Archive for Injuries
Sidelined
Posted by: | CommentsIt has been a month of drama around here. While I know that injuries are just part of sports, it still stinks when it happens.
My older daughter has been a gymnast since she was a baby (she is now 13), having grown up in the gym while I was coaching. It actually amazes me that she has not had a major injury in all these years. She did have a scary fall off the bars when she was 7 or 8, but she wasn’t hurt. Two weeks ago she was tumbling and second guessed herself for a split second. That split second was enough to put her in a precarious position and she came down hands first from a forward tumbling pass.
She said she heard her arm break, yet some how she just walked off the floor and collapsed near some mats. Most of the gym didn’t even know something had happened. Her teammates and coaches got her arm elevated and on ice, but when I walked in the gym I took one look at her elbow and the very obvious swelling and said let’s go, it’s off to the Emergency Room for you.
I went back into x-ray with her and stood behind the glass with one of the x-ray techs. The new radiology technology is amazing. They took a picture and slid the films into a think that looked like a giant CD player and the x-ray immediately came up on the monitor in front of us. It was so obvious from that first slide that her arm was broken. She ended up with a displaced medial fracture in her humerus bone (she says its not funny though) and they soft casted her right there in the ER.
The next day we headed an hour south to the orthopedic office that specializes in pediatric sports injuries. If your athlete is ever injured – look for a doctor that deals with kids who are athletes on a daily basis – it makes all the difference in the world. The orthopedic doctor took a look at her films and determined that surgery was needed immediately to pin the piece of bone that had broken completely off back onto its rightful place. She broke the arm Monday, we saw the specialist Tuesday and were in surgery Thursday morning. Crazy!
The surgery went very well and she was able to go home that afternoon. She will be in the cast a few more weeks, but since she did not do any soft tissue (muscle, ligament or tendon) damage, they expect the arm to be stronger after the cast comes off than it was before.
The most difficult part of the injury has not been the injury itself rather the fact that she has not been in the gym. The weekend after she broke her arm was the team’s first competition of the season. She didn’t seem to be overly concerned until we walked into the meet to support her friends and then it hit her. That was the very first meet ever that she had not competed in since she was 6. And that was the hardest thing for her to handle. I just wonder if it will be a motivating factor once she is given the all clear to return to training.
We went back to the doctor this week to follow up on the surgery and the cast will stay on until December 13. But at least she has been cleared to go back in the gym and do conditioning – which makes her happy. Gymnasts are a little crazy that way!
New Documentary Explores Female Athletes and Concussions
Posted by: | CommentsAs girls play more sports and at much higher levels of intensity, it only makes sense that the number of injuries like concussions are also going to increase. However, the majority of the research on concussions, their prevention and recovery has focused on boys. In a new ground-breaking documentary by the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport and the Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) Channel 2 highlighting the untold story of female athletes and concussion injuries will air at 8 p.m. on Sunday, October 16.
Here is a short intro to the piece – click to watch below or view via YouTube:
From the press release:
In collaboration with the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport, Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) Channel 2 has produced a ground-breaking, one-hour documentary on the untold story of female athletes and concussion injuries airing at 8 p.m. on Sunday, October 16.
Concussions and their devastating consequences affect athletes in all sports and at all levels. However, while sport-related concussions have ignited a national conversation and public debate about this serious brain injury, the majority of attention has focused on male athletes. Critical issues surrounding the impact of concussion on female athletes have been largely ignored. Through the personal stories and experiences of coaches, athletes and their families, as well as in-depth interviews with nationally recognized scholars and medical experts, this documentary examines the causes underlying concussion and offers practical solutions to help prevent and treat sports-related concussion injuries in female athletes.
“This partnership with TPT allows us to fulfill the core mission of the Tucker Center—to engage in research that truly makes a difference in the live of girls and women, their families, and communities,” says Tucker Center Director and Professor Mary Jo Kane. “We are also deeply committed to educational endeavors and community outreach that provides knowledge to a vast audience. In the case of serious brain injuries such as a concussion, this documentary could save lives.”
In a unique arrangement, TPT has granted the Tucker Center rights to distribute the documentary as an educational tool to a broad constituency, including high school and college coaches, along with scholars, educators, policy makers and the general public.
“Having the ability to widely disseminate the video will make a difference and impact those who need the information the most,” said Nicole M. LaVoi, associate director of the Tucker Center.
Former U of M President Robert Bruininks, who appears in the documentary, states, “Sport-related concussions are a much more serious issue than we thought just a few years ago. There is no better place than the Tucker Center and the U of M to have a serious conversation about the implications of this injury on the long-term health of girls and women who participate in exercise and sports.”
More on girls in sports and concussions:
- Dealing with the aftermath of a serious sports injury
- Study shows girls more susceptible to concussions than boys
- Girls Soccer: Concussion Risks
- Mouthguards are a must for field sports
- Kids and Head Injuries
- Female Athletes Bear Brunt of Concussions
- Girls Suffering More Concussions in High School Sports
SIGN UP – Dick’s Sporting Goods is Giving FREE Concussion Software To Schools
Posted by: | Comments
Ali Krieger from the US women's soccer team in a Gaithersburg, MD Dick’s Sporting Goods store, helping spread the word about the new PACE program (Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education).
Are you a parent of an athlete, coach, teacher or school administrator at a middle school or high school? If so, this is a GREAT OPPORTUNITY to apply for some state-of-the-art concussion software which can help combat concussions in youth sports keeping your athletes playing safer and longer.
According to the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, up to 3.8 million recreation- and sports-related concussions occur in the United States every year – with concussions in adolescent age groups accounting for the majority.1 This is a serious issue.
That’s why Dick’s Sporting Goods created PACE, which stands for Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education. Through PACE, Dick’s Sporting Goods will supply up to one million young athletes across more than 3,300 middle and high schools nationwide with ImPACT software, the first, most-widely used, and scientifically-validated computerized concussion evaluation system. It is a computerized, neurocognitive assessment tool and service that is used by medical doctors, psychologists, athletic trainers, and other licensed healthcare professionals to assist them in determining an athlete’s ability to return to play after suffering a concussion.
But, schools NEED TO APPLY in order to get the software! Here’s how you do it: visit http://www.mydickssportinggoods.com/pace/ and click “Submit Your School” on the left-hand side.
It’s on a first-come, first-serve basis, so if your school qualifies and the application is approved, it could become one of the 3,300 middle and high schools getting FREE software in the largest concussion baseline testing initiative ever created.
Good luck, and stay safe this season!
