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Combat Sports Medicine seems like an extreme environment to practice Athletic Training. Dr. Ethan Kreiswirth created Blackbelt Sports Medicine to provide Athletic Trainer care for combat sports athletes.
You are always posting gnarly pictures and videos on IG. What gives you pause or catches you off guard?
As an Athletic Trainer, I started covering tournaments around 1997.
Personal experience in the sport helps me understand the types of injuries that occur.
Tournaments now are 40 mats over 6 days
Dislocations, unconscious used to give me pause.
Now it is just running a company.
Or working youth tournaments, those are always difficult for me.
Does Blackbelt Sports Medicine have tournaments across the United States?
Yes, we work with the BJJ organizations to help provide medical care for combat sports.
A new AT is going to work in combat sports medicine. How do you prep them?
Gloves, gauze, skin lube, and nose plugs.
An Athletic Trainer working with Black Belt Sports Medicine could almost get away with just bringing their fanny pack, like the Nexus Deadbug
There is almost no taping done, maybe some finger taping.
You do a good bit of suturing…discuss that as an AT.
Many of these BJJ athletes are from out of state or another country.
Suturing on the sidelines helps them out tremendously.
I have done about 10 sutures so far.
There is a lot of practice involved with the practice kits.
Not being licensed gives me more freedom to practice the emerging skills.
We take a table behind the scenes and do the standard prep work. We also instruct them to follow up with their HCP.
The larger tournaments have an overseeing physician onsite as well.
Sign up for a tournament and see if Combat Sports Medicine is for you.
Contact:
Dr. Kreiswirth – https://www.facebook.com/Blackbeltsportsmedicine/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/dr.kreiswirth/
Jeremy – https://www.instagram.com/sportsmedicinebroadcast/
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