As the cold, feverish winter months lose grasp to spring’s much anticipated climate, sounds of echoing bells announces a subtle launch towards physical improvement. During such a time, an increase in students will observably overflow the gym, linger the carpets with sweat and drain the water fountain of its valuable contents.
Though getting active for all the health benefits exercising has to offer, too often are sport injuries taken for granted. Surely, poor training practices, improper equipment use, lack of conditioning, and insufficient warm-up and stretching, are sufficient enough to disable your pre-summer training and leave you with nothing more than excruciating pain and winter fat.
Similarly to a non-typical weight bearer, athletes are equally at risk despite their intensive conditioning and discipline in the field thereof. This became evident to student Danielle Dorsey, a junior psychology major competing on the track team, as she strained her hamstring prior to an ECAC’s conference.
“I was warming up, doing the typical running and stretching when I strained my hamstring. I should have warmed up better,” Dorsey said. “I was in shock it hurt so much.”
Much like Dorsey, people are confronted to the same possibilities of injury whether competing in a sport or simply toning-up for upcoming days at the beach. In Dorsey’s case, her lack of preparation prior to the race cost the team a loss, as the single replacement covered the spot for a missing team member.
According to Cabrini’s certified trainer, Jennifer Langley, treating sport injuries of this nature is no walk in the park. By use of an affective treatment, otherwise known as proprioception, the patient undergoes four stages of supervised rehabilitation. Depending on the form of injury, the procedure is modified to better the affected region. The first step consists of getting the muscle to fire, or in simpler terms, stimulating the injured limb. Secondly, the muscle is properly retrained in order to regain basic motor skills. Thirdly, the patient is put through specific exercises to strengthen the muscle. Lastly, the affected limb should have reached enough strength and flexibility to regain sport specific activities. Unlike Dorsey, further signs of injuries remain unnoticed as teams scuffle their way through the remainder of the season, “All our sport teams are healthy,” Langley said. Nonetheless, her presence and expertise in the field of medical treatment is crucial to this well-being continuance, “There have been a few muscle-pulls and concussions. Aside from that athletes come in for ankle-taping before practices.” According to Dorsey, Langley’s efforts and expertise as a trainer is greatly recognized and mostly appreciated. As she continues skipping through the pain of her strained hamstring, Dorsey said, “She’s really cares about the athletes and cares most about treating them and preventing further injury. She’s really good.”
Furthermore, unlike other staff members, Langley remains present to her position throughout the weekend, as she insures the safety of competing team members. For further needs or assistance, the training room is open from one to nine o’clock on weekdays and on weekends depending on gaming occurrences.
