Robert Cabry
Robert Cabry, M.D., Drexel Sports Medicine, Team physician - U.S. Figure Skating, Assoc. Team Physician - Drexel
As the world recently watched Kevin Ware’s horrific leg injury, many questions arose. How much pain is he in? How does this happen? Will the doctors be able to fix it? Will he return to basketball?
Behind the scenes, the medical team (usually consisting of a certified athletic trainer and team physician) is only thinking about attending to the injury quickly so there is no further damage and the athlete is made as comfortable as possible. Only later will they try to figure out why this happened and if something like this could be prevented in the future.
When an athlete goes down during a game, the certified athletic trainer (ATC) is usually the first one to their side. When the injury is as serious as a compound fracture, the team physician will join the athletic trainer immediately and they will work as a team to attend to the athlete. In collegiate athletics, the team doctor attends the games, but the athletic trainer usually covers practices alone. Many serious injuries occur during practice, so it’s important that the ATC is well trained and has an action plan in place for these types of events. Most ATCs are cool under fire and manage emergencies very well.
Robert Cabry, M.D., Drexel Sports Medicine, Team physician - U.S. Figure Skating, Assoc. Team Physician - Drexel
As the nice weather approaches, we all make plans to restart our exercise programs like walking, running and biking. Our bodies are capable of adapting to increasing load, but if we push hard too quickly, this can cause injury. If we typically train for 12 weeks to prepare for a half marathon and we try to do it in eight weeks, this may overload the body’s ability to adapt, leading to overuse injury.
A common overuse injury for runners is leg pain. In this case, leg pain refers to pain in the leg somewhere between the knee and ankle. Often, that pain is called “shin splints.” This is a lay term for many types of exercise-induced leg pain, but doesn’t really identify the cause. The pain could be something as simple as a strain or as serious as a stress fracture. It’s important to know the warning signs of serious injury.
Pain that persists for several minutes to several hours after exercise, throbbing pain at rest, or pain at night after going to bed all can be warning signs of something serious. And running through the pain is not the answer.
Whether you are a weekend warrior, an aging baby boomer, a student athlete or just someone who wants to stay active, this blog is for you. Read about our growing list of expert contributors here. Reach Sports Doc at robertjsenior@gmail.com.
