Tag: Medicine In Motion

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Austin Sports Medicine Celebrates National Athletic Training Month

In conjunction with the 16th annual National Athletic Training Month in March, Medicine in Motion has undertaken an educational initiative to inform the public of the breadth and depth of athletic trainer expertise in taking care of all kinds of injuries and all kinds of active people. The nationwide event is sponsored by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), a not-for-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas. This year’s theme is “A Safer Approach to Work, Life and Sport.”

“Athletic trainers are health care professionals who work in a variety of settings and with all kinds of people – not just athletes,” said Dr. Pyron, Austin sports medicine doctor and owner of Medicine in Motion. “They prevent, assess, treat and rehabilitate injuries and illnesses of a wide variety.”

Athletic Trainers (ATs) work in a variety of settings and provide numerous health care services. Some facts about ATs include:

1. Athletic trainers save lives. Sports injuries can be serious. Brain and spinal cord injuries and conditions such as heat illness can be life threatening if not recognized and properly handled. ATs are there to treat acute injuries on the spot. Athletes have chronic illnesses, too. People with diabetes and asthma can and do safely work and exercise, and the athletic trainer can help manage these critical health issues as they relate to physical exertion.

2. Not all athletes wear jerseys. The duties of many workers – such as baggage handlers, dancers, soldiers and police officers – require range of motion and strength and stamina, and hold the potential for musculoskeletal injuries. ATs work with individuals in various settings to help with the prevention and treatment.

3. Athletic trainers are experts. Working to prevent and treat musculoskeletal injuries and sports-related illnesses, athletic trainers offer a continuum of care unparalleled in health care. ATs are part of a team of health care professionals – they practice under the direction and in collaboration with physicians. ATs are specialists; they work with physically active people to prevent and treat injuries and conditions. ATs aren’t personal trainers, who focus solely on fitness, conditioning and performance enhancement. ATs are health care professionals.

4. The athletic trainer is the health care system for athletes and others. Athletic trainers are on site. They work with patients to avoid injuries; they’re there when injuries happen and they provide immediate care; and they rehabilitate patients after injuries or surgery. It’s a continuum of care. They know their patients well because they are at the school, in the theater or on the factory floor every day.

5. Athletic trainers take responsibility and lower risk. School administrators, athletics directors and coaches have their own jobs, which may pose a conflict of interest with athlete safety; they are not experts in managing injuries or sports-related illnesses, nor should they be responsible to do so. Handling injuries at school or at work, rather than sending the patient to the emergency department, saves money and time loss – and gets them back to their activity faster. Just as professional athletes do, recreational athletes should have access to athletic trainers.

Medicine in Motion (MIM) specializes in providing top quality sports medicine in Austin, Texas, for athletic individuals of all ages and levels. The staff at MIM believes active bodies are healthy bodies, therefore it is the office’s goal to keep patients energetic and fit. To that end, MIM provides treatment of injuries and illnesses, including the use of physical rehabilitation; promotes healthy living with personal training and nutrition coaching; and offers comprehensive sports medicine evaluations to optimize health, activity level and sports performance. For more information or for questions regarding sports medicine in Austin, contact Medicine in Motion at 512-257-2500 or visit the website at http://www.medinmotion.com.

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Lumberjack Athletic Trainer Works the Slopes

The Winter X Games is the pinnacle for winter extreme sports. For NAU Associate Athletic Trainer Brent Appel, an avid winter sports enthusiast himself, he lived out an experience for the ages recently with the opportunity to work the 2016 Winter X Games in Aspen from Jan. 28-31.

“I’ve never worked an event on that scale, so I went in with an open mind,” Appel said. “It was also my first experience working with winter sports. One of the coolest things was the opportunity to work along side a group of excellent athletic trainers and physicians who were part of our medical staff. To see how they operated in a big event like that with athletes of that caliber, that was the most exciting part for me.”

Appel, in his third year with the Northern Arizona University Sports Medicine staff, is the Lumberjack women’s basketball team’s primary athletic trainer. Originally from Iowa, Appel is a member of the National Athletic Trainers Association, Rocky Mountain Athletic Training Association and the Arizona Athletic Training Association who arrived at NAU following a year at Fort Lewis College.

Although from the Midwest, Appel frequently enjoys the outdoors including snowboarding, which made his recent opportunity one that he was eagerly anticipating.

“As a guy who grew up in Iowa who loved winter sports but didn’t have the opportunities as someone who might live in the West, (the X Games) was awesome,” Appel said. “Ever since I’ve moved out West, I’ve fallen in love with these sports more and more. To see it at that level, it gave me a higher appreciation for what these athletes can really do on skis or snowboards. It put into perspective how difficult these sports are.”

The prestigious opportunity came about by chance really. With the Arizona High School Cycling League – a club who provides kids interested in mountain biking with organized races – heading up to Flagstaff last summer, Appel – a passionate mountain biker himself – seeked out an opportunity to volunteer with the club. Through a connection made with the owner of Medicine in Motion LLC, he was then invited to work at the Winter X Games.

While at the X Games, Appel was paired up with four other athletic trainers who were assigned to the X Course. With skiers added back to the X Course this year, that created more demand for athletic trainers. Appel and his team worked the practice sessions, the qualifying rounds and the actual competition. The list of athletes included men’s and women’s skiers, men’s and women’s snowboarders, adaptive snowboarders (those with prosthetic legs or missing upper extremities) and mono skiers (paraplegics on a single ski). They were also tasked with working the Big Air Snowboard event.

“My main focus was to do a good job medically, so I didn’t want to put too much focus into who I might run into,” Appel said. “But at the same time, I definitely saw athletes that I recognized from all over the world.”

The experience of working the invite-only X Games featuring the best winter sport athletes not only from the United States, but also internationally, is one that Appel will always treasure from a personal standpoint and hopes to continue. Furthermore though, from a professional development standpoint, Appel is a better athletic trainer because of it.

“My long term goals are to continue to work with athletes in these non-traditional sports,” Appel said. “I think it’s an under-represented area in terms of health care is concerned. But that’s where we come in as athletic trainers, where we can help them excel. There’s going to be traumatic injuries, and there were some this past week, but to be immersed in these emergent situations is always good experience.”

With Appel as just one example, it is clear that Lumberjack student-athletes are in outstanding hands with our NAU Sports Medicine staff on a daily basis.

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