Preparing for the Upcoming Season as a Parent

Well the September long weekend is over, kids are back at school and the fall/winter activities are starting up.  As a parent you are getting the year schedule and are soon finding your calendar is full.  Before you reach for the bottle of wine, take a deep breath, you will get through this.  The following will help you get through this season hopefully injury free, but if an injury does occur with your young athlete, you will be prepared for it. 

Write down the schedule, not just this months, but the whole year.  Put it in a master calendar with everything on it.  Important school dates, holidays, practices, games, tournaments and competitions.  Again before you scream there is a reason for this.  Do you notice any trends?  Are there days off?  If you your child is in multiple activities are there any conflicts?  Is there conflicts between each child's schedule?  By noticing any conflicts now, you have the time to manage them now, instead of last minute.  The stress that you express when something happens is felt by your children and can distract them their task at hand.  Back to days off.  Rest is important, very important.  Both physical and mental fatigue lead to injuries or burnout.  For more on fatigue in athletes go here.  

Proper meal planning is also very important.  Being prepared with lots of meals in the freezer that can be easily thrown into the oven or slow cooker will save you time and the dread of heading through the drive thru.  A supply of healthy snacks in the car can get you through those school to sport moments.  

Being prepared for injuries is like having insurance, you hope you don't need to use it but are glad you have it if something does happen.  Knowing basic injury management principles will help you not only with your child's injuries but are also a good life skill to have.  It is also important to have a health care professional that you trust in case your child does suffer an injury, that way your not searching after the fact.  If the sport your child is involved in is prone to concussions, have baseline evaluations done by a qualified health care professional.  

Asking your child's coach, teacher or instructor as to their qualifications and preparedness for injury situations.  Do they have first aid and CPR?  Have taken an injury management seminar or course?  Do they have an EAP and a risk management plan?  What is their policy on return to activity after injury?  These are all questions you need to ask them.  Most of the time they will be the one responding to your child's injury, not you.  You want to make sure they are prepared for the situation and that there will be no confusion after the fact as to return to activity. 

The final thing that you must remember to do for the season is to have fun. 

For more information on our injury management seminars and other services offered check out our website at www.eliteinjury.com.  Please follow us on Twitter @EliteInjuryMgmt

Athletic Therapist Spotlight - Carrie Mussbacher

In our second National Athletic Therapy Month spotlight we feature Carrie Mussbacher. 

Name: Carrie Mussbacher

Job: Athletic Therapist, Fitness Centre Coordinator & Personal Trainer

Education Background: I completed my Bachelors of Physical Education at the U of A, and while there I became a Certified Personal Trainer through Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP). Then I completed Advanced Certificate Athletic Therapy at Mount Royal University which prepared me for becoming a Certified Athletic Therapist with CATA.

What is a typical day for you: A typical day will involve supervising the fitness centre at Strathcona High Schoool, helping with Phys Ed or Sports Performance classes who use the facility. I will do a few clinical assessments every day, as well as injury treatment/rehabilitation sessions. I am on call for any injuries occurring in the school (sports teams, phys ed classes or sports performance classes mostly). Depending on the season, I provide on-field coverage for rugby and football games and any tournaments that we host. At the end of the day I often have one personal training session/group fitness class outside of my work at the school.

Favorite part of job: I love being apart of competitive sports, the adrenaline rush you get when you run onto the sports field to help an athlete, and the feeling you get when your injured athletes return to sport and are able to compete again after sustaining an injury. I love being challenged daily, and that no two days will ever be the same!

Why did you become an AT: I was once told as an athlete myself that I would have to quit sport in the middle of the season if I wanted my shoulder to get better. I wasn't given any other options. I don't want to put individuals in that position if they don't have to be. I want to promote the idea of returning to sport/activity in a healthy way. You don't have to play in pain but you also don't have to quit. There are options for every individual. 

Highlight of Career: 

-Winning 2006 CIS National Championship with U of A Bears Soccer

-Working with the Edmonton Rush Lacrosse Team (2011-12 & 2012-13 seasons

For more information on Athletic Therapy and Certified Athletic Therapists please visit www.athletictherapy.org or www.aata.ca

Follow us on Twitter @EliteInjuryMgmt and check out our website at www.eliteinjury.com 

The Art of Taping

As an Athletic Therapist one of the things that we do on a regular basis and by regular I mean multiple times daily is taping.  Be it an ankle, thumb, knee or wrist we have to know that exact place to put the tape and what way the that piece of tape needs to go to prevent and stabilize the joint.  

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Recently I was instructing a class of high school students on various tape jobs.  There were varying degrees of experience with taping as well as degrees of interest in doing them properly.  One of the first steps we went over was reviewing the motions of the joints we were going to tape.  Before you even can touch a roll of tape you have to know what way the joint your going to tape moves.  It would be very detrimental to tape an ankle inversion sprain and pull the ankle into inversion instead of eversion.

Learning to tear tape is another skill that needs to be mastered prior to applying tape to the body.  Poor tears cause wrinkles and tight spots which are both huge no-no's with any tape job.  The use of scissors or tape sharks to cut regular white taping tape is not efficient nor practical.  

You may be asking by now why is this post called the Art of Taping.  It may seem more technical than artistic.  As much as you need the technical knowledge as to the body and its motions, taping is truly an art.  No body part is the same.  For example no arch in the foot is the same.  Being able to recognize this and know the difference, while taping essentially on the fly is part of the artistic aspect. 

 Many of you may not think so but tape jobs are pretty.  They should be viewed like a sculpture.  The absence of wrinkles and windows (where skin shows through between two pieces of tape) makes for a smooth, flawless tape job.  This combined with the ability of the strength of the tape to prevent injury is beautiful.  

If you still doubt how taping can be art.  Watch an Athletic Therapist at work.  The fluidity of their motions as they move the roll of tape around the body of their athlete or patient is at times as graceful as a ballerina or pianist.  

I hope that after reading this you have gained a little more appreciation for those of us who tape.  It is not as simple as throwing on a piece of tape as though it is a bandage.  Each piece is in its place for a reason and put there purposefully, as a painter puts each brush stroke on their masterpiece.  

Please follow us on Twitter @EliteInjuryMgmt and check out our website www.eliteinjury.com for more tips and services that we offer in keeping everyone in the sport of life.