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So I have done this blog now, and i feel as if my knowledge on sports medicine have increased and i hope i could elighten your lifes as well. Sadly though, i am not sure how far i want to pursue this field of study anymore. It was one of my thoughts for grad school, competing with sports law. BUT there are many things that i liked about this field and many things i found very uninteresting. I want to thank you all for following my blog and i bid you a safe athletic future.

Alex Reid

Technique is the Answer

Technique and fundamentals are things that train people to do actions correctly. It is those who try to make their own styles fit the sport and they are the ones who continue to get hurt. Weight lifting is a great example to this. There are ways to lift weights properly and way to totally screw up your body. The most common is when people lift with their back instead of their legs. I know from exerience that your back can be thrown out very easily and cause you much grief over the next couple weeks, months, or years. The proper way to lift and squat is to keep your back at as close to 90 degree angle as you possibly can, and use your legs to do the lifting. Also, it does not hurt to wear a lifting belt to have some extra support on your back. Doing these things will prevent severe back injuries and allow you to build muscle in a safe way.

Cramps

A cramp is when a muscle tightens really fast and stays tight. It is a very painful experience. Cramps are caused when someone has worked their muscles to an extent and they are also dehydrated. Cramps can hit at anytime, and can last for quite some time. Even when the cramp loosens up, they can still be painful from the strain put on the muscle.

The best way to prevent a cramp is stretching and staying hydrated. If you do get a cramp though, you will want to straighten the muscle as much as possible, drink lots of water, and massage the muscles until it loosens up. If your leg is cramping up, it is also beneficial to walk around on it, causing it to work itself out.

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

WHAT THE BLEEEEP is this? My sister has suffered from this syndrome since her sophomore year in high school, and she is now just getting diagnosed. Thoracic Outlet Syndrome causes blood circulation to be cut off around the affected area. In my sister's case, it is in her arms and shoulders. If she puts her arms above her head, her arms will start to get less and less blood circulating through them, causing numbness and some pain. There are two ways to possibly cure this problem. One is strict physical therapy that is more of a workout then therapy. The other option is surgery. Both are not 100% effective, but they are the only known ways to solve the problem.

Stretching to Prevent Injury

Stretching is a key part to prepare yourself for athletic participation. Something as simple as running can still cause injury and taking the precautions to prevent injury is very important.

Stretches differ from activity to activity. If you are going to throw a baseball, you will want to concentrate on stretching the upper body. If you are kicking a field goal, you will want to concentrate on the legs. You also must perform the stretches well. A stretch that is over looked can be a target for injury. Stretching is not a 100% effective tool, but it does prepare your body for the exertion of energy it is about to sustain. It should be done before and after every physical activity done.

Injuries are not always physical

Some injuries are not within the muscles, but within the brain. What is an injury. Well to me, i define an injury as a symptom that causes a person a disability to perform their specific task. (I actually thought that up on my own, i am impressed with myself)  But injuries are usually looked upon as a physical being. I believe that there are mental injuries too.

Some players do not play well after making a big mistake. For instance, in my first game as a Tight End in football, i let the first ever pass to me in a game go right off my facemask. The next week in practice i could not catch a ball to save my life. i dropped everything. I was scared of failure. The mistake injured my confidence. This led me to not be able to perform my given task, catching the football. Injuries are much more than just physical pain. They can be mental and emotional too.

Songs that Pump me up.

Lately i have been addicted to a song that really gets my blood flowing. I Need a Doctor by DR. DRE ft Eminem and Skylar Grey. This song talks about how someone helped build a man to what they have become and then in a blink of an eye, that person is within the reach of being gone. Dr Dre made Eminem who he is today, and now that Dr Dre is fallin apart, Eminem is the only one there to help him through it.

It reminds me of my old baseball coach. He helped mold me to be the man i am today, but when his chips were down and he was run out of coaching by some parents, the loyal players stepped up and gave him hope. He moved on to a successful collegiate job, but due to family constraints he had to give that up. He recently was re-hired by my high school to coach baseball. I have never been more happy.

Proper way to Ice an Injury

Some people believe that icing a injury for long periods of time will help make the injury heal faster. So they put ice on the injured area for periods of hours at a time thinking that since the muscle is numb, that it is helping heal cause they dont feel the pain.

THAT IS DEAD WRONG. When a muscle is numb, its functions shut down. It actually does not allow the muscle to go through the series of functions to help heal the injury. Instead a athlete should ice the injury of and on in 20 minute increments. This allows the pain to be taken away and allow the person to be comfortable, but it does not cut off the muscles functions and allows the muscle to heal itself.

Pitching in Baseball

Pitching is a very powerful motion that can cause many injuries. I currently still suffer from a elbow injury i induced while pitching in high school, it is a good thing i was also a first baseman. Shoulders and elbows contribute so much to pitching based on the spin of the ball and the release point. It also withstands the whipping force you are exherting when throwing the baseball. But can other injuries affect pitching? YES, a persons core and legs are also very important to pitching. They are the reason most pitchers can get high velocity on the ball. It takes a quick snap turn of the torso, and a push off with the legs. If a pitcher is hurt in any area, his entire pitching fundamentals could end up useless.

NFL Draft

So i know that this deals nothing with the field of sports medicine, but the NFL draft is a big deal to me. I predicted Cam Newton to go first, and he did. The guy is an all around QB who can add so many pages to a playbook. He throws well, he runs well, he can even catch well. He is the #1 QB in this draft.

Then Mark Ingram was the First Running back to go in the draft. He went to the New Orleans Saints which is kind of wierd to me. They already have a good running core, and now they are adding another RB to the mix. It baffles me.

The second and third round of the draft could get quite interesting, and maybe shake some things up..... im excited and i hope yoou are too.

UFC

So this day in age we have found a new interest in the sport of fighting. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a very action thrilling sport that has a one on one competition to beat the opponent to a bloody pulp. This sport is a very nasty sport to people in the field of sports medicine. It is risking the bodys welfare in many different areas. Being beaten over the head, high loss of blood, lack of oxygen with submission holds, and broken bones. The last fight i watched, one of the fighters suffered a broke orical socket in the first round, and by the end of the round his eye was basically swelled shut. He continued to fight anyways, risking so many other possible permanent injuries and brain damage. Although this sport may be entertaining, it is a brutal brutal sight to behold.

What sport causes the most injuries?

Football sees 12 times more injuries than the next sport in line, basketball. The main inuries are knee related too. I take you back to the acl statistic, 1 in every 3500 people have torn their acl. These two sports contribute to that statistic in a great majority. Also, sprains in the knees are also very painful and can take weeks to heal. Knees were not built to withstand the force that football players exert on the joint.

Why do people get hurt.

Have you heard the expression that when people are to cautious is when they are most prone to get injured. I fully agree with this statement. Its the people who are trying to protect themselves, all tensed up that are the ones who have the more severe injuries. It is because of that reason too. Being tensed up lessens the amount of flexibility your body has. When people get laid out from a blind side, alot of them are shaken up due to being scared for the most part, but they are the ones who come back in the game. Another interesting point is that running backs get hurt more often than recievers. WHY? because running backs see more hits coming than receivers and they tense up and get hurt.

ACL Tears

So, i was talking with some friends tonight about past injuries and acls were brought up often. Surprisingly enough, i was one of 12 people in the room who did not tear their acl. So that got me thinking. How many people actually tear their acl and possibly lose their future sports. I wrote that paper about my sister thinking that she was possibly a unique case, but its more common than i thought. 1 in 3500 people tear their acl each year. If you realize how many people in this world, let alone nation, there are thousands and thousands of acl tears each year.

Dislocations

So i have experienced many injuries in my time, and the most reoccuring was dislocations. I dislocated my shoulder once, and my middle fingers three times. To be completely honest, it really does not hurt when the joint is popped out, but the minute you try to pop in back into place. PAIN IS INEVITABLE. If you show me someone who says that they didnt tear up at all, i will show you a liar. It is one of the most painful things i have experienced.

GET CHECKED

As a athlete, i realize that we all want to look as tough as we can and play every minute of the game. There are times where we are in terrible pain, but refuse to leave the game because we are scared that we may not get to go back in. I saw this alot with my high school football team. I played with dislocated fingers, and i was tight end. I has two buddies on the defensive line play with concussions and a broken arm (i wish i was kidding about this). We wanted to make every play and it tore us apart. We all got lucky that we didnt have permanant damage that would cripple our everyday lives, but that doesnt mean you should. If you're hurt, get it looked at. You would much rather lose a couple minutes of a game then possibly a lot of years of pain after.

Legrand Update

So as you all know, i wrote a post about a football player who had a horrific accident on the field that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Since then he has gained sensation in his shoulders and other parts of his body and has also found his new pursuit of happiness. He knows he will probably never play the sport again, SO WHY NOT ANNOUNCE IT. He will be debuting his career during the Scarlet-White game, Rutgers spring game. He will join in on the third quarter and test his new found hobby.

Injurys can be for the better

I recently wrote a paper about my basketball stud of a sister. She tore her acl in senior year of highschool and lost her college scholarship. She was devastated when this happened, but now a days she looks back at it and says that it was one of the greatest things ever to happen to her. She feels like she has matured in a way that sports and her competative nature wouldn't allow. She may have lost her edge on the court, but she has opened a new door to her future to become very successful.