Emerging Concussion tech can be big business. Casey and Kim join the podcast to discuss some of the new tools and trends for Sports Medicine professionals managing concussions.
What has gone away?
Clear edge test
New Concussion Tech:
What is new?
EyeBox – you put your chin on a chin rest and then track the marker in the EyeBox
Xothrm Smart Pad, developed by JoHan Wang, really impressed me at the convention this year. JoHan joins the podcast to discuss his AT story and the creation of the Smart Pad.
JoHan what is your AT story
Practicing AT for 20+ years
Assistant AT at Boise State
Golden state warriors
Stanford University
Director of Sports Medicine
9 years for the LA Clippers
Director of performance at Golden state warriors
1 year at TCU
I needed a better work-life balance
I had reached the top, there was nothing else for me to move up to.
The college environment changed from my previous experience
What was your “aha moment”
(TCU girl needing skin grafts)
My infatuation with heat started a long time ago but it is the most common modality in the world.
He had a student-athlete use moist heat packs and ended up needing skin grafts
Ultrasound, Exercise, and Radio waves all produce heat
Ice slows down the inflammatory process which is the opposite of what we need
Mitigating Secondary Loss is something that hits home for me. Bubba Wilson has taken his role with ATsCare to another level. We recap the summer and one of the best CEU talks I have ever heard.
LEADS Academy was created to build foundational leadership and empower the next generation of leaders in the Michigan Athletic Trainers Society. Jacob Ortega-Schultz and Courtney Lewis join me live at MATS 2024.
Brian Parker spoke for an hour at the Michigan Athletic Trainers Society annual meeting. Energy drinks, stimulants, drugs and the need to educate athletes.
Taylor took anabolic steroids to get bigger faster stronger.
He quit cold turkey and that lead him to depression and he chose to take his life.
Brian speaks at a lot of regional meetings and would love to come share Taylor story with your group.
3 questions to ask:
1. Contains banned substances?
2. Am I using it properly?
3. Is it necessary?
Just one energy drink can hurt your blood vessel function.
Quality improvement project on how I spent my time.
Why did these need to be established?
As a young professional, I hadn’t yet learned what I needed. It took a lot of self-awareness and reflection to understand my own needs so that I could practice putting boundaries in place.
Walk us through some of these Professional Boundaries conversations.
Self-awareness is a journey. It doesn’t end, it’s continual and ever-changing.
Tuning into self in each moment will help to outline needs that can be met.
It is your ownership of that, responsibility that matters. Take action for yourself, no one else will.
What are some of the boundaries you see other Athletic Trainers needing help with?
I hear ATs talk about being taken advantage of, lowest paid, constantly overworked, etc. The story feels redundant at this point. I wish more ATs felt empowered to change their own script. If you’re burnt out, who has the power to change that? Stop pointing fingers at the system and start being an agent of change.
Establishing boundaries helps create life balance. What does life balance look like for you currently?
For me right now, I love my work but it’s definitely not what I spend most of my time or energy on. Some might scoff at that, but truly it’s been a process of shifting the scales so that I came first. My body, my mental health, my spirit, and then my family friends pets.. it took a lot of practice and still does (every day) of ensuring that my cup is full so I can give.
I love Financial Peace University and we are debt-free including the house. How do you think finances play into life balance?
I also love the messages about financial peace. Finances play a big role in this balance.
It can be tough… I was an AT with a Masters salaried working 60+ hrs a week and paid under $40k. I had 3 job offers in the same week and that was the highest… needless to say I lived paycheck to paycheck for a long time, feeling totally stuck. Eventually, I moved to working 5-6 jobs at any time to get “unstuck” but then found myself burnt out. I’m sure this story is familiar.
I decided to put energy into one place. For me, that was starting my small business. This created freedom of my time which is actually the most valuable. Long story short, this journey brought me to where I am now. And I still have multiple sources of income but it’s much more harmonious.
I think for ATs the balance of life and work does revolve a lot around money. I think we need to talk about it more often. We need to justify and prove our worth not just “say” it.
