in the program.

According to the Truman State website, it is not possible to meet the demands of both desirable priorities and instead encourages co-curricular activities.

Brandy Schneider, the athletic training program director at Truman State, said the reasoning for Truman State’s decision is that their clinic hours overlap varsity sports practice hours, as well as games.

Thomas Anania, a junior on the wrestling team, said he is fortunate Ithaca College allows students to participate in both the athletic training program and a varsity sport considering the fact that few AT programs allow participation in the NCAA as an AT major.

Anania said the real challenge comes in when his sport is out of season, as he struggles to find a balance between his offseason training for the football team and his increased academic load.

“As a collegiate athlete, we’re able to participate during our traditional sports season. But when not in season, you’re expected to be doing all your AT duties like going to practice and working in the clinic,” Anania said. “So the only real conflict is with preseason and offseason, which, depending on the sport, you may not be able to go to all of your preseason and off-season workouts.”

Junior football player Christopher Durr is also an aspiring athletic trainer. He will begin his training with the swimming and diving team in the winter season after the Bomber’s football season concludes. Despite the long days between both programs, Durr said he has managed his time accordingly and does not think tackling both programs at once is extremely difficult.

“I stay on top of my work and schedule everything out so I know when work has to be done by and what tasks I need to get done,” Durr said. “The one thing that might be difficult is making sure I get the required hours for the major during the fall semester when I am in season because I do not work with a sport like fellow students.”

Instead, Durr finds himself spending extra time in the clinic while in season and willingly works other events when he has the day off.

Durr decided to come to the college primarily for the athletic training program, and it was only after he arrived that he decided to join the football team.

He currently works one hour in the Hill Center Clinic and two hours in the Hammond Health Center in order to meet his clinical education requirement. When his football season is over, Durr will be working with the swimming and diving teams until the men’s lacrosse team starts its preseason.

Durr said the college has provided a great Division III atmosphere for both the athletes and non-athletes.

“It is just a great place to play at and for,” he said. “It’s just an awesome experience to have everyone from all the different sports support you and say ‘We have got your back.’”

Durr said Geisler and other leaders in the program also are a huge support system for varsity athletes in the major.

“[They] do a great job of making sure that although I play on a team, my overall experiences and learning as an AT major does not drop or differ than that of a fellow non-athlete peer,” Durr said.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
https://theithacan.org/sports/student-athletes-take-on-demands-of-athletic-training-program/

 

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University of Montana holds Hall of fame celebration

The University of Montana’s athletic training program hosted its first Athletic Training Hall of Fame Celebration on Friday to honor prestigious graduates and leaders of the program.

Housed in the Department of Health and Human Performance, the athletic training program was among the first of its kind in the nation and continues to be a leader in the field. Since 1971, it has provided students with a rigorous, nationally accredited academic program, hands-on experience at various clinical education sites, and unique interactions with allied and medical health care professionals throughout western Montana.

The celebration was an opportunity for the athletic training program, the Department of Health and Human Performance, and the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences to highlight the many extraordinary graduates of this program.

“This year, we are fortunate to be able to host many of the earliest graduates of the program, as well as honor individuals who represent some of the biggest names in Athletic Training that have preceded us,” said Valarie Moody, a health and human performance professor and director of the Athletic Training program.

“We are thrilled that our speakers are willing to share their unique professional and leadership experiences with our students and faculty,” she said. “This will be a historic day for the UM athletic training program.”

Among the speakers were Michael E. Nesbitt, head athletic trainer and associate professor at Northern Arizona University. During his tenure at NAU, he promoted and justified athletic trainers in several Arizona high schools. Pete Rhinehart was present on behalf of Naseby Rhinehart, UM’s first athletic trainer. As a student at UM, Naseby Rhinehart earned nine letters in football, basketball and track – picking up knowledge of injury prevention and treatment firsthand. Rhinehart remained at UM for 47 years, and the Rhinehart Athletic Treatment Center is named in his honor.

Other great UM athletic trainers recognized were Don Gleason, Wiley Kendle and Dennis Murphy.

For more information about the athletic training program or the Athletic Training Hall of Fame Celebration, visit coehs.umt.edu/umat/default.php or contact Valerie Moody, athletic training program director, at 243-4211 or valerie.moody@umontana.edu.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/under-the-m-athletic-training-program-honors-grads-leaders/article_04447acf-bf0e-5568-ad94-5dc635c68902.html