Tag: NFL

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New NFL medical timeout rule could have changed outcome of Super Bowl XLIX

The certified athletic trainer in the press box called down to the sideline to point out that it appeared Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman suffered a concussion after a big fourth quarter hit by Seattle’s Kam Chancellor during a crucial 21-yard catch and run in the Super Bowl.

Edelman remained in the game and caught another 21-yard pass from Tom Brady to set up a touchdown. He was examined after the series by the Patriots medical staff, passed the concussion protocol and was allowed to remain in the game. He later caught the winning touchdown pass on the next series.

Now the NFL is instituting another rule change for 2015 to protect the players from themselves.

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If the independent certified trainer spots an injury that has gone unnoticed by the officials on the field and the team’s medical personnel on the sideline, he can call down to the referee with a medical timeout and the player will have to be immediately removed from the game to be checked out.

If the rule had been in effect in last season’s Super Bowl, Edelman would have been taken off the field right after the trainer called down and he might not have been back on the field in time for his second 21-yard catch, which came four plays after the first one.

“Now you can stop the game,” said Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president of health and safety policy said. “The athletic trainer can say, “Stop the game.”

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The NFL held a player health and safety news conference Wednesday in the same basement meeting room at its Park Avenue headquarters as the Tom Brady appeals hearing on June 23. This was a much more serious and important topic: It mainly focused on concussions, which clearly is a much bigger risk to the NFL than deflated footballs.

The culture change in the NFL over the last few years – rule changes, enforcement, injury protocol – have resulted in a decrease in concussions. According to the NFL, there were 173 concussions in 2012, 148 in 2013 and 112 last season, a 35% drop in three years. The 112 last year in 256 regular season games works out to a concussion in less than half the games. Over the last three seasons, there been a 68% drop in hits on defenseless players and concussions caused by helmet-to-helmet hits are down 43%.

There is an average of 27 doctors and trainers at every game and there’s been 40 rule changes in the last 10 years to make the game safer. If let up to the players, they often won’t come out of the game, even if they are woozy or injured. The new power given to the trainer in the press box should help put a stop to that.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/new-nfl-rule-changed-outcome-super-bowl-xlix-article-1.2316062

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Mike “Magic” Macejko is the NFL’s Oldest Intern

KEYC – Mankato News, Weather, Sports –

Mike “Magic” Macejko refers to himself as the “NFL’s oldest intern.” Macejko has worked as an athletic trainer in Hazleton, Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years. For the past ten summers, the 62-year old traveled to Mankato to help longtime friend and former student, Eric Sugarman, with Vikings Training Camp. In 1982, Sugarman (who is now the head athletic trainer for the Minnesota Vikings) worked for Macejko in Pennsylvania.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.keyc.com/story/29721672/the-nfls-oldest-intern

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Former UW student finds rewarding work as rare female NFL athletic trainer

When the NFL kicks off its season in September, a few female athletic trainers will be on the sidelines.

But for many years, there was just one, and she was from the University of Wisconsin.

Sonia Gysland, hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2011, made sure her gender was not nearly as important to her as how she did her job.

“It’s very rewarding work because you’re helping these people make a living,” said Gysland.

Her duties are wide ranging, from treating injuries on the sideline to unloading equipment at the stadium on the road to taping ankles for the superstitious players who will only go to the same trainer every time.

She’s almost impossible to catch up with, and her phone must be sealed in a waterproof case for the work that she does, and all the preparation for this high-energy job began while working with the Badgers.

Gysland earned a chancellor’s scholarship at UW and graduated in 2007 with a degree in kinesiology, with a concentration in athletic training.

While working with the football team as a student athletic trainer, going to the Outback Bowl and the Capitol One Bowl, Gysland didn’t really stand out for being a woman as much as she stood out for being good.

“Everyone was pretty used to having females around,” said Gysland. “Wisconsin has had female students in the athletic training program for as long as the program has been around. The majority of athletic training programs are over 50% female.

“The biggest part of it is, you get respect when you treat everyone else with respect.”

After Gysland passed her national certification exam, she got her master’s degree at the University of North Carolina and once again worked with the football team as a graduate assistant athletic trainer.

After that, she had an internship at Ohio State, working with other sports teams, and then got her career started at Duke. She was the school’s first female athletic trainer for the football program.

But a previous internship with the Pittsburgh Steelers was the big break Gysland needed, opening the door for her to getting hired there four years ago.

She followed in the footsteps of Ariko Iso, the first full-time NFL female athletic trainer, who spent nine years with the Steelers before becoming Oregon State’s head athletic trainer.

“I think it’s easier for a team to hire a female when they’ve already done so in the past and it had worked out great,” said Gysland.

“The Steelers went to three Super Bowls over the course of those nine years that Ariko worked there, so it obviously didn’t hinder the team’s success.

“The transition for me was pretty seamless since everyone was used to having a female around. A lot of credit has to be given to the Rooney family and the Steelers organization for trusting John Norwig, the team’s head athletic trainer for the past 25 years, and his judgment in hiring the best athletic trainer for the position.

“Which in two cases, happened to be a female.”

Since then, said Gysland, more teams have been looking to hire female athletic trainer interns, and a couple of them have.

The San Francisco 49ers hired Laura Schnettgoecke as assistant athletic trainer in May, and in June the San Diego Chargers hired Allison Miner, a female assistant athletic trainer who also is a physical therapist.

The job requires a lot of anyone. Gysland lifts 10-gallon water coolers one minute and the leg of an injured 300-pound player the next. On game days she has to be able to diagnose and treat players alongside a team doctor, but during a practice she could be the first expert to look at an injured Steeler.

“A lot of people don’t see the injuries that occur,” Gysland said. “They see the big ones. But a lot of times other things happen.”

In the flurry of all that activity, she’s too busy to think about the fact that her work environment is almost entirely male.

“It really isn’t something that I think about much at all,” said Gysland. “It is pointed out to me every once in a while.”

There was really only one time she felt self-conscious, Gysland said, and that wasn’t on the field. When she went to her first NFL combine and met with all the NFL athletic trainers, she was alone among 150 people.

“It was a little intimidating. I definitely felt out of place,” said Gysland.

“But there is a big push at our athletic trainers meeting this past year to at least get more female interns. Athletic trainers are, for the most part, just fine with having female trainers on staff. It’s more getting the ownership and coaches who are used to things the old way for so long.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/former-uw-student-finds-rewarding-work-as-rare-female-nfl-trainer-b99548933z1-320449042.html

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Jaguars, NFL helping put full-time athletic trainers in local high schools

The goal is about health and safety.

And a new objective of the Jaguars, the NFL, Jacksonville University and the Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program is designed to ensure Duval County Public School athletes are healthier and safer soon.

Those entities are working together to provide funding and training needed to place full-time athletic trainers in 17 Duval County public high schools by 2020. The initiative was announced at a news conference Thursday morning in the US Assure Club West lobby inside EverBank Field.

Jaguars President Mark Lamping and Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry were among officials speaking at the news conference, as were Jacksonville University President Tim Cost, NFL Senior Manager Health and Policy Amy Jorgenson and Duval County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Nikolai Vitti.

“When we were offered the opportunity from the National Football League to expand the safety net to all sports at the high school level, we could not pass it up,” Lamping said. “It is precisely because Jacksonville is part of the NFL family that we have the opportunity to help bring these great NFL initiatives to Jacksonville.

“The NFL has created this platform for us. Without their leadership and financial commitment, this wouldn’t be happening.”

The Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation has committed to aid the effort by donating $50,000, a commitment matched by the NFL. The total funding needed for the five-year program is approximately $3 million. Duval County Public Schools will fund the majority with the remaining funds generated through private partnerships.

“It’s nice to be a part of this power of collaboration here today,” Curry said. “I was sworn in July 1. There was a lot of stuff that landed on my desk, much of which is still sitting there. This was one of the first things. It asked the city to be a small part of this.

“We were asked to invest a fraction and my immediate answer was yes. It really transcends athletics itself… It was an easy answer to be a part of this.”

Said Lamping, “Football is such a great thing and has such an important place in our hearts here in Jacksonville. One of the reasons this continues to grow year to year is there are so many men and women who have been exposed to the game over the years and realize how important the life skills are that they develop being exposed to the game. One of the keys is making sure the game is played safely.”

Jaguars Head Physician Kevin Kaplan called the program “an amazing step toward the goal of having athletic trainers in all of our local high schools.”

Ribault, Englewood, Raines, Baldwin and Jackson high schools will have full-time trainers this year under the program, with the goal being to have full-time trainers in all Duval County schools by 2020.

“Our message today is significant: safety,” JSMP Executive Director Robert Sefcik said. “This program is certain to become a model of success not only here in Jacksonville but throughout our state and country.”

Lamping said the Jaguars’ involvement in the program was important because of the importance of football to the community – and the importance of safety in the game at all levels.

“Why is it important that the Jaguars be involved? It’s pretty simple,” Lamping said. “We have an obligation to this community. We take a lot out of this community and we have a responsibility to put resources back into the community. The second part is we want the game of football to continue to grow and become even more popular. Part of that is making sure we are supporting the safety aspects of this game – and not just at the NFL level.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.jaguars.com/news/article-JaguarsNews/Jaguars-NFL-helping-put-full-time-trainers-in-local-high-schools/53bafb58-539f-4299-b504-3e66477bad5a

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NFL and GE announce prize-winning concussion research

Six innovative studies on identifying concussions, the severity of brain trauma injuries and speed of the healing process have been named winners of the GE & NFL Head Health Challenge.
Some practical applications from the researchers, who each received a $500,000 award to advance their work, could be seen within the next two years, said Jeff Miller, the NFL senior vice president of the league’s Health and Safety Policy.
“It’s not too far in the future,” Miller told Reuters in an interview.
“This partnership has proven to be all that we had hoped and vastly more in terms of being able to advance the neuro sciences in ways that will lead to better protection and the health and safety of our players.
“And have significant impacts beyond the football field, other sports and throughout our community and the military.”
Head injuries have become a high priority for the NFL in recent years.
The issue of concussion and the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) on former players was intensified following the suicide deaths of Junior Seau and Dave Duerson, who shot themselves in the chest to preserve their brains for study.
In April, the league also reached a final settlement of a lawsuit brought by former players over concussions that could cost the NFL $1 billion.
Three of the winning projects, Banyan Biomarkers Inc. of San Diego, University of Montana, Missoula, and Quanterix of Lexington, Massachusetts, study blood for biomarkers that inform different aspects of concussion.
The other three, BrainScope Company Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and the University of California, Santa Barbara, focus on neuroimaging tools and EEG-based traumatic brain injury detection to analyse and understand concussions.
“The lessons we are learning and the innovations we are helping to accelerate are not only going to help us and society overall around mild traumatic brain injury and the safety of the game, and improve safety for athletes across other platforms,” Alan Gilbert, director GE’s Global Government and NGO Strategy, told Reuters.
“We’re going to learn and be able to apply those lessons to things like ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease), Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
“We feel that it’s already happening — partnerships we’re doing right now with ALS are a direct result around this multiplier effect because we partnered with the NFL.”
Miller envisioned tests being administered on NFL sidelines or at the stadium to quickly diagnose concussions and their severity.
“Blood tests on the sideline, better imaging to identify a concussion — that’s the sort of transcendant science we were hoping to capture and encourage by running this challenge,” he said.
Two other NFL Head Health Challenge projects to protect the brain and to find materials that better absorb or dissipate energy in protective equipment are also ongoing in conjunction with GE and equipment manufacturer Under Armour.

More from: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/527558/sports/othersports/nfl-league-and-ge-announce-prize-winning-concussion-research

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/23/us-nfl-concussions-idUSKCN0PX1CB20150723