HIPS: Two Different Knee Evaluations

In my latest attempt at some humor, and a chance to educate, I bring you my newest series.. This series “Hips: One Four Letter Word You Must Use” will take you through my thoughts over the last several months on the importance of the hips in exercise, fitness, rehabilitation, and sports enhancement. It truly is a topic that I have grasped full-on and really believe that if our hips are weak, we WILL get injured. And most often it is not our hips that get injured in this process! Please join me in this journey as we will explore the hip complex and its importance to the rest of our body!

I have a strong belief that the hips play major roles in all knee pain. But the initial evaluation is not always the place to immediately address the hips. I’m going to describe two of my recent evaluations and I think you’ll see what I mean.

Movement Quote

“Do what people need, not what they want”–Gray Cook

Stan The Man Quote

With the passing of our beloved Stan The Man in St. Louis, I must bring you this quote…

“When a pitcher’s throwing a spitball, don’t worry and don’t complain, just hit the dry side like I do.”

Obviously I never had the opportunity to watch him play, but Stan Musial is a legend in St. Louis. He been a fixture for a long time and he will surely be missed at Busch Stadium and throughout Cardinal Nation.

Excellent thoughts!

wantzatc

Athletic trainers have fought for years to be recognized and have the approriate regulations in place to protect the public. Hard work has gone into making sure that it accurately reflects what we do for the public.

Let’s remember and remind people that we do athletic training. Within that is a number of things. We do injury prevention, diagnosis, injury management and treatment, rehabilitation, administration and professional development. What do we not do?

We do not do medicine. We work under a physician and we are in the sports medicine field. We are not board certified. We ARE certified by the Board of Certification. We are not performing physical therapy. We are very skilled at performing rehabilitation. We are not water boys/girls. We do promote the benefits of hydration and other ways to prevent heat illness. We are not equipment managers, but we are skilled at fitting equipment properly and…

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How Bad Do You Want It?

My boss showed us this video the other day in our staff meeting. I have watched and listened to it probably 10 times since then. It just hits home for me..

Hips: A Four Letter Word You MUST Use

In my latest attempt at some humor, and a chance to educate, I bring you my newest series.. This series “Hips: One Four Letter Word You Must Use” will take you through my thoughts over the last several months on the importance of the hips in exercise, fitness, rehabilitation, and sports enhancement. It truly is a topic that I have grasped full-on and really believe that if our hips are weak, we WILL get injured. And most often it is not our hips that get injured in this process! Please join me in this journey as we will explore the hip complex and its importance to the rest of our body!

I have actually posted my first installment of this new series. You can find it here: Anterior Knee Pain in the Female Athlete.

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be adding more thoughts, links, and general information about the hips. Putting it simply, I think we MUST train our hips on a daily basis!

Quote for Today: Attitude

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
Thomas Jefferson

RGIII: My thoughts

I’m sure everyone and anyone has had thoughts over the last few days about RGIII’s injury Sunday evening. Many people have been quick to criticize Mike Shanahan while others have criticized Dr. Andrews. Each of them has also participated in playing the blame-game. There have been plenty of jokes on Twitter and Facebook. ESPN has reported that RGIII has a torn ACL and LCL. Many of us know that the ACL is located at the front of the knee and when it’s torn, surgery is often required in order for continued athletic participation. The LCL is less-known, but it is located on the outside of the knee and is involved in rotary stability.

Anterior Knee Pain in the Female Athlete

This is probably an exam we see often in athletic training or physical therapy. It’s something we as athletic trainers and those in the physical therapy world and fitness world must also be prepared to address. It’s time we “think outside the box” and look beyond the pain site.

Let me set up the patient for you:

• She is an adolescent volleyball player who plays high school volleyball 4 months and club volleyball the other 8 months of the year. Very little rest time in her sports schedule.

Sports Medicine Team: Orthopedic Surgeons

I consider sports medicine to be very much a team activity and to provide superior sports medicine, there must be a team of professionals in place to make it happen. In this series, I will address those professionals that I consider crucial for a high school sports medicine team. I will post both the “ideal roles” as well as more realistic roles. Over the next few weeks, I will address each profession in detail.

This week’s team member is the orthopedic surgeon. I have begun to rely more and more on the orthopedic group rather than primary care physicians simply because I can get my kids in to see the orthopedic surgeon or his assistant. We also use a variety of other orthopedic specialists who are outside our community.