Question: What is the athletic trainer’s role in returning athletes back to their sport after being cleared by their doctor following an injury? Answer: Injuries happen at all levels of play in school athletics and activities. In schools fortunate enough to have an athletic trainer, these injuries can be evaluated and treated on site by the school’s certified athletic trainer. In the case of more serious situations when an athletic injury requires further evaluation or treatment than the athletic trainer can provide, they are then sent to a physician. The physician further evaluates the athlete and communicates with the athlete,their parents and the athletic trainer on the specifics of injury as well as theKathy Kickish-for web treatment in order to facilitate healing in the most advantageous way possible. Athletic trainers work under the direct supervision of a physician to provide continuing coordinated care. When an athlete is cleared by a physician, meaning the injury has fully healed, athletes often think they can jump right back into their sport or activity. Most often, this is not the case. During rest or restriction from the sport, the athlete’s aerobic capacity has decreased in addition to the fact that there may be deficits in their flexibility and strength of the muscles and tendons surrounding the injury. Therefore, the athlete, although healed from injury, may be physically behind the rest of the team. Returning back to the sport too quickly after clearance from the physician also poses risk for re-injury if the athlete is not fully ready to return. This is where the unique role of the athletic trainer comes in. Not only do athletic trainers prevent, evaluate, treat, and rehabilitate the injury itself, but they also help the athlete go from a physician’s clearance to being able to return to play at full capacity. In a sense, the athletic trainer bridges the gap between the physician and the field. When an athlete is cleared by their doctor, then the athletic trainer’s role is to come up with a gradual progression of sport-specific exercises to help the athlete progress to being able to return to their sport. Of course all injuries are unique to the individual as well as their specific return to play time-frame or succession. Therefore, athletic trainers develop certain return-to-play progressions specific for the athlete and their injury, body part, level of fitness, and their status in the return to play process. The return-to-play progression for a certain injury following clearance may begin in the athletic training room with particular stretching and strengthening exercises for the muscles surrounding the injury. These may also be coupled with some non-specific cardio training such as jogging on the treadmill or cycling on the stationary bicycle. Once the athlete can easily perform all of the exercises given with no problem, the athletic trainer may incorporate some sport-specific agility training. At various stages in this return-to-play progression, the athletic trainer may allow the athlete to participate in some drills or exercises with their team under supervision to begin to integrate back into their sport. Progressions increase with the athlete’s ability to perform the tasks at hand. The last step in the progression is sport-specific functional testing by the athletic trainer. Once the athlete has passed this last step, they may return unrestricted to practice/game play with their team. Kathy Kickish is an athletic trainer at Ocean City High School. She was a three-sport athlete during her days at Mainland Regional High School, has her undergraduate degree from George Washington University and her master’s degree from Temple University. She also published a book in 2013 on the psychological rehabilitation process. Have a question for athletic trainer Kathy Kickish? Email your question to Glory Days Magazine publisher Dave O’Sullivan at sully@acglorydays.com. Please include a phone number for confirmation purposes. [adsense]