Staying Safe on the Field, Court & Turf

CARMEL – We are at the dawn of a new school year and a new high school athletic year. But, medically speaking, the athletic season never really ends or begins.

We spoke with three physicians from Carmel-based Advanced Health about preparation and maintenance for these athletes.

“The preseason, season, and offseason are very different,” said Dr. Charlie Marino. “Obviously, when you’re in season, you’re toning down your workouts a bit. But it’s really important for athletes to do dynamic warmups before any activity. That’s not really stretching. It’s more of a movement to get the muscles full of circulation.

“The goal should be to prepare for the activity,” he continued. “But there is a big difference between the body of a 13-year-old and an 18-year-old.”

Plus, there is a difference among the sports in terms of how you train. A football player, for instance, doesn’t train the same way as a tennis player. There is a way the nervous system adapts to stress among the different sports.

That is true even within the sport. Quarterbacks, for example, train differently than linemen. And they should.

Dr. Marino also said injuries can occur without contact. Lateral movement and the start and stop actions can cause an injury. That makes workouts – no matter what time of the season – extremely important.

Also, the role of athletic trainers can’t be dismissed.

“You want to have good trainers available because if a kid gets injured, you want to have a proper assessment at the time of the injury,” said Dr. Edward Covelli.

Concussions are also top-of-mind, especially in contact sports. “If you put a concussed player back in the game, it can make it worse,” said Dr. Christian Cardenas.

He should know – he’s a doctor of physical therapy and runs the practice at Advanced Health.

“A good trainer will have a good assessment for a concussion,” said Cardenas. “The type of injury and even if there’s a question of it being a concussion… The return-to-play protocol needs to be followed, absolutely.”