Author: Host of The SMB

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Storytime with buzz is just that, fun stories from an old school Athletic Trainer still practicing. Thanks, Bethpage Consulting for helping to get the SMB out to SWATA 2023 in Arlington.

I have been attending SWATA for about 38 years

I broke my collarbone playing football and then became the team manager.  Sam Aguilara came to teach the coaches about Athletic Training products.  I knew I could do the stuff he was showing the coaches.

The next thing I knew they were sending me to AT clinics at colleges.

I have met a lot of great people during my career as an Athletic Trainer

Joel Kregerberg was the assistant AT for the Oilers while I was an intern.  I got to tape Earl Cambell.  He greatly deflated my ego when he told me it was the worst tape job he ever had.

Give me some more storytime

Houston Rodeo got me started with Justin Sports Medicine and Truman Spoon Sports Medicine

Did you get autographs?

Not really, I was always around the people and did not consider it.

Where was your first job as an AT?

Seminole High School is about an hour from Lubbock.

I moved to Macaney with the head coach

Then the Houston Oilers called and I moved to Houston

Take us back to Seminole HS

I taught driver's ed in the morning.

It is a small school with a small AT Facility

We were really good at basketball and gymnastics

I taught a job at the Air Force base with firemen and nurses

Who are some of the mentees that have impacted you?

Valerie Tinklepaugh-Hairston – with her impact on college sports and SWATA

David Traylor – SWATA Hall of Honor

Southlake Carroll High School is being run by two of my former ATs

TSATA Hall of Honor

This award brings a smile to my face every time I think about it.

What did you dream about being as a kid?

My dad was a pharmacist

My brother was a pharmacist and MD

I thought about following them

Storytime – What sticks out the most?

A Houston Oiler went down and was basically numb from the neck down

We backboarded him

That was his last game to ever play.

He was a good friend of mine.

My wallet and everything I needed were in my bag that the equipment managers packed up since I went to the hospital with him.  We almost got stranded in Kansas City.

MarkChisum@alertservices.com

Contact us:

Jeremy Jackson

Michael MacPherson – michael@sujibfr.com

Lisette Guerrero

These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.

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Preparedness to throw is a whole new process of injury prevention. Chris Gallina joins Ryan Collins live at the Sports Medicine Update 2023

What are we looking for as parents

Volume

Radar guns

BAD in Youth Athletes

Rest for throwing Athletes

We usually suggest no athlete should be pitching for more than 7 months

Maybe pitch for 2 seasons then focus on fielding and hitting

Pitchers should not play pitcher and catcher as well

Breaking balls

James Andrews – you should not throw a curve ball until you can shave

Mechanics is key during the pitch

Fastball and changeup are very effective for youth athletes

What are the signs and symptoms to look for

Medial elbow pain is number one

The posterior cuff is sore on the Youth Athlete after almost every pitching outing

When do we shut them down?

Flex 

Rotation

Cross body abduction

External Rotation Gain

Is it GIRD or adaptation?

Mr. Burns Posture (The Simpsons)

Soft tissue

Pec Minor 

Deep Neck Flexors

Jeremy Jackson

Michael MacPherson – michael@sujibfr.com

Lisette Guerrero

These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.

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Career Advancement brought Bre'Layshia Alexander from working intermediate athletics to her current role with Baylor Scott and White. She discussed this all with Joseph Eberhardt live at SWATA 2023.

Sponsored by San Antonio Sports Medicine

What are the goals of the Career Advancement Committee?

• Chaired by Bre’Layshia
• Split from the young professional committee

• 7-12 years in the profession
• Everyone on our committee presented at SWATA 23

The Career Advancement Committee also hosts a scavenger hunt for prizes to increase engagement.

Student workshop highlights:

• Resume workshop
• Career Advancement talks
• Tools on how to advance your pay or benefits
• Life Balance options

How do we contact the Career Advancement group?

• @D6_YP_CAC
• @Swata-YPC
• Email: brelayshia.alexander@bswhealth.org
• Facebook Bre’Layshia
• @atc_mojo2015
• Facebook  

Where did you get into AT?

• I was a cheerleader in high school and band in high school.  After not making the team I searched for a way to be on the sidelines.
• I became a student aide for 1.5 years in high school
• Graduated from Texas State and got a job in Temple.
• After 3 years as a middle school AT I knew I had to move on
• SportsCareAT
• Now a physician liaison with BSW

What is your role with TSATA?

• Recently passed legislation that opens up jobs and expands the scope of an ATs practice.

Jeremy Jackson

Michael MacPherson – michael@sujibfr.com

Lisette Guerrero

Bre'Layshia Alexander

Joseph Eberhardt

These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.

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Eddie Smith shares how the state powerhouse Katy Tigers are reducing the fear of hamstring injuries during rehab for their athletes.

There have been 6000 papers published about hamstring injuries

The research is all over the place.

The only real consensus is Nordic hamstring curls

We start with NSAIDs

The next day we start with movement

COMPEX

Ankle movement

Heel slides

As soon as they can walk pain-free we get them back on the field

We use short lever arm exercises

We use Catapult for GPS data and can help know when our players are working within a safe range.

If it is a larger injury, how do you talk them through the mental aspect?

Know your athlete

Communicate with all of the stakeholders

Athlete

Coach

Mom and dad

0-80% is easy, but 80-100% is the really hard part.

Educate them on some of the options: PRP, Cryo, …anything that will help them feel better.

Mentally they are prepared, physically they are not.

How do we reduce the recurrence of injury?

The first two weeks are most commonly the time frame for reinjury

Repeat the exposure incident over and over again.

I like to have them sprint over and over again.

How do we recreate sprinting for the kids that can not?

We want to train on the speed-strength continuum as much as possible

Gymaware is the bar speed program we use.

Nordic Hamstring curl

• Highest-rated prevention exercise
• Activates the highest quantity of muscle fibers

How can we implement “reducing the fear” into off-season or pre-season programming?

Implement the eccentric

Are there any hamstring quad deficits

Contact Us

Jeremy Jackson – MrJeremyJackson on Twitter, SportsMedicineBroadcast on IG, FB

ATCorner Podcast

Ryan Collins

Joseph Eberhardt

Christina Fry

Bob Marley

These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.

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QCollar seems like just another gimmick…but this could really be a life-changing tool. Dr. David Smith, inventor of the Q-Collar joins me to discuss the story, how it works, and his book When Heads Come Together.

Where did the idea for the Q-Collar start?

Dr. Dave was presenting at the Army Research Lab in 2008 where they threw down the gauntlet complaining that clever people should “figure out Traumatic Brain Injury.”

I was working on wound care.

When presented with the woodpecker I immersed myself in the anatomy and physiology of cavity animals.

During a yawn, you are occluding your jugular.

When getting FDA clearance, what were some of the harder questions you had to answer?

42 patents

We are the only FDA-approved TBI prevention device.

Is there any concern with extended use, like several hours at a time?

FDA recommends 4 hours.

We lay down to sleep for 8 hours at a time and occlude our jugulars.

When Heads Come Together – this is a more detailed story about your journey to “solve” TBI…discuss the book.

Julian Bailes listened to me and encouraged me

Discuss the rebreather and how you can reverse TBI.

We looked at how a giraffe breathes

In the first 10 minutes after a concussive event, there is a critical issue

We partnered with Dr. Jedd Hardings at Cinncinatti

Spreading depolarization

I told him CO2 was the trigger for the depolarization

They raised the CO2 levels of a legally brain-dead patient in a coma.  The family agreed to try this and 4 hours later he awoke from his coma.

Jeremy Jackson

Michael MacPherson – michael@sujibfr.com

Lisette Guerrero

These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Youth Sports Safety is Jim Mackies passion project. With over 50 years working as an AT, he can sit back and turn the profession over to the younger crowd, but instead, he continues to give time and effort to help improve healthcare for all athletes

Mr. Mackie have you ever had to perform CPR?

Had a coach drop dead on the goal line after a game.

As I am headed that way I see the firetruck pulling out, and this was before we AEDs readily available.

Jim, What is happening in Youth Sports Safety?

Florida is # 1 in sport safety but much to be done. Laws re Concussion, CWI, AED, EAP, etc. but much education and compliance are needed. 

There are a lot of causes or task forces, why did you choose Youth Sports Safety?

Obviously, there was a big void legislatively & in the knowledge base. Allows me to put many years of experience back into the community to advocate and educate.

Where is it headed?

Progress is being made but we have to see more implementation of best practices done consistently.  With many schools without an AT there requires more district education, especially in our rural communities.

What roadblocks are we seeing?

Resistance and slow to change the culture, especially in youth leagues. Many are volunteer-driven and they rely on what their personal experience was and not best practices as well as the effort it takes to implement.

We have discussed social media a lot recently, what role does it play in Youth Sports Safety?

Podcasts can help to educate and influence the public. They see a lot of situations that happen and yet are dismissed or diminished in a 24-hour news cycle.

Youth Sports Safety Podcast – tell me about that.

Started in 2021

We have been opportunistic and gotten some really high-profile doctors and Athletic Trainers.

Call to action:

Take the time to educate kids, parents, and coaches on the best practices.  Raise the expectations of those you entrust your child to at their sports venue. Take the steps to create a venue-specific EAP, learn CPR, have AEDs accessible everywhere, and connect with an AT.

Jeremy Jackson

Michael MacPherson – michael@sujibfr.com

Lisette Guerrero

Jim Mackie – jdmackie@comcast.net

JAXSMP.com

ATSJAX.com

These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Tyler Knight shares some Soccer Specific Return To Play or RTP tips and tricks. With nearly a decade of soccer experience, he has seen a lot of growth in sport-specific rehab plans.

What is the least soccer specific rehab exercise you have seen?

• Almost everything we do…discuss the importance of understanding the ‘why’ of what we do, as well as never forgetting components of movement.
• Isometrics because the patient can’t perform much more 
• Eccentrics once able
• Stretch-shortening cycle
• Unloaded → supported → unsupported

“Train movement not muscles”

What do we need to consider in on-field RTP?

• In order to get to the field, you have to get out of the Athletic Training room first. 
• Treat the person, not the athlete or the injury (reference all that people have going on in their lives). Ron Corson-ism
• Good communication, setting expectations, and appropriate planning are MUSTs.
  1. Individualization (based on person, position, and injury)
     • Consider our two biggest protective capacities and build upon those early: strength and endurance
  2. Programming based upon working zones (importance of ESD)
  3. Quantifying internal vs. external load
• To do that, we have a few basic rules at Charlotte FC:

1. Create a safe environment.

2. Don’t hurt the person.

3. Be aggressive without breaking rules 1 and 2.

• KPIs to provide direction and accountability to the process

• Additional principles of rehab to accelerate and enhance what we do on the field:
  1. Move early, move often.
     • Highlight BFR and isometrics.
  2. Don’t mess it up.
  3. Consider tissue healing times.
     • Periodize manual therapies, incorporate things the person believes in
  4. Break down the phases of healing (acute, subacute, remodeling), as well as the places of healing: table, Athletic Training room, gym, field, and everything in between.
  5. Create time for mental or psychological recovery
• KPIs
  1. Mobility
  2. Stability
  3. Function
  4. Power
• On-Field
  1. Consider position, individual needs, team tactics, and demands of the sport…and MAKE IT FUN
     • Players have the ball only 3% of the time, a good reason to emphasize the incorporation of the ball and fitness/drill exercises that place focus on getting into the right spaces
     • In 2019/2020 EPL season, the highest average number of passes per game was 688 (Man City; approx 62. per player) and the least was Burnley at 333 (approx. 30 per player).
     • Paul Bradley research
  2. Consider control – chaos continuum
     • Reverse engineer and use the prospective loading document
     • When we have elevated AC ratios, did the majority of that come from a more controlled environment or chaotic environment
     • By using fatigue, you can increase chaos (for those athletes limited in what they can perform)
  3. How are you going to account for one of the most unique facts of the game: limited substitutions and, potentially like many other sports, the pace of the game is only increasing
  4. Actual loading
     • Link load with the context of how it happens in a session/match
     • TD, HSR, sprint, ACC/DEC, HMLD or explosive efforts
     • Intensive vs. extensive days (can you match what the player is doing with you to what the team is doing; team schedule, RPExduration)
     • Density of high intensity actions (repeated sprint ability and repeated high intensity efforts in 1, 3, and 5 min blocks)

In the secondary setting, we may not be out on the field for practice.  How can we help coordinate RTPs?

• “It takes a village.” Educate, incorporate, and empower those around you. If we all understand the why, we will know how to do it, and what we need to use to get there. Trust is a major factor here.
• Create a PowerPoint document, have illustrations, don’t be afraid to do the math ahead of time, use a stopwatch.

Let's talk through a RTP plan you use and why:

• The war is won and lost in the mind
  • Briefly recap where we are and where we’re going
  • What can we do to prepare, potentiate, desensitize, or address other movement qualities before we hit the pitch; build time and trust with people
• Individualization:
  • Needs assessment to construct rehab or movement plan:
    • Current injury
    • Previous hx of injury
    • Quality of movement (identify areas to fine-tune)
    • Training history (gym)
  • Movement and ability restoration
    • Major proponent of push-pull movements or complex training (plyo-like), also appreciate avenues to incorporate lumbopelvic hip stability (core transferring F)
  • External load
    • Average weekly load in training
    • Average match load
    • These are BUDGETS, it’s science AND art
    • If they aren’t close to being on the field, what are we going to do to reduce that gap (RPE x duration; off legs conditioning, gym, etc.)
• On-Field
  • 4 levels
    • 1: high control
      • Band 1 ACC/DEC, no HSR/sprint
    • 2: medium control
      • Band 2 ACC/DEC, add HSR, no sprint
    • 3: low control to low chaos
      • Band 3 ACC/DEC; add sprint 
    • 4: medium to high chaos
      • Add density to exposures
  • Drill selection
    • Technical
    • Tactical/passing
    • Position specific
    • **all interspersed with position specific running**
      • MAS, ASR, or loading focused
• How can we get players out of rehab the same care and joy others get from playing the game
  • Revisit the plan often to show progress
  • Change the setting
  • Make it fun, do what you can with them
• Week
  • Monday: introductory day
  • Tuesday: small to medium space
  • Wednesday: large space
  • Thursday: treatment only
  • Friday: small to medium space day, slightly more than re-intro
  • Saturday: super-Saturday
  • Sunday: OFF

Contact Us:

Tyler – tknightatc@gmail.com

Jeremy – @MrJeremyJackson

These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

MOBO is a single myofascial release tool designed and created by Dr. Christie Powell. Her inventor story is different than the ones we have heard previously.

MOBO is only offered in blue…why blue?

I have scaled back the company and product offering

We got a huge verbal order before COVID that wanted blue.

Happy accident since we had to order 10,000 units

How did you get started?

As a smaller person performing myofascial release on large D1 athletes.

I kept having to McGyver things together to teach the patients how to do the work at home.

At a huge CrossFit event, the contestants all had 10+ devices and that was a huge inspiration.

I wanted one device that could replace most of those.

I reached out to an engineering friend and we worked together.

You mentioned getting funding for MOBO…can you share?

It is so complicated, I am a PT and I just want something for my patients.

We had to create CAD drawings

Film videos

Pay someone to listen to your idea

The very first prototype was $1000 to produce.

We connected with a producer that worked out in our gym and he was our first funder.

$10,000 seemed like so much but that went through really quickly

He hooked us up with the filming studio.

We launched a Kickstarter to produce about 1000 units.

All my friends were product models and my gym was always the setting for photo shoots.

We did a “Meet and Greet” and the people donated about $20,000 which allowed us to make our first order.

We had trouble sourcing the materials in the US so we had a big process of finding the materials that were responsible.

We got another couple hundred thousand dollars from customers.  This was a personal loan-type investment.

I had to bring on some business partners and there was much more stress.

So much time lapsed between a problem and a solution because they were being made overseas.

The last round of funding happened right at COVID.  We had put in all the work and fine-tuned the process.

We took away all of the moving parts to limit the possible breakages.

We simplified the tool, but of course, that costs money and time.

We got 1.5 million dollars from one investor and that was in January 2020…right before COVID.

We now have to spend all this time filming and creating a website and an online shop.

Discuss the MOBO licensing deal

I felt like I was letting my baby leave the house.

Our deal was with DICK’S Sporting Goods.

We actually shared their manufacturing facility and they felt our tool would help them reach the adventure sports crowd.

We had to negotiate so many things to produce the product cheaper.

We knew there were certain areas we could not compromise on certain components.

What would you do differently if you were starting over?

Everything got me to where I am now with the product and company.

I could not have done this by myself.  Surrounding myself with the best possible fit and people that have the same values.

I allowed anyone who showed interest to help instead of vetting them and picking the “right” person

What do you see going forward?

I am going to lots of places to do a demo for a running group and a yoga studio.

I am excited we are expanding and blowing up.

Previous Episodes with Elysia

AT Inventors Round 1

Establishing a Business and Testing

Logistics and Production

Tokis Story

Jeremy Jackson

Michael MacPherson – michael@sujibfr.com

Lisette Guerrero

Elysia Tsai – https://www.si-boards.com/aboutus.asp

Dr. Christie Powell – http://www.cp-pt.com/our-crew-5

These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.