Athletic trainers crucial to keeping the game going

COLBERT HEIGHTS - Jason Handley has dreams of wearing a crimson and white football jersey for the University of Alabama and spending Saturdays tackling opponents from LSU, Georgia and Auburn.

But to realize his dream, he knows he has to work hard, make some big plays as a linebacker for the Colbert Heights Wildcats and, perhaps most importantly, not get hurt in the process.

"I have been hurt playing, but I can't think about that when I'm on the field," Handley said.

"I don't want it to get in my way."

Sports injuries, especially during football season, have ended many an athletes' career. Athletic trainers and physicians on the sidelines during games are there to lessen the impact when a play goes wrong and a player takes a hard hit.

"The number one reason I see players get hurt is that they're in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Brent Oliver, a certified athletic trainer at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield. "There's a risk with any sport, and football is a high-risk sport."

Oliver spends game nights on the sidelines at Colbert Heights. He's been treating Handley's left shoulder as a result of some pain the athlete had been feeling at odd times while on the field. Oliver said his goal was to rule out a narrow spinal column as a cause of Handley's pain and, with a little rehabilitation, get him back to playing at 100 percent, without any persistent pain.

"What if I had let it go and something had happened?" Oliver said. "I don't think I could have lived with myself had that been the case."

Athletic trainers are critical to the sport because they are able to triage an athlete's injury on the scene, making the determination if the player can continue or if further medical help is needed.

When a surgical procedure is called for, which often happens for repetitive knee and shoulder injuries, high school athletes and their families often seek the help of sports medicine physicians at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Dr. Marshall Crowther joined the UAB staff as a primary care sports medicine physician at the sports medicine clinic and as a team physician for UAB athletics.

At the college level now, Crowther has worked closely as a team physician for Moody High School, and he said there is a difference in how an injury will affect a high school student as opposed to a college student.

"You see ACL injuries in both, but the one thing with high school athletes is that they are still growing and have immature skeletons," he said. "You'll often see more injuries where a growth plate has been pulled off by muscle or tendons, which are little more than overuse-type injuries."

An ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, tear is one of the most common injuries involving the knee. The ACL is one of four ligaments critical to the stability of the knee joint, and football players often tear it during play.

Too often, however, high school athletes are pushed harder than their bodies can handle, Crowther said.

"If kids are playing through pain, that's a problem," he said. "There has been research done that shows that a baseball player who pitched with pain in the elbow is 43 times more likely to have to have surgery on that elbow than had he pitched without pain. Pain should be a strong warning to parents and coaches that there is some overuse and that an injury could result."

Injuries on the field aren't any more common in 2008 than they were decades ago, but the way physicians and athletic trainers have to treat the injuries has changed dramatically, thanks, in large part, to technology.

"Techniques and recover times have really changed, so, what might have ended a career years ago, might be something an athlete could come back from today," Oliver said. "That's why, as a trainer, my goal with the athletes is prevention: Pay attention, check your equipment. You have to make an effort to prevent injury."

Michelle Rupe Eubanks can be reached at 740-5745 or michelle.eubanks@TimesDaily.com.