Up to 90% of eye injuries in sports can be prevented with proper eyewear. Dr. Alireza Somji, OD joins me, Jeremy Jackson to discuss some of what he sees and how we can help prevent eye injuries.
International sports vision association – eye safety awareness program
Females Athlete Care is not the same as male athlete care. Dr. Jill Moschelli is making a career specializing in it. Megan Smith, the chairperson for Women In Athletic Training, leads the interview.
Looking into your bio, you specialize in Female Sports Medicine. Can you share with us what that entails?
Female athletes are just different than men
Female athlete triad.
Concussion recovery is different
Predisposed to different types of injuries
How popular is being a female sports medicine-specific doctor?
It is not really common, but some of it is due to comfort level.
There has been an increased discussion about women training on their menstrual cycles and understanding how each phase affects your training. When someone is looking into this- do you have any recommendations on how to get started or a basis of understanding while training during different phases?
Educating in general is the biggest first step
Educate them about their own body and their cycle
Know what is normal for you and be aware of what changes look like.
Some of those changes can be due to oral contraceptives for whatever reasons.
Basic menstrual tracking app.
Perceived performance scales but nothing has been clear or consistent…so more research is needed.
How do we ask: are you on your period?
Make it not taboo…make it part of their general health
I am going to ask a lot of questions and if you feel like you can't or do not want to answer that is fine.
“How has your menstrual cycle been?”
“Are you on any medicines that would impact it?”
We bring up topics like that at the beginning of the season so it is less taboo and breaks through the barrier.
Over the years I have taken many female-specific continuing eds, but one stood out to me which was pelvic floor dysfunction in female athletes. Is this something that you’re seeing in the clinic or refer out to a pelvic floor PT? Can you share how this can affect the training of our female athletes?
It happens more than we are aware of. It is not discussed as much.
Up to about 30% of elite female athletes experience incontinence.
Impact sports have a greater incidence.
Bringing up the conversation more often helps teach people about it.
Finding a pelvic floor therapist can be difficult
Stress Incontinence:
Inability to control the flow of urine during stress.
How can Athletic Trainers bridge that gap?
The more we talk about it the more it normalizes it.
You can be the first line of defense for those athletes.
Maybe set up a regular schedule to discuss it so they know to expect it.
Have the resources available or posted for them.
Are there areas of female patient care that you believe would be beneficial for athletic trainers to be better versed on? What are those areas? Is there training that you recommend?
Reproductive/menstrual cycle/ pelvic floor in your education as you get your degree.
Spend time discussing the differences between male and female athletes.
Have grand round discussions on female athlete care.
Females recover differently from concussions
Timetables are different for females
The treatments are similar but they might take longer.
Post Exercise Recovery Nutrition is one of the topics Brett Singer addresses with high school, college, and professional sports in Houston as part of the Ironman Sports Medicine team.
Doubling carb intake prior to an event
Cliff Bar and Gatorade
Gatorade and a banana
Applesauce and Gatorade
Gummy bears or Fruit snack
Choose any two of them and that should get you to the right amount.
Eccentric contractions have long been known to improve muscle hypertrophy. Ryan Collins joins Clayton Berrang to discuss Eccentrics vs Tempo training and how to implement both.
Where in the timeline are the athletes?
Once they can move without bracing
Strength Deficit Eccentric training benefits
Supermaximal load and trying to move that through the eccentric motion
A load that can not move through the concentric movement
How would you recommend emphasizing eccentric training?
Tempo training is a safe place to start but it affects the muscle adaptations
Most ATs and PTs are probably already doing this.
EX: single leg squat – box progression –
Reverse engineer sprinting
Brakes are going to be important to anything we move
But eccentric training offers so much more than just the brakes
Triphasic training
When do you transition from eccentric training?
Time of year and sports demands
Talk about the cycles for football
Summer is great for super maximal loads for the experienced lifters
Beginners lifted should be doing triphasic
The full stretch-shortening cycle would be in season
Tempo training is one of the easiest forms of progression for an athlete's body
Most adaptations from the eccentric load
Increased reps give some adaptations
Tempo is the lowest ROI
Box squats example
Tempo training and progress through the tempo training
4×5 with a 3 sec – 4-5 and up to 8-second tempo
Now we use slightly heavier weight with about a 2-second tempo
5 – 7 – 10 – 12 reps progression
Progress through load
4×5 and increase the load over the next 4 weeks
How do we set up a supermaximal eccentric?
Rack setup with safety catches and partners or team lift it back up
We are looking at 5/10% above our maximal level
We can do 5 sets of 1
Is there a tempo in this eccentric?
Move it as slowly as possible
The nordic hamstring curl is an example
“What works works”
If you move slowly you will move slow, move fast to move fast”
Late RTP 6 months out ACL?
Overload plays in
Their body is avoiding positions needed for power due to injury.
