training & conditioning 18.2

On the Same PageOn the Same PageWorking with today’s Working with today’s sport coachessport coaches

March 2008 March 2008 Vol. XVIII, No. 2, $7.00Vol. XVIII, No. 2, $7.00

Nutrition during Rehab

Aquatic Biofeedback

SPECIAL FOCUS: Preventing MRSA

Circle No. 100

Untitled-1 1 2/28/08 4:44:10 PM

Circle No. 100

Nutrition

13 The Better to Heal You WithThe latest research shows that certain dietary changes during rehab can help athletes get back into the game sooner.

By Dr. John Berardi & Ryan Andrews

Optimum Performance

22 On the Same PageHow do you work with sport coaches who question your workouts and want to try all the new fads? By getting on the same page with them.

By Tim Wakeham

Treating The Athlete

29 Pooling ResourcesAquatic therapy creates dynamic, controlled resistance. Biofeedback offers quantifiable information about muscle function. Together, they allow athletes to begin rehab in a supportive, pain-reducing environment.

By Ron Fuller

Sport Specific

36 What a Save!To be an effective goalie—in any sport—you need a specific conditioning program that is different from that of position players.

By Jane Koeniges & Pete Koeniges

Special Focus: Preventing MRSA

41 Under the MicroscopeProtecting your athletes from MRSA means taking a close look at how these bacteria function. Here, we delve into your most pressing questions on the topic.

By Greg Scholand

50 Educational Posters

64 Products and services to fight MRSA

Q&A

5 Mark Stoessner

Grand Valley State University

Student Corner

10 Alumni Connection

Tapping into a great resource

By Abigail Funk

Sponsored Pages20 Power Systems

Product News

64 Antimicrobial Products

67 Product Launch

68 Aquatic Exercise

69 Catalog Showcase

71 Hot & Cold

73 More Products

72 Advertisers Directory

CEU Quiz

76 For NATA and NSCA members

80 Next Stop: Web Site

On the cover: At Michigan State University, strength coach Tim Wakeham takes a time-out with three of his sport coaches. Story begins on page 22. Photo by Kelly Gillespie, Looking Glass Photography

March 2008, Vol. XVIII, No. 2

CONTENTS

41

T&C MARCH 2008 1 TRAINING-CONDITIONING.COM

3613

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Circle No. 101

Publisher Mark Goldberg

Editorial StaffEleanor Frankel, DirectorR.J. Anderson, Kenny Berkowitz, Nate Dougherty, Abigail Funk, Dennis Read, Greg Scholand

Circulation Staff David Dubin, DirectorJohn Callaghan

Art DirectionMessage Brand Advertising

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T&C editorial/business offices: 31 Dutch Mill RoadIthaca, NY 14850 (607) 257-6970Fax: (607) [email protected]

March 2008 Vol. XVIII, No. 2

Marjorie Albohm, MS, ATC/LDirector of Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Research,Orthopaedics Indianapolis

Jon Almquist, ATCSpecialist, Fairfax County (Va.) Pub. Schools Athletic Training Program

Brian Awbrey, MDDept. of Orthopaedic Surgery,Massachusetts General Hospital,and Instructor in Orthopaedics,Harvard Medical School

Jim Berry, MEd, ATC, SCAT/EMT-BDirector of Sports Medicineand Head Athletic Trainer,Myrtle Beach (S.C.) High School

Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDDirector, Sports Medicine Nutrition Program, University of PittsburghMedical Ctr. Health System

Christine Bonci, MS, ATCAsst. A.D. for Sports Medicine,Women’s Athletics, University of Texas

Cynthia “Sam” Booth, ATC, PhDManager, Outpatient Therapyand Sportsmedicine,MeritCare Health System

Debra Brooks, CNMT, LMT, PhDCEO, Iowa NeuroMuscular Therapy Center

Cindy Chang, MDHead Team Physician,University of California-Berkeley

Dan Cipriani, PhD, PTAssistant ProfessorDept. of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State Univ.

Gray Cook, MSPT, OCS, CSCSClinic DirectorOrthopedic & Sports Phys. Ther.Dunn, Cook, and Assoc.

Keith D’Amelio, ATC, PES, CSCSHead Strength & Conditioning Coach/Assistant Athletic Trainer, Toronto Raptors

Bernie DePalma, MEd, PT, ATCHead Athl. Trainer/Phys. Therapist,Cornell University

Lori Dewald, EdD, ATC, CHESHealth Education Program Director,Salisbury University

Jeff Dilts, Director, Business Development & Marketing, National Academy of Sports Medicine

David Ellis, RD, LMNT, CSCSSports Alliance, Inc.

Boyd Epley, MEd, CSCSDirector of Coaching Performance,National Strength & Conditioning Association

Peter Friesen, ATC, NSCA-CPT, CSCS, CAT, Head Ath. Trainer/ Cond. Coach, Carolina Hurricanes

Lance Fujiwara, MEd, ATC, EMTDirector of Sports Medicine,Virginia Military Institute

Vern Gambetta, MA, President, Gambetta Sports Training Systems

P.J. Gardner, MS, ATC, CSCS, PES, Athletic Trainer, Colorado Sports & Spine Centers

Joe Gieck, EdD, ATR, PTDirector of Sports Medicine and Prof., Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Virginia (retired)

Brian Goodstein, MS, ATC, CSCS, Head Athletic Trainer, DC United

Gary Gray, PT, President, CEO, Functional Design Systems

Allan Johnson, MS, MSCC, CSCSSports Performance DirectorVelocity Sports Performance

Maria Hutsick, MS, ATC/L, CSCSHead Athletic Trainer, Medfield (Mass.) High School

Christopher Ingersoll, PhD, ATC, FACSM Director, Graduate Programs in Sports Medicine/Athletic TrainingUniversity of Virginia

Tim McClellan, MS, CSCSDirector of Perf. Enhancement,Makeplays.com Center for Human Performance

Michael Merk, MEd, CSCSDirector of Health & Fitness,YMCA of Greater Cleveland

Jenny Moshak, MS, ATC, CSCSAsst. A.D. for Sports Medicine,University of Tennessee

Steve Myrland, CSCSOwner, Manager, Perf. Coach, Myrland Sports Training, LLC, Instructor and Consultant,University of Wisconsin Sports Medicine

Mike Nitka, MS, CSCSDirector of Human Performance,Muskego (Wisc.) High School

Bruno Pauletto, MS, CSCSPresident, Power Systems, Inc.

Stephen Perle, DC, CCSPAssociate Prof. of Clin. Sciences, University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic

Brian Roberts, MS, ATC, Director, Sport Performance & Rehab. Ctr.

Ellyn Robinson, DPE, CSCS, CPTAssistant Professor, Exercise Science Program, Bridgewater State College

Kent Scriber, EdD, ATC, PTProfessor/Supervisor of Athletic Training, Ithaca College

Chip Sigmon, CSCSStrength and Conditioning Coach,Carolina Medical Center

Bonnie J. Siple, MS, ATCCoordinator, Athletic Training Education Program & Services, Slippery Rock University

Chad Starkey, PhD, ATCVisiting Professor, Athletic Training Education Program, Ohio University

Ralph Stephens, LMT, NCTMBSports Massage Therapist,Ralph Stephens Seminars

Fred Tedeschi, ATCHead Athletic Trainer, Chicago Bulls

Terrence Todd, PhD, Co-Director, Todd-McLean Physical Culture Collection, Dept. of Kinesiology & Health Ed., University of Texas-Austin

Training & Conditioning (ISSN 1058-3548)

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Circle No. 102


In Stoessner’s first football game at Grand Valley State,

he treated four season-ending injuries for the NCAA Divi-

sion II defending champions.

Mark Stoessner Grand Valley State University

When he was diagnosed in May 2005, the department

hired one of the graduating graduate students full-time,

which meant there were two young athletic trainers running

the show with a couple of grad assistants. Obviously they did

a great job, because we won five national championships in

that time. There was an effective system in place, with a lot

of help from the administration, the coaching staff, and the

medical community in the area. Everybody pitched in, which

allowed the athletic trainers to handle the work.

How are you putting your stamp on the program?

My style is to provide supervision and support to my staff, but

to also let them do their jobs. So I spent a lot of time last July

getting to know the structure of the athletic training depart-

ment by talking with Meghan Berry and Adam Buchalski, our

two full-time assistant athletic trainers. We spent hours dis-

cussing how things had been handled in the past and wheth-

er we wanted to change anything.

When Mark Stoessner, MA, ATC, began work as Head Athletic Trainer at Grand Valley State University in June 2007, he knew a challenge lay ahead. The position had been vacant for five months. Before that, it had been filled by the much-loved Todd Jager, who succumbed to can-cer in January 2007 after a 19-month battle.

The football team, which had won NCAA Division II titles

in 2005 and 2006, was under pressure to keep its streak

alive. The university was hoping to win its fourth consecutive

NACDA Director’s Cup, and plans were underway to begin

constructing a new athletic facility in the summer of 2008.

Determined to hit the ground running, Stoessner worked

closely with administrators, coaches, and the current athletic

training staff to make the transition as smooth as possible.

On the opening day of the football season, he passed his first

test, helping treat four season-ending injuries. Since then,

he’s made steady progress developing relationships with

sport coaches, leading his staff, and ensuring optimal day-

to-day delivery of athletic training services to 500 student-

athletes competing on 19 teams.

Stoessner started his career in 1988 when he became Co-

ordinator of Athletic Training at Northern Michigan University.

Thirteen years later, he moved to the University of Michigan,

where he taught in the athletic training education program

and worked as an assistant athletic trainer providing cover-

age for women’s basketball, men’s gymnastics, men’s tennis,

men’s volleyball, and women’s water polo. By the time he left

for Grand Valley State, he’d become Michigan’s Coordina-

tor of Athletic Medicine and was a respected member of the

Michigan Athletic Trainers Society (MATS), where he cur-

rently serves as vice president.

In this interview, Stoessner talks about the transition to his

new job, the importance of being active in the profession, and

the best way to defend against a lawsuit.

T&C: What was the athletic training program like

when you started at Grand Valley State?

Stoessner: Todd had been very sick for a long time, and af-

ter he passed away, the department didn’t replace him until

I came on board. He had had good days and bad days, and

he’d been working around his treatment schedule.

QA&&

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Circle No. 103


QA&&That helped a lot when I started developing a policies and

procedures manual, and I got a ton of help from Meghan and

Adam in establishing relationships inside and outside the de-

partment. In the last few years, a lot has changed in athletic

training education, and without a head athletic trainer to com-

municate with the program staff, that needed some updating.

As a staff, not only do we have to provide quality health care

for student-athletes, we also have to provide a quality educa-

tional experience for athletic training students.

I’ve spent a lot of time building relationships with the sport

coaches. I ask them about their visions for their teams and for

our athletic training services. Building good relationships with

coaches begins with listening. You need to show you’ve bought

into what they’re trying to do. Then, once you’ve developed trust,

if you say an athlete can’t play, they’re ready to believe you.

Years ago, if a coach ranted at me, I ranted right back. It

wasn’t a very successful strategy, so I now make sure to stay

calm and not get into any shouting matches. I need to show

them that their vision is important to me, because it’s a lot

easier to get along with coaches than it is to fight them.

How did you prepare for the transition from assis-

tant to head athletic trainer and from Division I to

Division II?

If you’re working at a Division I school like Michigan,

you’re going to spend your time taking care of the team

you’ve been assigned to 24/7. Coming to Division II, one

of the biggest challenges I face is making sure every stu-

dent-athlete has access to the same quality of care, which

is something many smaller schools struggle with. For a Di-

vision II athletic program, we have a good sized staff and

cover a lot of games. We’re well organized, with a weekly

meeting to give the staff a chance to talk about things in

an informal setting.

What was the most challenging rehab you had last

season?

By the end of our first football game, we’d had three ACL in-

juries and a hip dislocation. I’d never treated a hip dislocation

before. Our doctors reduced it on the field, and we got the

player into the athletic training room, then quickly transported

him to the ER.

For six to eight weeks, we gave him very limited, non-weight

bearing activity, just allowing the tissue to heal, and then we

started working on motion and strength. We went from open-

chain exercises with cuff weights and bands to functional work

as soon as he was able to tolerate it. He’s doing quite well to-

day. He hasn’t played football yet, but he’s getting there.

What did you learn from working on a rehab you

hadn’t experienced before?

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Circle No. 104


QA&&At Northern Michigan, an athletic training educa-

tion student sued you for gross negligence. What

happened?

In ice hockey, the key is to watch the puck at all times, which

is what I tell my athletic training students. We were on the

bench at an ice hockey scrimmage, and a student didn’t see

the puck coming. I remember ducking as I shouted, “Heads

up!” He was standing next to me, and the next thing I know,

he’s down in a heap. The puck had hit him right in the eye.

It was a horrific injury, and I felt very bad for him. He sued,

saying we were grossly negligent to have him on the bench

without a helmet. Fortunately, the legal system didn’t see it

that way.

The day they served me the papers, I was up on a ladder

painting my house. I immediately drove in to see my boss

because I was so upset, and he said, “Welcome to the real

world.” So I asked, “Have you been sued?” and he said,

“Three or four times. It happens.” That was the start of a long

process of depositions and meetings with university officials.

If I’d lost the lawsuit, I would have been in big trouble. But the

suit never went to trial. It was thrown out at the local level and

again on appeal. It was a very educational experience.

What did you learn?

As athletic trainers, we need to document everything we do.

We were able to show we’d had discussions about safety

all, whatever it happens to be. For me, this rehab reinforced

the idea that it’s the basics that really matter. If somebody is

injured, he or she needs to regain range of motion, strength,

and sport-specific function. Even with something as signifi-

cant as a hip dislocation, it still comes down to that.

When did you know you wanted to become an ath-

letic trainer?

When I was 13 or so, I fractured some vertebrae in my neck

in a diving accident. My neck healed, but when I was a soph-

omore in high school, I reinjured it playing football. A much

larger, stronger defensive lineman manhandled me and I end-

ed up landing on my head. At the time, there was an athletic

trainer at my school. He wasn’t a certified athletic trainer like

we have nowadays, but he got me interested in the profes-

sion. By the time I started looking at colleges, I knew I wanted

to become an athletic trainer.

I went to Bowling Green State University for my bachelor’s

and Northern Michigan for my master’s. The head athletic

trainer at Northern Michigan resigned just as I finished my

master’s, and I was fortunate to move into the head athletic

trainer position. I worked primarily with the football and ice

hockey teams, and I taught a class on organization and ad-

ministration. Teaching is a good way to stay current, because

there’s nothing worse than having a 19-year-old ask a ques-

tion you can’t answer.

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QA&&

with the athletic training students, and we had video that

showed this student was probably not looking at the right part

of the rink. That was very important proof.

For the next year or two, I didn’t put students on the bench

unless they were well-versed in hockey, but then I realized

that wasn’t being fair to them either. We’d been doing things

the right way before the injury, and we needed to continue do-

ing them the right way.

What are the biggest issues facing the athletic train-

ing profession today?

We need to stop fighting the changes in athletic training edu-

cation. We need to stop saying, “It wasn’t like this when I was

in school,” and start adjusting to the way it is now, whether we

like it or not. In the process of fighting, we’re only hurting our-

selves. It’s great that young people want to move outside the

traditional setting to work at clinics or hospitals, and I think

we’re doing a good job preparing them for that.

But we may need to do a better job preparing them to work

in a college setting. Traditional athletic training has gotten a

bad rap because of the hours and misperception that pay is

low. As educators, we need to make sure we’re painting an

accurate picture of traditional athletic training as a viable ca-

reer where you can also have a life and a family.

What do you tell students about juggling life and work?

I tell my students that this is more than just a job. If they’re go-

ing to succeed, they need to have a passion for it. I love what I

do, but if I treated it like a job, I’d stop being effective.

However, I also tell them, when you’re working, make sure

you’re focused at work, and when you’re at home, make sure

you’re focused on your family. Make the most of the opportu-

nities you have to be at home.

■ Mark StoessnerHead Athletic Trainer, Grand Valley State UniversityVice President, Michigan Athletic Trainers Society

Previous Positions: Coordinator of Athletic Medicine, University of Michigan, 2004-07

Assistant Athletic Trainer, University of Michigan, 2001-04

Coordinator of Athletic Training, Northern Michigan University, 1988-2001

Education: MS, Northern Michigan University, 1988BS, Bowling Green State University, 1986

As Vice President of MATS, what are you working on?

We had a state law passed at the end of 2006 to introduce

licensure for athletic trainers. We’re still in the process of

writing the rules, which we hope will be enacted in the next

year or so. It’s a huge step, and it’s going to help the pro-

fession increase its role as allied healthcare providers. It

will enhance opportunities for people who want to work in

non-traditional settings and give employers more oppor-

tunities to hire athletic trainers. This process started more

than 15 years ago, and people in MATS have been very

involved from day one. This law wouldn’t have happened

without them.

I was a certified athletic trainer for 17 years before I be-

came active in MATS, and the biggest thing I’ve learned is

that people who say they don’t have enough time to get in-

volved are just making excuses. The current president of our

organization is the Head Athletic Trainer at Michigan State

University, and there aren’t a lot of jobs in athletic training as

busy as his. Athletic trainers need to do a better job pump-

ing up the profession. Too many spend time complaining

about things when they could be adjusting, adapting, and

getting young people excited about the profession.

What’s it like to be at a program that has won the Di-

rector’s Cup the last four years in a row?

It’s amazing. At the other places I’ve been, I used to won-

der whether some of the kids were really hurt or if they

were just tired because they weren’t winning. We don’t

have that problem here. Everybody wants to be out there

every day, and everybody’s goal is to win a national cham-

pionship. Over the years, I’ve been with successful and

unsuccessful teams, and it’s always more fun when you’re

winning, that’s for sure. ■

10 T&C MARCH 2008 TRAINING-CONDITIONING.COM

Sponsored by

have many alums working in the NFL

who offer summer internships,” says

Vincent Stilger, HSD, ATC, Under-

graduate Athletic Training Curriculum

Coordinator at West Virginia Universi-

ty. “But it’s up to our students to get in

contact with them to secure a position.

By not making that initial contact to in-

quire about an internship, students

can miss out on a great experience.”

So how do you go about making the

alumni connection? “One of the easiest

ways is to start a mass e-mail group for

all alumni and current students,” Stilger

says. “The project involves doing leg-

work to find alumni, but everybody who

was in the program knows somebody

else who was, too. It will catch on and

grow if you nurture it.

“We also have a newsletter to help

build up our community,” Stilger con-

tinues. “It provides information about

new hires, our newly accepted stu-

dents, and recent graduates, as well

as any awards or recognition our

alumni have received.”

Iowa State University has a Web

page where athletic training alumni

can continually update their contact

information. “We pay a little extra for

the page off of our main site,” says

Mary Meier, MS, LAT, ATC, Athletic

Training Education Program Director.

“But it has been well worth it for both

our alumni and current students. They

log in with a user name and password,

so only Iowa State students and grads

have access.”

While e-mail and the Web are quick

and easy—and a great way to make

initial contact—face-to-face meetings

are also important. “Get to a meet-

ing or convention,” Meier says. “It’s a

requirement of our program that stu-

dents attend two professional meet-

ings in the time they’re here, but every

student can and should get to a dis-

trict, state, or NATA national meeting.”

Like many schools with athletic

training education programs, West

Virginia sets up an alumni party at the

NATA Convention each year, to which

undergrads are invited. “The trick is

to not be shy,” Stilger says. “What do

you have to lose by introducing your-

self, talking about where you’re from,

and so forth? You have an immediate

connection through West Virginia, so

go from there.

“I also encourage students to meet

alumni whenever and wherever they

can,” he continues. “I always like to

hear that when a student of ours went

to see an alum speak, they introduced

themselves after the presentation.”

You can also take advantage of on-

campus events involving alumni. Your

school may have a general career

networking night when all alumni are

invited to attend, or your athletic train-

ing program may have its own depart-

ment-specific event. And when one

of your alums comes back as a guest

lecturer, take a few minutes after the

class to introduce yourself and thank

them for coming to campus.

It may seem like a lot of work to go to

a meeting, help start an e-mail mailing

list or newsletter, and seek out alum-

ni for an internship, but it’s time well

spent. Your alumni are a part of your

school’s past and your future, and it’s

never too early to become part of their

network. ■

A s an athletic training student,

you have chosen a career

that is full of caring, helpful

professionals—people who not only

look after their patients, but also

their peers. Whether a colleague

needs a second opinion on a diag-

nosis, help dealing with a difficult

workplace situation, or advice on

how to ask for a raise, athletic train-

ers are always willing to help each

other out.

However, you don’t have to wait

until you’re part of the workforce to

tap into this network. As a student,

you can look to your school’s athlet-

ic training alumni for assistance in

many different areas.

“There are several reasons to get in

touch with alumni from your school,”

says Peter Koehneke, ATC, Director

of the Athletic Training Program at Ca-

nisius College. “The first and perhaps

biggest reason is that one of those in-

dividuals may be in a position to hire

you down the road or offer you a grad-

uate assistantship.”

Alumni can also help you land an

internship or facilitate an opportuni-

ty to shadow an athletic trainer. “We

StudentCornerA special feature for your athletic training students

When it comes to making contacts, try starting with your school’s athletic training alumni.

Abigail Funk is an Assistant Editor at

Training & Conditioning. She can be

reached at: [email protected].

The Alumni Connection

BY ABIGAIL FUNK

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Circle No. 106

Circle No. 103

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When an athlete is injured, they’re usually eager to follow any protocol or strategy that promises to speed up the rehab process.

They’ll use specialized weightroom plans, come in for therapeutic massage, and try innovative modal-ities like light therapy or underwater training if they think it will hasten their return to action.

But one area that’s often overlooked is the rehabbing athlete’s diet. A grow-ing body of research reveals that the consumption of certain types of foods, supplements, and even spices can in-fluence how the body responds to in-flammation and repairs tissue. That may sound surprising, but it makes sense—after all, food provides the building blocks for cells and influences the messages sent throughout the body to regulate blood flow, tissue replace-ment, and healing.

While many questions remain, there is now enough information to draw

The latest research shows that certain dietary changes during rehab can help athletes control inflammation, heal more quickly, and get back into the game sooner.

The Better The Better to Heal You to Heal You WithWith

BY DR. JOHN BERARDI

& RYAN ANDREWS

John Berardi, PhD, CSCS, is an Adjunct

Professor at the University of Texas and

is trained in exercise physiology and

exercise nutrition. He is also President

of Precision Nutrition. Ryan Andrews,

MS, MA, CSCS, RD, LDN, is Director

of Research for Precision Nutrition.

To contact the authors and

read their nutrition blogs, go to:

www.precisionnutrition.com.

©V

EER

IM

AG

ES


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some meaningful conclusions about how eating habits influence rehab and recovery. In this article, we’ll break down the research findings and trans-late them into suggestions for help-ing injured athletes eat their way back from injury.

INFLAMMATION CONNECTION

Most athletic injuries follow a consis-tent pattern of healing that includes three stages: inflammation, prolifera-tion, and remodeling. As researchers have developed a better understand-ing of the mechanisms involved in each stage, they have identified some stage-specific physical needs for which diet plays an important role.

The initial stage, inflammation, remains the subject of considerable debate. We don’t know exactly how in-flammation aids the healing process, but it’s generally thought to be help-ful unless it’s so excessive that it causes further tissue damage. The most com-mon theory is that increased blood flow brings extra white blood cells to the in-jured area, thereby jump-starting the rebuilding of tissue.

During the post-injury inflammation period, which typically lasts four to five days for soft tissue injuries and up to three weeks for bone injuries, research has shown that dietary fat is a key fac-tor. We now know that a diet high in trans-fats, omega-6 rich vegetable oils, and saturated fat promotes inflamma-tion, while a diet high in monounsat-urated fats and omega-3 fats inhibits inflammation. In addition, a diet that provides an equal balance of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturat-ed fats (about one-third each) has been found to promote a healthy inflamma-tory response.

What does this mean for an injured athlete? Because injury leads to a natu-ral inflammatory response, a diet that further enhances inflammation should be avoided. Research suggests it’s a good idea for athletes to decrease their omega-6 intake and increase omega-3 intake post-injury to help manage in-flammation. A high omega-3 to omega-6 ratio has also been found to increase collagen deposition, further promoting healing.

In terms of practical advice, some study authors recommend that injured athletes, especially during the inflam-mation stage, consume anywhere from three to nine grams of fish oil per day

NATURAL NATURAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORIESANTI-INFLAMMATORIES

Certain dietary herbs can be very beneficial in the first stage of

injury recovery. By adding them to an athlete’s diet, you can do a

lot more than spice up their entrees—you can help them control

post-injury inflammation and decrease (or possibly even eliminate) their

dependence on anti-inflammatory drugs such as NSAIDs.

Turmeric, a flowering plant in the ginger family and a common

ingredient in curry powder, has long been used as an anti-inflammatory

agent and in wound healing. Current research shows that its active

ingredient, curcumin, is at least partially responsible for these effects.

While adding curry powder to an athlete’s diet after injury is likely a

good strategy, a turmeric extract supplement will have a greater effect

because it provides a daily dose that even the most die-hard curry fans

would find unpalatable in food.

Garlic has been shown to inhibit the activity of two inflammatory

enzymes, cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase. It also affects the function

of macrophage cells, which help clear dead tissue from inflammation

sites. Like with turmeric, adding more garlic to an athlete’s diet can be

helpful, but supplementation will provide the most noticeable results.

The typical recommended dosage is two to four grams of whole garlic

clove each day (each clove is about one gram) or 600 to 1,200mg of

aged garlic extract.

Bromelain is another anti-inflammatory plant extract. It’s found in

pineapple, and while best known for its digestive properties, it is an

excellent anti-inflammatory and analgesic compound. It can be found

in supplement form, and the typical dose for managing inflammation is

500 to 1,000 mg per day.

Flavonoids (compounds found in cocoa, tea, fruits, vegetables,

and legumes) can also help manage inflammation, primarily through

their well-known antioxidant properties. These powerful substances

have the added bonus of affecting cell growth and the development of

new capillaries, both of which are important for tissue regeneration.

Rehabbing athletes should be encouraged to eat more flavonoid-

rich foods, especially fruits, vegetables, and legumes. If they’re

not interested in these dietary changes, flavonoids can be found in

supplement form, such as blueberry and grape extracts, green tea

extracts, and bioflavonoid supplements.

It’s important to note that you should always be careful and very

specific if you recommend supplement use to an athlete. Since most

athletes are looking for any competitive edge they can get, they may

interpret a harmless message about a food supplement as a tacit

endorsement of other, potentially dangerous performance aids. Certain

supplements may also contain ingredients that run afoul of substance

use rules, particularly at the college level. If an athlete focuses on

eating the right foods, supplementation should only be necessary if

inflammation becomes a major or chronic problem, at which point any

anti-inflammation strategy should be discussed with a physician.


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because of its high omega-3 content (good choices include salmon oil, sar-dine oil, menhaden oil, and krill oil). Omega-3 rich foods, such as flax seeds and flax seed oil, walnuts, hemp seeds, perilla oil, salba, green leafy vegetables, salmon, sardines, and other oily fish are also recommended.

At the same time, the athlete should scale back on omega-6 in the diet, which comes mainly from vegetable oils such as corn oil, sunflower oil, saf-flower oil, cottonseed oil, and soybean oil. These oils are frequently used in crackers, potato chips, and other snack foods, and can also be found in meat from corn-fed animals.

In addition, research has shown that increased consumption of nuts, seeds, and olive oil can mildly reduce inflam-matory biomarkers. These foods con-tain compounds known to reduce COX enzyme activity, giving them an ef-fect similar to ibuprofen. However, it’s worth repeating that some degree of in-flammation is beneficial after injury, so any dietary increase in these foods should be moderate at most.

When it comes to fat balance, an easy

strategy for approaching a 1:1:1 ra-tio of saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated fats is to balance the saturated fat naturally present in many protein-rich foods with unsatu-rated fat-containing foods like olive oil, mixed nuts, avocados, flax seed oil, ground flax, and other seeds. However, to avoid unwanted weight gain, athletes should be careful not to overindulge in these fattier foods, especially if their ac-tivity level has decreased because of in-jury.

Certain spices and phytochemicals can also affect an injured athlete’s in-flammation response. For details on which ones and how they work, see “Natural Anti-Inflammatories” on page 14.

HEALING FUEL

After the inflammation stage, the fo-cus of rehab nutrition shifts and en-ergy intake becomes a top priority as the body begins its proliferation and remodeling processes. When an athlete is healthy, energy needs are obviously high due to their activity level. After an injury, athletes often feel tempted to

drastically reduce energy intake—they might believe that restricting calories is the only way to avoid unwanted weight gain, or they might simply not feel as hungry because they’re less active. But energy needs are quite high while the body repairs itself, mainly because of post-injury hormonal changes and the physical requirements of new tissue formation.

Specifically, basal metabolic rate (BMR) may increase by 15 to 50 per-cent after injury, depending on the se-verity of the trauma. Most injuries and minor surgeries raise BMR by 15 to 20 percent, while major surgery may lead to a 50 percent increase.

When trying to determine energy needs during recovery, it’s important to consider this increased demand. Here is an example of how to calculate appro-priate energy intake:

Athlete:

Male, 19 years old, 5’9”, 180 pounds

Basal Metabolic Rate:

1,826 kcal/day (based on the mean of

three predictive equations)

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Circle No. 108

Energy needs when sedentary:

2,191 kcal/day, based on activity factor

of 1.2 (BMR x 1.2)

Energy needs with daily training:

3,104 kcal/day, based on activity factor

of 1.7 (BMR x 1.7)

Energy needs post-injury:

2,629 kcal/day, based on activity fac-

tor of 1.2 and a 20 percent increase

in metabolism due to injury recovery

(BMR x 1.2 x 1.2)

Thus, while optimal energy intake during recovery is lower than during full activity, an athlete will be under-fueling if his or her intake does not ac-count for the physical needs associated with injury repair. Depending on their post-injury activity level, an athlete’s appetite may decrease significantly, but they must be encouraged not to under-eat, as this can slow the rehab process and lead to other unwanted effects, such as loss of lean body mass.

During the proliferation and remod-eling stages, macronutrients also play a key role. And not surprisingly, protein

is one of the most important.The standard clinical recommendation

for protein intake in healthy individuals is 0.8g per kilogram of body weight per day. As the body repairs damaged tis-sue, protein is extremely valuable, so re-search indicates that rehabbing athletes should strive to eat at least 2.0g per kilo-gram of body weight per day.

The carbohydrate picture is quite a bit cloudier. It’s well established that glucose

is necessary for injury repair, and consis-tent carb intake also helps to stabilize in-sulin concentration in the bloodstream, which may impact wound healing. But no specific carb recommendations have yet been established for post-injury pe-riods. At this point, the best strategy is simply to make sure athletes are not con-

sciously restricting their carbs for weight loss or any other reason.

ROLE OF MICRONUTRIENTS

In all stages of injury recovery, vitamins A, B, C, and D, as well as calcium, cop-per, iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc can play vital supporting roles. (Interestingly, research suggests vita-min E may slow healing, so it should be avoided during rehab.) However, the

research isn’t clear on exactly why all these micronutrients are helpful. For that reason, we will limit this discus-sion to those that are best understood and most likely to require supplementa-tion in an injured athlete’s diet.

Vitamin A supports early inflamma-tion after injury, and helps reverse post-

Vitamin A supports early inflammation after injury, and helps reverse post-injury immune system

suppression. It also assists in collagen formation, and studies have shown that supplementation

strengthens collagen cross-linkage and speeds repair.

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injury immune system suppression. It also assists in collagen formation, and studies have shown that supplementa-tion strengthens collagen cross-link-age and speeds repair. Typically 25,000 IU (international units) daily is recom-mended during short periods after seri-ous trauma or surgery, but continuing this dose for too long can lead to toxic-ity, so it’s wise to consult a physician. With sports injuries, supplementation with 10,000 IU daily for the first one to two weeks post-injury provides a safe level that may enhance healing but will not lead to vitamin toxicity.

Vitamin C enhances neutrophil and lymphocyte activity during the inflam-mation phase, and also plays an im-portant role in collagen synthesis as it assists in the formation of bonds be-tween strands of collagen fiber. With vi-tamin C deficiencies, collagen fibers are formed abnormally and fibrous tissue is weak with poor adhesion. In addition, vitamin C acts as a powerful antioxi-dant and immune system modulator. For these reasons, research suggests that supplemental vitamin C can be benefi-cial after surgery or injury. One to two

grams per day is the typical recom-mended dose, but only for limited time spans—if this dose is continued long-term, side effects like diarrhea and gas-

trointestinal disturbances may result.Copper is a mineral that assists in the

formation of red blood cells and acts in concert with vitamin C to form elastin and strengthen connective tissue. Two to four milligrams per day is recom-mended during the first few weeks of injury repair.

Zinc is required for over 300 en-zymes in the body and plays a role in DNA synthesis, cell division, and pro-tein synthesis, all of which are neces-sary for tissue regeneration and repair. Zinc deficiency has been associated with poor wound healing, and since it

is one of the most common micronutri-ent deficiencies, supplementation of 15 to 30 milligrams per day is recommend-ed, especially during the initial stages

post-injury.Besides all these, supplemental amino

acids may also exert powerful effects on healing, primarily by speeding up the tissue repair process. In one study, the combined administration of 14g ar-ginine, 3g HMB, and 14g glutamine in two divided doses for 14 days signifi-cantly increased collagen synthesis in adults. However, most of the research on this application of amino acids has studied elderly or hospitalized subjects, so the relevance of these findings to the athletic community is unknown. Still, there is some evidence that arginine,

Zinc is required for over 300 enzymes in the body and plays a role in DNA synthesis, cell division, and protein synthesis, all of which are necessary for tissue regeneration and repair … Supplementation of 15 to 30 mg per day is recommended, especially during the initial stages post-injury.

Circle No. 111

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HMB, and glutamine in particular play a role in healing by stimulating collagen deposition.

The take-home message for injured athletes when it comes to the entire family of micronutrients is this: With the excep-tion of vitamin E, moderate supplementation of key vitamins and minerals may significantly aid the rehab process. Because vitamin A, vitamin C, and multivitamin supplements are inex-pensive and safe if used properly, they are a responsible addi-tion to any post-injury nutrition strategy.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

So how do you turn all this information into real meal solu-tions for rehabbing athletes? Try having them follow these di-etary guidelines when recovering from an injury.

Frequency: Eat every two to four hours.Protein: Each meal should contain complete protein, includ-

ing lean meats, lean dairy, eggs, soy products, or a protein supplement if whole food is not available.

Vegetables and Fruit: Each meal should contain one to two servings of vegetables and/or fruit.

Starches: Additional carbohydrates should come from whole grain, minimally processed sources like whole oats, yams, beans, whole grain rice, or quinoa. Athletes can slightly re-duce their intake from this category during rehab, and eat more as soon as they return to active training.

Fats: Athletes should choose from among these “good” fats each day to promote a healthy balance of fat types: avocadoes, olive oil, mixed nuts, flax seeds, and flax oil. In addition, three to nine grams of fish oil should be added to their daily diet.

Supplementation: A multivitamin or other vitamin tablets can be used to supplement micronutrient intake. Natural sup-plements with anti-inflammatory properties (such as garlic ex-tract, turmeric extract, or bromelain) can also be considered, but should always be used with caution. (See “Natural Anti-Inflammatories” on page 14 for more information.)

FAMILIAR ADVICE

It may have occurred to you that many of the nutrition strategies discussed in this article would be sound advice whether an athlete is injured or not. And you’re right. Bio-logical needs change somewhat when the body is repairing itself and recovering from injury—especially during the in-flammation stage. But for the most part, good nutrition is good nutrition.

You’ve probably observed many athletes who could stand to improve their dietary habits. In most cases, the rehab pro-cess provides a great opportunity to address nutrition with these individuals. After an injury, athletes are more focused on their physical needs and interested in anything that can help get them back onto the field, court, rink, or track. When they see the benefits of improving their nutritional profile, they may end up changing their habits for the long run. ■


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You’ve probably observed many athletes who could stand to improve their dietary habits. In most cases, the rehab process provides a great opportunity to address nutrition with these individuals.

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Circle No. 112

The key to a successful sports training product is its ability to train speeds and

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Th e Portable VersaPulley (PVP) features pat-ented MV2 resistance technology that provides 100% responsive concentric, eccentric, plyo-metric resistance, causing explosive maximum

rate of force development and deceleration loading required for all multi-directional sports. Recent studies prove MV2 technology produces comparable speed, force and power to free weights.1, 2 MV2 technology is an In-fi nitely Variable Cam using inertial resistance that automatically generates a responsive resistance to exercise. Th is form of resistance is user-defi ned and automatically loads the muscles for explosive movements, through the full range of motion, to match the capability of the user at any speed.

A Portable Workout Station for All SportsTh e PVP’s lightweight, compact design, and ease of mobility is ideal for on-the-fi eld or on-the-court training. You simply secure the PVP with adjustable straps or fi eld stakes; it can also be permanently secured to walls or fl oors. While the PVP weighs just 60 pounds, its patented technology can produce up to 400 pounds of resistance. Th anks to the Portable VersaPulley, a strength and conditioning coach now has the ability to easily hand-carry this equipment to any location whether it be a football fi eld, tennis court, baseball fi eld etc. basically any setting where athletes are training can now apply a multitude of safe, sport-spe-cifi c, multiple plane, power enhancing training drills.

Th e PVP combines speed, power and func-tional mobility through any range of motion with accommodating inertial resistance at any

speed, just like sports. Th e VersaPulley was designed to enhance sport movement and athletic performance. Th e PVP allows the user the ability to perform multi-joint diagonal/ro-tational movements with compliant resistance. Other training exercises and movements which can be applied include: Acceleration Step-Ups, Lateral Deceleration Lunges, Standing Pulls From the ground, Standing Shoulder Shrug, 45-Degree Squat to Extension and much more.

“Th e Portable VersaPulley adds both eccen-tric and concentric resistance to an athlete’s workout,” said George Morrison, a well-known conditioning coach who works with several top professional and amateur athletes. “Because an athlete can still maintain a fl uid motion using the product, he or she doesn’t have to stop (sticking points) during any phase of the training motion. As a result, the athlete can apply the correct type of resistance to the movements that he or she will be performing in the sport and not have to make any com-promises in that movement. Because of the design of the product, you really focus on the biomechanics of the movement. Th e PVP is as functional a training tool you’re going to fi nd.” Morrison uses the PVP for all types of sport-specifi c footwork and lateral training. “I use it to apply resistance to lateral drills like the three-step step over, side shuffl es and back-steps—even with sprint drills,” he said. “I also add more resistance to the drills by hooking an X-Vest (#1 weighted vest) to the Portable VersaPulley.

Morrison gives two examples of how the PVP can be used with football condi-tioning drills. “I use the PVP with defensive backs to work on the fi ve-step back peddle and go,” he

said. “With quarterbacks, I use the product as quarterbacks work on their three- and fi ve-step drops. “I’ll hook up the PVP to a quarterback and have him practice three-step drops and see how many he can do in 60 seconds while having to deal with all of that extra resistance. Th e addition of the Portable VersaPulley helps

the quarterback work on maintaining the proper footwork for the drop while becoming fatigue.

“Th e PVP is such a well-designed product. It’s amazing that such a lightweight, portable device can be such a valuable tool for learning to maintain proper footwork under stress and fatigue.”

Advantages of the Portable VersaPulley: Exceptional inertial loading for superior

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Provides unique “responsive, fully accom-modating resistance”—there are no weights to select or change.

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2 COMPARISON OF JOINT KINETICS DURING FREE WEIGHT AND FLYWHEEL RESISTANCE EXERCISE

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Power Base TrainerExercises designed by Power Systems Education Department

EQUIPMENT SOLUTIONS

WARM-UP

Warm up your muscles with at least 10 minutes of movement, such as walking or riding a stationary bike. Follow the warmup by stretching all your major muscle groups for 20-30 seconds each. Follow the same stretching routine for a cooldown after each workout. Time or distance of the run should be determined by your coach or athletic trainer.

Forward Run/Back Pedal

START: Securely fasten the Power Builder around the waist and to the loop on the Base Trainer. Face away from the stand. The tube should be behind the back.

ACTION: Run forward until there is considerable tension on the tube of the Power Builder. Stop and back pedal (backward run, low in the hips) to the stand. Note: There will be resistance as you run away from the stand and assistance from the tube as you back pedal to the return.

Back Pedal/Forward Run

START: Securely fasten the Power Builder around the waist and to the loop on the Base Trainer. Face the stand. The tube should be positioned in the front of the belt/stomach.

ACTION: Back pedal (backward run with low hips) until there is considerable resistance on the tube. Forward run back to the stand. Note: There will be resistance as you back pedal away from the stand and assistance from the tube as you return with the forward run.

Side Lunge

START: Secure the Power Builder around the waist and to the Base Trainer. Turn so that the side of the body faces the stand. Move away from the stand until there is tension on the tube. Stand with feet roughly hip-distance apart and knees soft.

ACTION: Keeping the chest lifted, step out wide with the outside foot; bend the outside knee and keep the inside leg straight. Lower the body into a one-legged squat/side lunge. Keep the outside knee over the ankle and do not allow it to protrude past the toes. Stand, straightening the outside leg, and push off the outside leg to return to the start. Repeat on the same leg. Change to the other side and do a second set.

EXERCISES WITH THE BASE TRAINER (Using the Power Builder™)

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Lateral Shuffle

START: Securely fasten the Power Builder around the waist and to the loop on the Base Trainer. Turn the belt so that the tube is positioned on the side of the body. The side of the body with the tubing should face the stand. Push the hips back, sitting low into the legs. Chest remains lifted and weight is in the balls of the feet.

ACTION: Staying low in the legs, perform a lateral shuffle by moving the outside foot away from the Base Trainer and then moving the inside foot closer to the outside foot. Repeat, alternating the outside and inside feet. Travel until there is considerable tension on the tube, and return to the start the same way. Repeat. Do a second set after changing the belt to face the opposite direction. There will be resistance as you move away from the stand and assistance as you move toward it.

Lunge

START: Fasten the Power Builder around the waist and to the Base Trainer. (Tube should be positioned on the back of the waist.) Face away from the stand. Walk out from the stand until there is tension on the tube.

ACTION: Keeping the back to the stand, lunge forward with the left leg. Keep the front knee over the front ankle, making sure the knee doesn’t go past the toes. There should be a roughly 90° angle on the front knee. Return the left foot to the start. Repeat on the right side. Alternate lunges until there is fatigue in the legs. Return to the stand to remove the belt.

Jump Squats

START: Secure the Power Builder™ around the waist and to the Base Trainer. (Tube should be positioned on the back of the waist.)Face away from the stand. Walk out from the stand until there is tension on the tube. Stand with the feet hip-distance apart, chest lifted, and knees slightly bent.

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KELLY GILLESPIE, LOOKING GLASS PHOTOGRAPHY

Author Tim Wakeham goes over a chart with three of his head sport coaches at Michigan State: Rowing Coach Matt Weise, Volleyball Coach Cathy George, and Softball Coach Jacquie Joseph.


OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

BY TIM WAKEHAM

Tim “Red” Wakeham, MS, SCCC,

CSCS, is Director of Strength and

Conditioning for Olympic Sports at

Michigan State University, where he has

worked since 1996. He can be reached

at: [email protected].

If you’re a strength and condi-tioning coach who works with ambitious sport coaches, you’ve heard these requests: “That school won a national title after doing

this type of training—I’d like our team to try it” … “I just read about a new type of strength equipment—let’s get it for our program” … “An expert I know says we should incorporate this latest trend into our workouts—why aren’t we?”

Your first response may be to tell the sport coach to back off. You are the strength coach and you know what you’re doing. You know what’s best for the athletes. Or you may quickly do as the sport coach asks, pulling your hair out in frustration.

In my 16 years as a strength and condi-tioning coach, I’ve worked with a diverse array of sport coaches and heard every request you could think of. One coach wanted to prescribe 30 as the repetition target for every weight training set. I’ve seen a superstitious hatred of the bench press. Another coach asked whether ath-letes really need to lift their legs.

What I’ve learned along the way is how to get these coaches—no matter their philosophy or style—to work with me. If I had to name my greatest accom-plishment at Michigan State, it would not be titles won or individual athlete’s achievements. It would be the strategies

On the Same PageHow do you deal with sport coaches who question your workouts, want to try all the new fads, and are always looking for an edge? By getting on the same page with them.

I’ve created that elicit unyielding trust, loyalty, and faith from the sport coach-es, instead of turf wars.

Working successfully with sport coaches takes communication, an open mind, and professionalism in every-thing you do. It means being a leader, a negotiator, and a great strength coach. It takes time and effort. But it’s all worth it because your athletes will be the winners in the long run.

BEING A LEADER

While the head sport coaches at your school may want to have power over every aspect of their program, that doesn’t mean you can’t be in command of the strength and conditioning pro-gram. In fact, one of the most impor-tant elements of garnering support from coaches is showing strong leadership of your department.

Many people think being a leader means being tough and having strong opinions. But I’ve found that it has more to do with being a consummate profes-sional. Someone who has well thought-out plans and goals, has done his or her homework, and can articulate the pros and cons of arguments in the field will be seen as a trusted leader.

Here at Michigan State, we begin with a clear mission, which is “to create and lead a safe, engaging, purposeful train-ing environment and experience.” Why

focus on the environment and experi-ence? We have seen that an engaging en-vironment makes athletes want to come to the weightroom. Most of our athletes like coming to train with us—yes, even the females. Don’t get me wrong, hard work is still hard work, but in between the nausea-inducing efforts is designed engagement and even fun.

The overall experience my staff and I sell is purposeful, gratifying, and seri-ously intense. The tools that we use are caring, “wow” factor, science, and chal-lenge. The results are increased concen-tration, competitiveness, confidence, and dominant team performances. I sell these outcomes on a daily basis. To me, that is part of being a leader.

My philosophy for strength improve-ment is progressive overload using mostly multi-joint, multi-set, multi-mode exercises and moving through multiple planes. To improve power, I use maximum effort to develop force as quickly as possible, using sport move-ments with optimal efficiency and pre-cision. For conditioning enhancement, I believe in progressive overload of sport-

specific energy systems using sport- and position-specific movement patterns. I use an average of five modes of equip-ment in each workout along with vari-ous speeds, repetitions, and set schemes,

including timed circuits. These philo-sophical underpinnings never change, even as their applications constantly change to fit individual situations or provide engagement.

FULL MENU

Our weightroom contains a little less than 7,000 square feet of space, so we do not have a lot of each type of equip-ment. But I make sure to have some of each type. The best Olympic strength coaches are like master chefs, who can provide a menu from which all the dif-ferent sport coaches can confidently or-der. In my opinion, everything should be on the menu. If the volleyball players, rowers, gymnasts, wrestlers, swimmers, and baseball players are all following the same HIT or Olympic lifting pro-gram, it will be hard to convince the athletes and coaches that you’re pre-scribing something that is ideal for and specific to their sport.

Our “menu” is placed in a large red binder that sits on the front desk in our weightroom. It contains each team’s strength/power workouts, 38 sport-specific conditioning workouts, mini workouts that we use to correct neural inhibition and flexibility problems, pic-tures of our yoga poses, and myofascial release exercises.

We use Swiss ball exercises for the gymnasts, timed circuits for the wres-tlers, platform lifts for track and field, and Keiser power jumping exercises for the volleyball players. There are weight-ed pulley sprints for the field hockey players, tri-planar shoulder movements for the swimmers, acceleration wall and band exercises for the soccer players, Frankenerg suspension exercises for the rowers, and ground-based push-pull ro-tation exercises for the baseball and softball players.

Each conditioning workout is cod-

ed to give athletes a variety to choose from. Our athletes have fun with such choices as the King of Kings, Iron Man, Everest Champions Prepare, Top Gun, the Ultimate, Le Tour de East Lansing,

and the Determinator, to name a few.As a result of our menu approach,

athletes perform purposeful workouts and take ownership of their choices. The sport coaches see us as profession-als because we design programs for different teams and make the work en-gaging. A huge binder of prescriptions

As a result of our menu approach, athletes perform purposeful workouts and take ownership of their choices.

The sport coaches see us as professionals because we design programs for different teams and

make the work engaging.

makes it clear that my staff and I have done our homework and are prepared for whatever needs they have.

A STEP AHEAD

Being a leader also means you are a step ahead of the competition. And in our world, that means having the latest, cut-ting edge equipment. We have Woodway treadmills, Scifit bikes, StairMaster step-pers, FreeMotion and Keiser pulley ma-chines, Power Lift platforms, racks, and glute/hams, and Hammer, Prostar, and Nautilus machines. We have a two-lane 25-yard running area, three band sta-tions, ropes, chains, slide boards, sand-bags, hurdles, bungee cords, Bulgarian bags, bullet belts, foam rollers, BOSU balls, Swiss balls, and medicine balls.

I choose new equipment based on whether its implementation falls in line with our mission: Will it help us create and lead a safe, engaging, purposeful

STAFF SUPPORTSTAFF SUPPORTFor those of us fortunate enough to have a staff (or some graduate

assistants to help), it is important that these people follow our lead in

working with sport coaches. That means part of our leadership role

is being an effective supervisor, often without a lot of time for staff

training.

Here at Michigan State, I coordinate the training of 17 teams with

one full-time assistant, one intern that turns over every year, and one

graduate assistant that turns over every two years, so there is a lot of

pressure on my staff members to learn the system quickly. To ease

the learning curve, we have an employee manual that contains the

following:

• my mission statement

• my leadership, management, coaching, and training philosophies

• my standards and boundaries

• scripts and checklists of how to provide each and every service.

The scripts can be immensely helpful for new hires. Some of our

scripts include:

• opening and closing procedures

• how to train an athlete one-on-one

• how to coach the room

• how to lead a conditioning session

• what to say to recruits

• how to discipline

• how to handle an emergency.

I believe that what you value you measure and what gets measured

gets done. Based on this, I have an accomplishment board for my

staff. On the board I tally the number of athletes each staff member

personally brings through their workout. My staff is also assessed on

how many times they consult with their sport coaches.


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training environment and experience? A new piece of equipment may not train the athlete better than the old piece of equipment. But if it allows the percep-tion of gaining an edge over the compe-tition and engages the athlete in a new way, it has value.

By the time a coach or group of ath-letes hears about what the Joneses are doing, we’ve already been doing it for months. That shows we are a step ahead. Additionally, I pay attention to what the gurus and self-proclaimed ex-perts come out with each year and im-plement some of their suggestions. I think it’s important to embrace some of the guru knowledge if you can make it safe and purposeful within your frame-work, especially if you have a sport coach who has bought into it.

Being on the cutting edge also means incorporating new techniques that may not be on a coach’s radar screen. For example, we have a goal of decreasing non-contact ACL injuries in our female athletes through a prevention program that I designed while researching and writing a book chapter on the subject.

Another idea we’ve put into place

is assimilating our incoming freshmen faster. We created a password-protected Web site, through which MSU Spartans from around the world have access to all our strength, power, and condition-

ing workouts, nutrition slides, train-ing guidelines, movies of exercises, and video clips of our athletes training. Our incoming freshmen who have signed a National Letter of Intent have access to “training the Spartan way” months be-fore they get to campus.

NEGOTIATE WELL

When sport coaches see you as a profes-sional, it goes a long way toward get-ting them to listen to your views. The next step in gaining their support is to be an expert negotiator.

My formula for success is to first and foremost know who you serve. Strength

coaches serve the sport coaches. The first rule of negotiation is to get the other party what they want. The days of responding to sport coaches with, “This is my philosophy. I don’t tell you

how to coach so don’t tell me how to train,” are over.

In fact, I’ve come to realize that the “let’s implement the latest trend” visits should be expected. In their quest to gain a competitive edge, more and more sport coaches are being influenced by the latest testimonial or marketing gim-mick. It’s their job to be a step ahead of the competition. And if they don’t think your program is working, it’s their right to question you about it.

Strength coaches should be loyal con-fidants and trusted colleagues to sport coaches. The way to establish trust is to hear coaches out, understand them,

I’ve come to realize that the “let’s implement the latest trend” visits should be expected … To this end, I am open to all ideas and embrace most of the crazy new trends, as long as I can bracket them with my philosophies.

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OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

and empathize with their reality. While there are still times when a sport coach’s ideas make me think to myself, “Are you serious?!” I have learned to take a

deep breath and say to myself, “If I’m going to be as good as I aspire to be, I have to be able to make the right plan but also make any plan right, no matter how crazy I might believe it is at first glance.” To this end, I am open to all ideas and embrace most of the crazy new trends, as long as I can bracket them with my philosophies.

When I first started at Michigan State, our women’s gymnastics strength program consisted of free weight and machine exercises. The gymnastics coaches and athletes asked for the in-clusion of Swiss ball and band exercis-

es, and I was hesitant at the time. Most strength coaches I knew were staying big and basic with the usual multi-joint exercises. However, the first step in ne-

gotiation is getting the other party what they want. I threw in a couple of Swiss ball and band exercises. To ensure pur-posefulness, I bracketed them with our overload system.

The result? I witnessed magic. The women were much more engaged. The simple addition of two new modes add-ed fun, which made it easier for me to inspire them to work hard on the free weight exercises. Everybody won.

Meeting with new sport coaches is a critical task. I ask them for the spe-cific results they would like to see, and after listening closely, I state that I can

get the outcomes they want. I mention that it has worked well for us in the past when the sport coach allows me to have control over the steps needed to accom-plish our goals. I add that if the results aren’t achieved after a reasonable peri-od of time, I will welcome and embrace any and all changes that the head coach wants to make.

Overall, I am striving to build a trust-ing and cooperative relationship with each sport coach. With that in mind, I drop by and share conversations one or two times every week with the coaching staffs that fully embrace our services. I make sure to listen, as well as empa-thize with them.

I am also boldly honest on all is-sues—whether they relate to strength and conditioning or not—and so are the coaches. Behind closed doors I may not always agree with my coaches’ percep-tion of an issue. However, I make sure to be respectful and then always support the coaches’ final decision. When the door opens from our meetings, nobody backs the head coaches more than I do.

I have only had one coach over the last 16 years hire an outside consultant,

Behind closed doors I may not always agree with my coaches’ perception of an issue. However, I make sure to

be respectful and then always support the coaches’ final decision. When the door opens from our meetings,

nobody backs the head coaches more than I do.

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and that was for Pilates. Our coaches don’t feel the need to look beyond our weightroom, because by the time they stop by to discuss the newest flavor of the month, we’ve usually already implemented it. But even if my sport coaches wanted to hire an outside con-sultant for a service that I wasn’t offer-ing, I wouldn’t be offended. I have far too much to do to fight a turf war. I welcome all the outside expertise I can get, as long as we continue to work as a team.

APPEALING TO ATHLETES

Another huge part of getting coach-es on your side comes through imple-menting a strength training program that appeals to athletes. If your athletes trust, support, and believe in you, their coaches will, too. That’s why we ex-pend a lot of effort implementing what I call “front stage” elements that elicit a “wow” response from athletes and keep them coming back for more. My staff and I work to push every motivational button an athlete has.

Many of these elements are visual. Upon entering the Spartan weightroom,

you walk over a six-by-four foot Spar-tan block “S” that is carved into the rubber flooring. Directly behind our front work station is an immense eight-by-four foot presentation of a Big Ten championship ring with large raised sil-ver letters alongside it that spell out “ONE FOCUS.” I want to make sure our athletes know that we don’t train because we love training—we train be-cause we love winning. Additionally, we

have a large eight-by-six foot “Strength and Power” banner and team pictures of our athletes dominating in their par-ticular sports.

To the left of each exit, I added a large raised and polished silver block “S” that every Spartan touches on their way out after their work has been ac-

complished. The purpose was to help develop a Spartan tradition of team co-hesiveness and school camaraderie.

On another wall we have an enor-mous eight-by-four foot signature strength board. I created this to provide clarity regarding how I hope Spartan teams will overcome obstacles and ul-timately win. We use conditioning lev-els as our signature strength because conditioning affects body composition,

injury rate, skill execution, and overall performance, and it can be measured. Athletes can achieve three different lev-els: Warrior, Hall of Fame, and Legend. A majority of team slots are filled with proud and confident Spartans.

I also wanted a “neck-up” standard for our athletes to strive for, so I wrote

If I judge that an athlete consistently demonstrates the attributes for entry into the House of Sparta, they are awarded an antique polished silver key sculpted into the Spartan helmet on one end and our block S on the other. It is highly coveted.

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Circle No. 115


OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

a story about what I call the “House of Sparta.” On one of our pillars, in a four-by-four foot frame under polished glass, is a magnificently presented old scroll. On the scroll is the faded picture of an immense castle on a hill. Printed in an old-fashioned typeface is the story of the House of Sparta and the stan-dards needed to gain entrance, such as focus, embracing pressure and responsi-bility, sacrifice, and commitment.

If I judge that an athlete consistently demonstrates these attributes, they are awarded an antique polished silver key

sculpted into the Spartan helmet on one end and our block S on the other. It is a beautiful symbol that can be put on a key chain or worn as a charm, and it is highly coveted.

The Navy Seals have a bell that is traditionally rung when someone drops out of a training class. I turned the idea around 180 degrees. We bought a 13-inch polished silver bell engraved with the Navy Seal quote, “It Pays To Be A Winner,” and hung it in the middle of our weightroom. When an athlete does the ordinary exceptionally well

and in accordance with our standards and goals, they are bestowed with the honor of ringing the bell. The standards are high but the honor is lasting, and so is the engagement derived from the bell ringing.

We have four 32-inch flat screen mon-itors that hang down into our training environment, displaying messages on nutrition education and some general sports psych suggestions and quotes. This is a new and fun way to provide our athletes with information, and it seems to be working. Last week when I was getting in my car to drive home, an athlete rode her bike past me and said, “I’m going home to eat a rainbow.” One of our slides suggests eating a rain-bow of colors to increase nutrient den-sity. The athletes can mock me all they want, as long as I know they’re learning the information.

The monitors also include informa-tional slides regarding my philosophy. It is my belief that people buy into the leader before they buy into the leader’s vision. These slides let everyone clearly know what I stand for and the vision I have for our training environment.

TAKING ON THE CHALLENGE

Leading a strength and conditioning program today is a challenge. The sport coaches are under pressure to win now. The marketers and gurus are constantly trying to sell their latest and greatest approach or equipment. The strength and conditioning coaches are under pressure to craft a happy experience while magically creating athleticism. I admire all strength coaches who take up the battle.

Creating unyielding trust and enthusi-astic loyalty for strength and condition-ing requires many strategies. Showing your sport coaches you are a profession-al and a leader, learning to negotiate with them, and making the experience engaging for athletes are all parts of the challenge. If we can accomplish these goals, we will go a long way toward es-tablishing our credibility and value in the world of competitive athletics. ■

To read the story of the

“House of Sparta,” please visit:

www.Training-Conditioning.com/

sparta.html.

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Circle No. 116

Ron Fuller, PTA, is the Director of Aquatic Rehabilitation for Elliot Health

Systems in Manchester, N.H., and an adjunct faculty member at Franklin Pierce

College, where he teaches aquatic physical therapy and advanced orthopedic

techniques. He is on the teaching faculty of Aquatic Consultants of Georgia

and the clinical faculty of the Biofeedback Foundation of Europe. He can be


IIf you’ve been in the athletic training or physical therapy world long enough, you’ve no doubt met athletes who come in looking for a miracle cure, an instant fix, or the “one treatment and I’m ready to go back in” remedy. As highly trained professionals, we know that rarely—if ever—is there a single cure-all that will live up to those expectations.

But every once in a while, something comes along that represents true progress in that direction. Whether it’s a new treatment, a new application for an old treatment, or a combination of protocols that have never been tried together, we are always on the lookout for ways to give our rehab pa-tients better outcomes.

I have enjoyed great success combining electromyography (EMG) biofeed-back with aquatic therapy. On their own, each modality has proven itself to be a credible and effective training tool. Together, I believe they enhance one another in exciting ways. Since I’ve implemented this pair of modalities into my practice, they’ve taken my clinical treatments to a new level.

A NATURAL COMBINATION

On land, therapists and athletic trainers utilize surface EMG biofeedback to target specific muscle groups when they want to address weaknesses, relax tight or overworked muscles, and correct dysfunctional muscle pos-tures and movements. Armed with specific information about what the tar-geted muscles are doing, the therapist and the athlete can better understand whether specific movements and corrective exercises are achieving their goals and how they can be altered to work even better.

EMG biofeedback works by exposing what a muscle is doing. It involves a locally attached sensor, typically a small needle or a surface electrode, that can detect “electrical potential” within muscle tissue to determine how hard it is working. Today, powerful handheld EMG biofeedback units provide in-formation about the musculoskeletal system that earlier generations of ath-

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Aquatic therapy creates dynamic, controlled resistance. Biofeedback offers quantifiable information about muscle function. Together, they allow athletes to begin rehab in a supportive, pain-reducing environment.

BY RON FULLER

PoolingPoolingResourcesResources


TREATING THE ATHLETE



ing on the depth of immersion—the deeper the water, the lower the weight burden. As a result, joint compression can be decreased to make exercise less painful, particularly when rehabbing a joint injury or following surgery.

The turbulent drag created by the wa-ter allows athletes to modulate the resis-tance of the exercise to whatever degree of effort they can tolerate. In this high-ly dynamic workout environment, resis-tance is applied in virtually every plane of movement, and can be adjusted by al-tering the movement speed and direction.

The fundamental principles of aquat-ic biofeedback are not complicated—I take the same techniques I use on land, and simply take into account the chang-es in resistance and weight load intro-duced by the water. Whether on land or in water, biofeedback allows me to eval-uate specific muscles, and choose tac-tical approaches for strengthening (up

letes could only dream of knowing. As a result, rehab and training techniques can be more focused and deliberate.

How do you enhance those benefits? Just add water.

By combining EMG biofeedback with aquatic therapy, I’ve witnessed a whole new realm of possibilities. The natural properties of water—buoyancy, hydro-static pressure, and resistive drag—al-low me to strengthen, relax, and correct musculoskeletal deficiencies in a more supportive, pain-reducing environ-ment. The biggest advantage to combin-ing these two therapeutic tools is that it allows me to start the rehab process sooner and return my patients to their previous level of function more quickly.

As a rehab tool, aquatic therapy offers several well-documented advantages, pri-marily because it allows for highly cus-tomized workouts. Water can unweight the body to varying percentages depend-

training), relaxing (down training), de-veloping bilateral symmetry, or correct-ing muscle strength ratios.

Still, not everything is the same in the pool as on land. Buoyancy and aquatic resistance can affect the data collected by the biofeedback unit and those differences must be taken into account during aquatic rehab sessions. For instance, if I am testing an athlete’s quads during a slow underwater walk-ing movement in chest-deep water, the output will be lower than during a simi-lar movement on a dry-land treadmill. But with a faster movment in shallower water, the resistance will outweigh the gravity reduction of buoyancy, leading to increased overall muscle recruitment.

In addition, turbulent drag can pro-duce irregular recruitment patterns on the biofeedback unit screen, due to the varying amount of effort aquatic work-outs require. Movement of the extremi-

WIRING UPWIRING UPEarly on in the development of aquatic EMG biofeedback, it

became glaringly obvious that the ability to waterproof the electri-

cal sensors was crucial. Any water coming into contact with the

sensors would cause a short out, rendering that sensor ineffec-

tive. Another problem was the effect of chlorinated water on the

delicate circuitry of the sensors. Simply put, surface EMG biofeed-

back equipment was poorly suited for the aquatic environment.

Through trials and (many) errors, I have settled on two reliable

methods of “waterproofing” EMG sensors (see Figures One and

Two, at left). Figure One shows the traditional method of using a

bioclusive barrier to cover the sensor. Figure Two shows a newer

method using a latex “sock” to cover the extremity being tested.

With either method, the sensor placement and application are the

same as on dry land.

With the bioclusive barrier method, I always use alcohol and

skin prep wipes to ensure that the barrier will stick to the skin.

The sensor and surrounding area are then covered with the barri-

er, and the exit wire is sealed tightly so that no water can migrate

to the sensor. The lead wires are then connected to the biofeed-

back unit before the patient enters the water.

The patient wears the EMG biofeedback unit only for certain

exercises. The bioclusive barrier is effective for about 30 min-

utes, but will eventually start to pull off due to immersion and

physical movement.

Figure One: A bioclusive barrier covers the sensor.

Figure Two: Using a latex “sock.”



ties through water is rarely consistent from one repetition to the next. I have found the best way to interpret aquat-ic biofeedback data is to view it as a “big picture” guideline. I try to keep the variables and movement patterns as precise and consistent as possible, but I don’t micro-manage individual phas-es of the workout or expect athletes to produce the same consistent muscle ef-fort as they would during a dry-land biofeedback session.

BACKED BY RESEARCH

Aquatic EMG biofeedback is large-ly a new frontier for rehab and athlet-ic training applications. But there is a small body of research evaluating its ef-fectiveness. Several articles have been written looking at aquatic EMG not only for use with athletes and rehab pa-tients but also for its potential to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of certain biomechanical conditions.

Below is a summary of the research articles I have found most useful as I’ve applied aquatic biofeedback in my set-ting. It’s not a comprehensive list, but these studies have produced some of the

key findings in this area of treatment.• In 1986, authors Nuber, Jobe, et

al., published an article in the Ameri-can Journal of Sports Medicine af-ter attempting to observe the shoulder

muscles of swimmers using fine wire EMG. Small needles were inserted bi-laterally into specific muscles and a te-lemetry system was used to analyze the firing sequence of the shoulder muscu-lature during several swim strokes.

This research had several important results. First, it established baseline data on the firing sequence of the shoulder muscles during swimming, which would be subsequently expanded upon by other authors. Second, it showed that the use of EMG needles in strong muscle groups during a fast, repetitive movement may not be the best way to gather data. Oc-

casionally, the needles were accidentally pulled out of the muscle during the swim strokes, revealing an important limi-tation of this type of testing. Third, it helped establish EMG as a valuable tool

in unlocking the secrets of the human musculoskeletal system and spurred greater curiosity about this modality in the sports medicine field.

• Ten years later, authors Becker, Er-landson, et al., conducted research at the College of St. Catherine comparing the muscle activity of the serratus ante-rior during prone exercise in water and on land, using an EMG biofeedback unit to contrast the data. This was the first article to directly assess compa-rable aquatic exercise to land exercise, and it helped show the medical com-munity that aquatic exercise was both

We found that performing closed-chain exercises in varying water depths allowed the athletic trainer to exert greater control over the exercise, thus allowing rehabilitation to start earlier after injury.

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valid and, more importantly, quanti-fiable. The authors found that muscle activity in the serratus anterior during prone exercise was the same on land and in water, and that resistive equip-ment increased muscle activity similarly in both training environments.

• In 1999, I collaborated with Brian Awbrey, MD, and others to publish an article in the American Physical Therapy Association’s Journal of Aquatic Physi-cal Therapy that compared the muscle activity of the vastus medialis oblique (VMO) during a single-leg mini-squat on land and in water at varying depths. Our research found that the VMO mus-cle activity generated in waist-deep wa-ter was 50 percent of that generated on land. In chest-deep water, the activity was reduced to 25 percent. This corre-lated well with other studies showing similar immersion-weight reduction ra-tios. It also made intuitive sense: If your body weight is reduced by half because you’re half underwater, you should only need 50 percent of normal muscle re-cruitment to perform an activity.

In addition, we found that perform-ing closed-chain exercises in varying

water depths allowed the physical ther-apist or athletic trainer to exert greater control over the exercise, thus allowing rehabilitation to start earlier after in-jury. We used a sample of 50 research subjects, making it one of the most ex-tensive studies on the topic to date and adding further validity to aquatic bio-feedback as a rehab protocol.

• Authors Kelly, Roskin, et al., pub-lished a paper in the Journal of Ortho-pedic and Sports Physical Therapy in 2000 based on their research into the shoulder rotator cuff musculature work-ing at three different speeds of move-ment on land and in water. Observing movements ranging from 0 to 90 degrees in the scapular plane, they found that ac-tivation of the rotator cuff muscles at the slower test speeds (30 degrees/second and 45 degrees/second) was significantly lower in the water than on land. This re-sult implied that using aquatic therapy for early movement after surgical rota-tor cuff repair would not compromise the graft site or the surrounding tissue, because the movement is performed at slower speeds. Safe, early active move-ment is an important consideration in

Figure Three: Three-way tethered mini-squats.

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T&C MARCH 2008 32


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BEYOND EMGBEYOND EMGThe therapy discussed in this article involves one segment of

the biofeedback spectrum: electromyogram (EMG) biofeedback

designed to sense muscle tension and activation. But biofeed-

back is an umbrella term encompassing several different types

of treatment, and biofeedback units are now available to detect

everything from heart rate and blood pressure to brain activity.

One of the most promising applications for biofeedback in

athletic settings centers on its ability to prolong the effectiveness

of pain-management protocols. When used in conjunction with

electrical stimulation, a device that incorporates biofeedback can

provide more targeted, longer-lasting pain relief.

For instance, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation

(TENS) is well known in the sports medicine community as a

pain-relieving modality. But as the nervous system becomes

habituated to an electrical stimulus, the treatment becomes less

effective and the pain can return. A biofeedback device can be

used to sense the response of soft tissue to electrostimulation,

and by altering the intensity and delivery of the current accord-

ingly, it can prevent habituation to TENS.

Other uses for biofeedback include alternative medicine and

mind-body therapy for the treatment of conditions ranging from

high blood pressure to asthma and from attention deficit hyper-

activity disorder to epilepsy. According to the Biofeedback

Certification Institute of America (BCIA), “[Biofeedback] signals

typically measure skin temperature, muscle tension, and/or brain-

wave function. With this information, patients can learn to make

changes so subtle that at first they cannot be consciously per-

ceived. With practice, however, the new responses and behaviors

can help to bring relief and improvement to a variety of disorders.”

For more information, visit the BCIA online at: www.bcia.org.

restoring normal joint kinematics, so this finding was significant.

• In 2001, I collaborated with Thom Stowell, DC, DPT, and George Fulk, DPT, to explore the possibility of using the aquatic environment to improve the motor function of a subject who had suf-fered an incomplete spinal cord injury. Our hope was to mimic the effects of a harness-assisted body weight gait train-ing system. We used EMG biofeedback both on land and in the water to assess muscle activity and recruitment, as well as to direct the aquatic exercise routines.

We observed one very interesting trend during our three months of treatment sessions: EMG output of the lower ex-tremities increased both on land and in the pool. This revealed that the patient’s general function and mobility were im-proving, even though Manual Muscle Test results remained unchanged. When we published our research in the Journal of Aquatic Physical Therapy, we wrote that EMG biofeedback played a key role in the patient’s rehab, and speculated that it might have significant potential in treating spinal cord injuries.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

What does aquatic biofeedback work actually look like? The sample workout below was designed for a patient suffer-ing from patellofemoral pain syndrome.1. Water walking forward, backward,

and sideways, with a focus on slow, exaggerated steps and a normalized gait pattern.

2. Bilateral lower extremity progres-sive resistance exercises (straight-leg flexion/extension and abduction/ad-duction).

3. Three-way tethered mini-squats with

Figure Four: Step-ups and step-downs.

Figure Five: Forward step-up sequence.



EMG biofeedback (see Figure Three on page 32).

4. Step-ups and step-downs with EMG biofeedback (see Figure Four on page 33).

5. Forward step-up sequence (see Fig-ure Five on page 33).

6. Deep-water scissors. 7. Deep-water abduction/adduction.8. Deep-water mini-squats on a board

with EMG biofeedback (see Figure Six, at left).

9. Deep-water “up-out-open-close-in-down.”

10. Deep-water bicycles.

As patients make progress, I add vari-ations of all these exercises to introduce greater challenges. For instance, as their endurance level and overall conditioning improves, I’ll increase the number of reps or the speed of the exercise, or I’ll add re-sistive equipment. If necessary, I will also tape the patella while the patient is in the pool to promote normal tracking.

The EMG biofeedback unit displays the level of muscle activation created by each modification I make, and the patient keeps me updated on their pain

level. Using those two guides, I’ll adjust the depth of squats, range of motion, immersion level, and other variables.

AN EMERGING MODALITY

Aquatic biofeedback allows therapists to work on specific muscles and focused techniques early in the rehab process. It provides a new level of control and spec-ificity. And because it reduces pain, it can help make rehab less difficult and ultimately more beneficial for athletes.

I strongly believe that aquatic bio-feedback has a bright future in athlet-ic training facilities and rehabilitation clinics. Since I’ve begun using this ap-proach, the success I’ve seen has con-vinced me that it can be an effective tool for athletes in a wide variety of rehab and training situations. ■

To view complete references

for the published research

mentioned in this article,

please go to: www.Training-

Conditioning.com/references.Figure Six: Deep water mini squats.

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Circle No. 120

Thought Technology Ltd.Tel: 1-800-361-3651 • 514-489-8251 Fax: 514-489-8255

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Saving Knocked-Out Teeth During Sports

Each year approximately eight hundred thousand teeth areknocked out (avulsed) during sports activities in the U.S. alone.Studies have shown that only 10% of athletes comply with rulesthat require wearing their mouthguards during all sports activities.Knocked-out teeth begin to die within 15 minutes, and teethknocked out during sports events have little chance of being savedunless prompt action is taken.

Why can knocked-out teeth be saved…

Every tooth is connected to its surrounding bone by a ligament,the periodontal ligament (PDL). (See figure on right.) The toothand surrounding cementum, bone, and gingiva receivenourishment from the blood supply through this ligament. When atooth is avulsed, this ligament is stretched and splits in half; halfstays on the tooth root and half stays on the socket wall. If thesetwo halves can be kept alive, the tooth can be replanted and thehalves of the ligament will reattach and the tooth will remain vital.The half that stays on the socket wall, since it remains connectedto the bone blood supply, is naturally kept alive. However, thePDL cells that remain on the tooth root must be artificiallymaintained. They must be protected from two potentiallydestructive processes: cell crushing and loss of normal cellmetabolism.

Although some dentists advise that the best treatment for anavulsed tooth is immediate replantation, for a variety of reasonsthis is often difficult. Often multiple teeth are avulsed and anathletic trainer may not know into which socket an individualtooth belongs. The athlete may have other more serious injuriesthat require more immediate attention such as a severe eye injuryor a severely lacerated bleeding lip or gum that prevent easyvisualization of the socket. Bone chips or debris may be in thesockets, which will prevent complete reimplantation.

If avulsed teeth are not reimplanted immediately, then alltreatment between the time of the accident and the ultimatereplantation must be focused on preventing further damage to theteeth and maintaining the PDL cells in the optimal condition.

Save-A-Tooth®…

In order to be prepared for these incidents, athletic trainers shouldhave Save-A-Tooth , emergency tooth preserving systems,available with their first aid supplies. Save-A-Tooth® contains apH-balanced cell preserving solution, called Hank’s BalancedSalt Solution, and a removable basket and net that suspendsknocked-out teeth in the solution preventing cell crushing.

According to Henry Rankow, DDS (from Pennsylvania), “Save-A-Tooth overcomes all of the obstacles encountered withavulsed tooth storage. It preserves and protects the tooth for 24hours successfully.”

A recent study showed that knocked-out teeth stored in Save-A-Tooth® showed 91% success and another study found that 20% ofSave-A-Tooth kits are used within the first year. One of thesekits was used by the Director of Health and Athletics forBaldwinsville Central School District, who wrote about hisexperience:

Athletic trainers must be prepared to institute the optimumtreatment for knocked-out teeth, and this includes having Save-A-Tooth available. In the case of knocked-out teeth, beingprepared and knowing what to do can mean the differencebetween athlete’s losing knocked-out teeth for life or keepingtheir own natural smiles.

Last year we had an unfortunate incident at one of ourboy’s varsity soccer matches where one of our students losta tooth during play. Luckily, we had one of the Save-A-Tooth kits in our medical box and the tooth was preservedand successfully implanted back into our player.

800,000 teeth are knocked out during sports each year!These teeth can be saved, but do you know what to do?

Now you can have Save-A-Tooth® as a vital first aid component

Be Prepared! Order Save-A-Tooth® Today

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T&C MARCH 2008 TRAINING-CONDITIONING.COM

SPORT SPECIFIC

36

What BY JANE KOENIGES

& PETE KOENIGES

To be an effective goalie—in any sport—you need a certain mindset. You also need a specific strength and conditioning program that is different from that of position players.

They’re your last line of defense. They can make bad teams good and good teams great. The best ones can take over an entire game by themselves.

There is no other athlete quite like the goalkeeper. In soccer, ice hockey, la-crosse, and field hockey, they’re the most important people on the pitch, rink, or field. The physical and mental demands of the position set them apart from their teammates—yet all too often, they don’t have a conditioning program that re-flects those unique demands.

To experience maximum perfor-mance benefits from training, goalies need to exercise differently than offen-sive and defensive “field players.” They need to focus more on certain aspects of strength and conditioning and less on others.

Creating a specialized regimen for goalies can seem like a daunting task for any conditioning coach. But once you re-alize that goalies from all sports share some common needs, the job becomes much more manageable. A strong foun-dation of goalie-specific exercises and conditioning work can help take any team’s backstopper to the next level.

SIMILAR & DIFFERENT

When you consider a goalkeeper’s role during a soccer, ice hockey, lacrosse, or field hockey match, the similarities are clear. Their first responsibility is to get themselves or their equipment in front of the ball or puck to prevent it from

TOP AND BOTTOM: AP PHOTOS

going into the net. They have to rely on quick movements and lightning-fast re-actions to get in position and make the save. They also have to be acutely aware of their surroundings at all times, to prepare for rebounds, deflections, and passes between opposing players.

Most goalies also play a vital role as leaders of the defense. Some are very vo-cal in directing teammates’ movements when the play is in their zone. Goalies are the starting point for many coun-ter-attacks, making them an important (though often underappreciated) part of the offense. Finally, many goalies set their team’s emotional thermostat. A dramatic, timely save or a key penalty kill can swing the momentum for the rest of the game.

There are, of course, critical sport-specific skills for each type of goalie. In soccer, goalies rely heavily on vertical jumps, lateral dives, and short sprints, often accompanied by quick changes in direction. In addition to stopping shots by catching the ball, they must be able to execute deflection saves and punch clears. To start the counter-attack, they also need to be adept at throwing, punt-ing, and kicking.

Ice hockey goalies, by comparison, have much less space to cover, but must move forward, backward, and lateral-ly very quickly to cut down shooting angles and make saves. Fast reflexes and full-body coordination are major keys, as they use the leg pads, the catch-ing glove, the blocker, and the stick to thwart shooters. They require incredi-ble flexibility for positions such as the split, and rely on explosive power to push off one leg for many lateral move-ments. They must also have the eye-hand coordination necessary to snare fast-moving pucks.

In lacrosse, the goalkeeper’s job is to stop shots, gain possession, and start a counter-attack. Straight-ahead sprint-ing is particularly important, as are eye-hand coordination and the ability to follow a fast-moving ball, often when


SPORT SPECIFIC

a Save!

Jane Koeniges, CSCS, is the Assistant

Field Hockey and Women’s Lacrosse

Coach at East Stroudsburg University,

and the former Assistant Field Hockey

Coach at Lafayette College. She can be


Her brother, Pete Koeniges, MEd,

ATC, CSCS, is the Athletic Trainer and

Strength Coach for the New Jersey

Pride of Major League Lacrosse and

at Northern Highlands Regional High

School in Allendale, N.J. He can be

reached through his Web site,

www.lacrossestrength.com, which is

dedicated to improving performance and

reducing injuries in lacrosse.

in between. Nevertheless, some level of aerobic training is useful for gener-al conditioning and endurance develop-ment, especially in soccer and lacrosse, where goalies are expected to sprint for short distances several times a game.

Muscular strength is important in many movements, especially in gener-ating power when clearing and starting the counter-attack. Soccer goalkeepers also use muscular strength during verti-cal jumps when leaping or challenging an opponent.

Muscular endurance is essential for performing skills and movements over and over during a game. When goal-keepers experience a breakdown in form or technique late in contests, muscular fatigue is often to blame. For this rea-son, muscle endurance should always be a major focus of goalie training.

Coordination is an obvious necessity for all types of athletes, but it’s of ut-most importance to goalies. In the blink of an eye, they have to decide whether to kick out a leg, flash a catching glove, or dive forward or laterally, all with-out losing control and ending up off-balance and out of position. The best goalies often think one or two moves ahead of what they’re doing at any giv-en moment, and they must be highly coordinated to produce fluid, dynamic movements in rapid succession.

looking through traffic. Lacrosse goal-ies must also be skilled at sport-specific catching and throwing movements.

Field hockey goalies, meanwhile, are mostly concerned with stopping or re-directing shots and clearing the ball by kicking it outside the striking circle to eliminate second and third scoring chances. The primary movement patterns are lateral, forward/backward, up/down (from a diving, laying-out position back to their feet in a ready position), diving, and splits. The main sport-specific skills are kicking and the hand block.

Of course, this is only a broad over-view—there are many subtler aspects of goalkeeping in each sport, and goalies’ individual styles can vary dramatically. Thus, goalie conditioning is not about providing a one-size-fits-all training regimen. Instead, it’s about taking the movement patterns and sport skills the athletes use, breaking them down to identify the key biomechanical move-ments, and then devising a program that trains and develops those move-ments and the related muscle groups.

PIECE BY PIECE

Optimal workouts for goalies need to address all aspects of performance. The most successful programs focus on several crucial building blocks: the metabolic system, muscular strength, muscular endurance, coordination, and quickness. Leaving out any of these ar-eas from a goalie’s training may result in weaknesses—which opponents will be all too happy to exploit.

Below, we’ll briefly explain each building block. Then we’ll discuss how to assemble them into an effective goal-ie training program.

The metabolic system can be divided into two parts: aerobic and anaerobic. Every activity and position in goalten-ding relies partially on both systems—it’s the proportion of each that’s the key. The majority of goalie movement is anaerobic, consisting of short bouts of intense activity with intermittent rest

TOP: PERRY HEBARD,

BOTTOM: AP PHOTOS

T&C MARCH 2008 TRAINING-CONDITIONING.COM

SPORT SPECIFIC

38

PREGAME WARMUPPREGAME WARMUPBefore each contest, many goalies follow highly ritualized warmup rou-

tines. To ensure they’re preparing themselves optimally, take a look at

your goalies’ routines to see if they involve a sensible progression.

The first part of the warmup should involve gross motor movements.

These can include jogging, active stretching, and light plyometrics.

Most teams perform these activities as a single unit, and there’s no rea-

son why goalies shouldn’t join their teammates for this phase.

Next should come position-specific movement skills. This can include

basic hand-eye coordination drills, simulated ladder drills and other foot-

work, and lateral movements. Flexibility should be incorporated at this time

as well, especially in sports where the goalkeeper must be able to execute

splits or other similar extensions.

The warmup should then move on to game-specific activity. A good

example is moving around the goalmouth while facing shots in a con-

trolled environment. As the goalie gets more comfortable, the shots

should increase in speed and variety.

The final step is the introduction of shooting drills. These should be as

game-like as possible to help the goalie get into the flow of the action, and

they should force him or her to make as many different types of saves as

possible. When this warmup is finished, the goalie should be mentally and

physically ready for the starting whistle.

Quickness is the keystone for most suc-cessful goalkeepers. The term can mean different things to different athletes, but in this context, it’s a blend of two main at-tributes: speed and agility. For everything from establishing position to making saves to preventing injuries, quickness is a goal-ie’s best friend. Developing it should be a focus of every training regimen.

POWER BUILDING

How do you fit all these building blocks together to form a wall in front of the net? To translate them into a specific training program, let’s first focus on strength and power development.

For starters, a solid warmup is essen-tial. We recommend a 10 to 15 minute cycle of jumping rope, hurdle jumps, ladder drills, and basic hip mobility drills. These will increase blood flow and joint fluids, neurologically activate key stability muscles, and loosen up the musculotendinous unit of the foot and lower leg. The athlete should also warm up with activation exercises focusing on the glutes, hip stabilizers, and psoas. For instance, bridging helps to activate the glutes. Possible variations include two-leg bridging with feet on the floor,

single-leg bridging with one leg on the floor and the other knee pulled in to the chest, and feet-elevated bridging, with the feet placed on a four-inch box.

Isometric hip abduction can stimu-late the external rotators of the hip. We like to use an elastic green mini-band to provide resistance, having the athlete perform three to four sets of 10-second holds. Hip flexion, with the hip flexed greater than 90 degrees, can effective-ly activate the psoas—with the athlete lying down, keeping one leg straight and flexing the opposite knee to the chest, the hip is flexed greater than 90 degrees. A light band can be wrapped around the flexed knee and the oppo-site foot for resistance. Try having the athlete hold this contraction for three to four sets of 10 seconds. To increase the difficulty, have the athlete do the exercise while standing.

After warmup, take advantage of the neuromuscular system’s freshness by heading straight into power exercis-es aimed at boosting muscular strength and endurance. Olympic lifts, such as the clean and the snatch, are great for strength development, but they shouldn’t be the sole focus. Squat jumps, box

jumps, medicine ball tosses, push presses, and Olympic variations like the high pull and dumbbell snatch are also effective ex-ercises for building power. Because these exercises require greater neuromuscular coordination than traditional lifts, they may even have more direct crossover to the movements and techniques involved in goaltending. However, because of their high neuromuscular demand, the sets should be small—typically no more than five reps each.

Next you can incorporate a bi-set, using two different exercises back-to-back with different movement patterns. This tandem approach increases the intensity of the workout and makes it more efficient. Devise pairs that chal-lenge the whole body, since activating non-adjacent muscle groups in close succession can help develop coordina-tion along with overall strength. For instance, we like to pair a knee- and hip-dominated exercise with a vertical pulling exercise: Have the athlete per-form a lunge or squat for five to eight reps, followed immediately by six to 10 pull-ups. Three to five sets of this ro-tation provide an adequate challenge. (See “Exercise Breakdown” on page 39 for specific exercise ideas divided into movement categories).

A tri-set should follow, focusing on horizontal pulling, pushing, and hip dominance. Choose exercises that relate to the biomechanical movements used in the goalie’s sport—for example, a la-crosse goalie’s tri-set might include a dumbbell bench press, a dumbbell row, and a straight-leg deadlift. The rowing movement helps develop strength and stability in the scapula, which is impor-tant for force transference from the core to the upper extremities. This allows a lacrosse goalie to make stronger long-distance outlet passes.

Lastly, core and accessory exercises should complete the resistance portion of each workout. Plank exercises and their variations are great for improving core strength and providing lumbar stability. Three to four sets of a 30-second plank on the elbows and toes can be a good starting point. When the athlete becomes more proficient, try the same exercise with one foot elevated, two feet and one arm extended, and one arm and the op-posite foot elevated. You can also use side planks on both sides. Accessory exercises can focus on more isolated types of pow-er and movement, such as grip strength and shoulder external rotation.


SPORT SPECIFIC

FLEXIBLE, FAST & FOCUSED

Soft-tissue treatment should also be a part of the goalie’s workout. This can include static stretching to improve muscle length (especially with ice hock-ey goalies, for whom flexibility is par-amount), and using foam rollers to improve tissue density. Focus on areas of tightness and trigger points within the muscle. Periodic deep-tissue mas-sage can also be helpful for goalies, as it improves local blood flow and helps re-lieve muscle spasms. Massage also pro-motes relaxation and reduces stress.

Some goalies today are turning to less-traditional types of flexibility de-velopment as well, particularly yoga and Pilates. For example, Trevor Tier-ney, recently retired goalie for the Den-ver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse, performed yoga not only for flexibil-ity but also to hone his mental focus. He feels the concentration required to perform the various yoga positions and the warm environment in which he performs them help him prepare to be sharp and relaxed under pressure. This type of training isn’t for everyone, but if you introduce it to your goalies, they

EXERCISE BREAKDOWNEXERCISE BREAKDOWNBelow is a list of some of the most important exercises for goaltender

strength training, broken down into categories based on the primary

biomechanical movement involved.

Power/Explosiveness

Box jumps

Squat jumps

Dumbbell snatch

Knee-dominant

Squats (back/front)

Lunges

Single-leg squats

Hip-dominant

Deadlifts

Romanian deadlifts

Single-leg deadlifts

Good mornings

Vertical Pull

Pull-ups

Chin ups

Lat pull-downs

Vertical Press

Shoulder barbell press

Shoulder dumbbell press

Horizontal Pull

Bent-over row

One-armed row

Inverted row

Horizontal Press

Bench press

Dumbbell press

Alternating dumbbell press

Push-ups

Trunk Stability

Planks

Reverse crunches

Wood chops

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may be surprised at the positive results.Interval sprint training should also be part of the program,

as it can improve speed, power, and VO2 max. The intervals can be broken down by time or physiological recovery. For instance, a soccer goalie can sprint the width of the goal box for six reps, or an ice hockey goalie can sprint from blue line to blue line. Mike Boyle, MA, ATC, Strength and Condition-ing Coach for the Boston University men’s ice hockey team, recommends that the rest intervals during this type of training be determined by the athlete’s heart rate recovery. Using heart rate monitors and simple math, you can prescribe appropriate rest periods during sprinting activity. When the recovery heart rate falls below 60 percent of the athlete’s max, it’s time for the next set.

It’s important to remember that a large focus on aerobic training is unnecessary for goalies, and may even be counter-productive. Aerobic work can reduce the ratio of explosive, fast-twitch fibers to slow-twitch fibers, which is definitely not what goalies want. The right amount depends on each individ-ual, but examples of safe starting points would be six to eight sets of five- to 10-yard sprints for soccer goalies and five- to 50-yard runs for lacrosse goalies.

Vision training is another area that can pay large dividends for goalies. There are many different exercises for honing visu-al perception along with reaction time, some simple and some complex. For instance, playing ping-pong requires athletes to focus on a much smaller ball than they’re used to. You can also put numbers on soccer balls and have the goalie call out each incoming ball’s number during shooting drills. This exer-cise forces the eyes to follow and concentrate on the ball more closely than they normally would. (For more vision training ideas, go to www.training-conditioning.com and type “Goalie Vision” into the search window.)

TALK IT UP

Implementing these training recommendations can lead to sig-nificant performance gains, particularly if your goalies haven’t used position-specific conditioning in the past. But for such improvements to occur, players must understand and buy into the new workout regimen. For that reason, great communica-tion is vital.

If your ice hockey goalie says he hates aerobic training and he has no problems with endurance during games, try elimi-nating it entirely. If your soccer goalie feels Olympic lifts cre-ate bulk that limits her movement, reduce the weight or shift to more flexibility exercises. When working with such special-ized athletes, nothing should be set in stone.

Goalies are used to shouldering individual responsibility for their performance, so let them take the lead in customizing their workouts. If you listen to their needs and are prepared to offer targeted conditioning advice, they’ll be better prepared than ever to rack up wins and frustrate opposing shooters. ■


SPORT SPECIFIC

References:

Boyle, Michael. Designing Strength Training Programs and Facilities. Boston: 2006.

Sahrmann, Shirley. Diagnosis and Treatment of Move-ment Impairment Syndromes. St. Louis: Mosby, 2002.

Siff, Mel. Supertraining. Denver: Supertraining Institute, 2003.

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SPECIAL FOCUS: PREVENTING MRSA

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For anyone who has seen recent headlines from around the country related to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a sense of alarm

seems perfectly natural. In Wellington, Ohio: “Staph Takes Down Wrestlers.” In Fayetteville, N.C.: “MRSA Infects Teenager’s Life.” In Austin, Texas: “Texas Football Succumbs to Virulent Staph Infection.” In Battle Creek, Mich.:

“The Next Epidemic?” In Gillette, Wyo.: “Keeping a Killer at Bay.”

From coast to coast, this tiny bacte-rium is creating anxiety, if not panic. Athletic trainers, coaches, parents, stu-dent-athletes, school officials, and ev-eryone else in the athletic world can feel like there are more questions than answers. Is our school at risk? Are we doing enough to prevent an outbreak? What should we do if one occurs? Why is MRSA so dangerous, anyway?

In this article, we’ll answer some im-portant questions about MRSA and the challenges it poses in an athletic setting. Infectious disease experts and athletics professionals will explain what MRSA is and how it spreads, outline ways to keep athletes safe, and debunk a few common myths about the nature of the risk. Some of what follows is informa-tion you’ll hopefully never need—but the

Protecting your athletes from MRSA means taking a close look at how these bacteria function. Here, we delve into your most pressing questions on the topic.

Under the Under the MicroscopeMicroscope

BY GREG SCHOLAND

better educated and prepared you are, the more you can be an effective leader in confronting this serious subject.

What are staph and MRSA, and how

do they cause infections?

Staphylococcus aureus, or staph for short, is a very common species of bac-teria. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 25 to 30 percent of people in the U.S. have it living in their nasal passages or on their skin. These individuals are said to be “colonized” with staph, but that doesn’t mean they’re infected, and they exhibit no symptoms.

Infection occurs when the bacte-ria find an entry point into the body.

A magnified view of the MRSA bacterium

Greg Scholand is an Assistant Editor

at Training & Conditioning. He can be


“Staph needs a break in the skin to cause a skin infection—typically a cut, scrape, or other abrasion,” explains Jeff Hageman, MS, an epidemiologist at the CDC who specializes in staph infec-tions. “The bacteria don’t need a large opening. Even an ingrown hair or the small, imperceptible tears caused by shaving with a razor can be enough.”

Because colonized people have the bacteria present on their bodies, they can spread it just by touching another person or something in their environ-ment. If the bacteria then find their way to compromised skin—on a colonized or non-colonized person—they can take up residence and form an infection.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is like other types of staph, but with one important difference: MRSA strains are immune to many common antibiotics, including penicillin and amoxicillin. (Methicillin itself, a form of penicillin, is no longer used to treat infections, though its name is still used to identify drug-resistant staph strains.) MRSA is more dangerous than ordi-nary staph because if an infected person is prescribed an antibiotic that can’t kill the bacteria, the infection grows worse and can lead to serious and potentially fatal complications, such as pneumonia and bloodstream infections. Untreated MRSA also releases a dangerous tox-in called Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) into the blood.

With the right antibiotics and prompt infection-site treatment, a MRSA infec-tion can be cured fairly easily in almost all cases. Most serious health problems and MRSA-related deaths are caused by late or incorrect diagnosis and treat-ment of the infection, which is why awareness is such an important step in preventing serious outbreaks.

How common are MRSA infections?

MRSA used to be found only around hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, and other similar facilities, but in the past decade, it has become much more prev-alent in the community at large. The

CDC estimates that around one percent of the current U.S. population is colo-nized with MRSA bacteria.

“In several large studies performed across the country, we’ve seen that about 60 percent of skin infections that have pus associated with them are now caused by MRSA bacteria,” Hageman says. “The percentage is higher in some regions than others, but it’s clear that MRSA is a predom-inant cause of skin infections in the general population today.

“In Atlanta, where the CDC is lo-cated, it has become so prevalent that when a skin infection is brought to the emergency room at some local hos-

pitals, they automatically assume it’s MRSA,” continues Hageman. “That’s partially because it’s better to err on the safe side when treating a potential MRSA infection. But it’s also because MRSA has become such a common source of infection.”

How does someone typically get a

MRSA infection?

Anyone is susceptible to a MRSA infec-tion when they have a skin opening. All they have to do is come into direct con-tact with someone or something har-boring the bacteria.

“In athletic settings, MRSA is usu-ally spread through physical contact,” Hageman says. “In football, wrestling, rugby, and any other sport with skin-to-skin contact, there are countless opportunities for the transmission of bacteria. And because athletes in those sports frequently experience skin abra-sions, the risk is increased.”

In addition, many objects and surfac-es in athletic settings can be “transiently colonized,” meaning the bacteria are de-posited on them for a short period of time and can thus be passed to a new person. For instance, whenever an athlete comes into contact with a towel, razor, bar of soap, locker room bench, or athletic field, he or she may leave live bacteria behind, and another athlete in the same environ-ment may pick them up.



“Athletic departments could do themselves a huge favor by requiring athletes to shower immediately after all

practices and games … Many athletes put off showering until they get home. They don’t realize that by doing

so, they’re seriously increasing MRSA risk.”

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How can I prevent my athletes from

spreading staph and MRSA bacteria

among themselves?

“The famous physician Sir William Osler once said, ‘Soap and water and common sense are the best disinfec-tants.’ Anyone looking to avoid MRSA

should always remember that,” says Hedrick, who also coaches the men’s club lacrosse team at the University of Missouri. “When confronting a serious danger, it’s tempting to think your pre-vention measures have to be elaborate. But practicing basic personal cleanli-ness is as important as anything.”

One of the most common ways ath-letes put themselves and others at heightened risk is by eschewing the shower room. “Athletic departments

Colonized athletes with perfect-ly healthy skin can spread staph and MRSA bacteria, but the risk is height-ened once someone is actually infected. MRSA skin infections typically produce pus and other organic matter that’s rich in bacteria and can easily be left behind

when the infection site comes into con-tact with an object or surface.

“Covering all infected skin with clean bandages is one of the most effec-tive ways to prevent isolated MRSA in-fections from turning into outbreaks,” says Eddie Hedrick, MT (ASCP), CIC, Emerging Infections Coordinator for the Missouri Department of Health and Se-nior Services. “The key is to prevent the sharing of bacteria as much as possible, especially if someone has an infection.”

could do themselves a huge favor by requiring athletes to shower immedi-ately after all practices and games,” says Jim Thornton, MS, ATC, PES, Head Athletic Trainer at Clarion Uni-versity and a member of the NATA Board of Directors. “That’s critical for several reasons. First, it washes away bacteria the athletes have picked up on their bodies during activity. If they have a cut or scrape, they can remove the bacteria before it has a chance to create an infection. And just as important, it reduces the odds that they’ll spread bacteria around when they touch things.

“Many athletes today, in high school and college, put off showering until they get home or back to their dorm,” Thornton continues. “They don’t real-ize that by doing so, they’re seriously increasing staph and MRSA risk.”

Hand washing is another key preven-tion measure. “Anytime you touch a surface—a doorknob, a table, a piece of athletic equipment—you can pick up harmful bacteria. But if you remove it from your skin quickly, it won’t cause infection,” explains Hageman. “Since

“Some MRSA outbreaks among athletes have been linked to towels used on the field … A towel on the

sideline can be transiently colonized by one person and then picked up by another person, who can infect

himself by using it on skin that has been compromised.”

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A proud member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.www.cup.edu

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T&C MARCH 2008 44


our hands are constantly touching things, they’re both picking up and spreading bacteria. Cleaning them fre-quently needs to be a top priority.”

Several studies have shown that ef-fective hand washing can be per-formed with plain or antibacterial soap. “When you form a lather, you’re lifting the dirt and germs from your skin, so it’s not particularly important that the soap be antibacterial,” Hage-man says. “In group settings, liquid soap is preferable because it eliminates the potential for a shared bar of soap to transmit bacteria.”

Virtually any shared item can be a conduit for bacteria, so sharing should be actively discouraged in all lock-er rooms and playing areas. “Some MRSA outbreaks among athletes have been linked to shared razors, locker room towels, and towels used on the field,” says Hageman. “It’s hard to keep track of who has used a towel on the sideline—it can be transiently col-onized by one person and then picked up by another person, who can infect himself by using it on skin that has been compromised.”

Identifying a MRSA infection through a standard wound culture used to take several days, but in January, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new test called the BD Ge-neOhm StaphSR assay, which can iden-tify MRSA in just two hours. As this

test gains acceptance at hospitals and doctors’ offices, it should make diag-nosis more efficient, leading to fast-er recovery and better outcomes for MRSA-infected people.

What can I do to prevent MRSA from

endangering my athletes?

Luckily, information about MRSA can spread more easily than the bacteri-um itself. A well-educated athletic de-partment, with coaches, athletes, and

What does a MRSA infection look like,

and how is it identified?

At first, many MRSA skin infections are mistaken for spider bites, ingrown hairs, or pimples. The common symp-toms include redness (and sometimes the presence of red streaks or other

discoloration), swelling, the formation of a pustule or pus and other drain-age, and the sensation of heat. “Any-time we see something suspicious on an athlete’s skin, we either have the team physician look at them or we send them straight to the emergency room—we don’t waste any time,” says Thornton. “A physician needs to be brought into the picture immediately to begin treatment and decide whether the wound should be cultured.”

“Anytime we see something suspicious on an athlete’s skin, we either have the team physician look at them or we send them straight to the emergency room—we don’t waste any time. A physician needs to be brought into the picture immediately.”


The Infection Control Towel™ created and distributed by SportPharm,™ is designed to help combat MRSA skin infection outbreaks that are common among professional and collegiate sports teams.

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Circle No. 127

parents understanding the risks and prevention strategies, can go a long way in keeping your program safe.

“Communication is everything when it comes to facing MRSA,” says Michael Stutzke, Athletic Director at Sebastian (Fla.) River High School. “When we first heard about MRSA in our area, I sat down with our ath-letic trainer to discuss how we would approach it at our school. We decided the most important thing was to make sure everyone was in the loop.”

The athletic trainer took the lead, talking to coaches about the impor-tance of making sure athletes report every suspicious skin mark or wound, and asking them to discuss proper hy-giene with their teams. “Within 24 hours, she had distributed and put up posters in all of our locker rooms and bathrooms, telling student-athletes what to look for on their skin and ex-plaining how simple things like wash-ing their hands and showering after practice could help them stay healthy.

“Some posters also had pictures of what MRSA infections look like, which was both educational and at-tention-grabbing,” Stutzke continues. “The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words definitely applies with MRSA. When athletes saw the various stages of what at first looked like a pimple becoming a serious infec-tion, it helped them realize they need to take this seriously.”

Sebastian River’s athletic trainer and coaches also spread the message in the weightroom, at practices, and in the hallways. “Young athletes need con-stant reminders about something like this,” Stutzke says. “Around our facili-ties, you’ll frequently hear a coach say, ‘Why isn’t that cut covered?’ or ‘Hey, I see your band aid fell off—take a break and go get a new one.’”

Well-educated coaches can also take the lead in informing parents. “Many parents have heard only a little about MRSA, but they know it’s danger-ous and could affect their kids,” says Stutzke. “It’s natural that they’ll stand up at a meeting and express concerns. If the coach is prepared to offer a brief explanation of what MRSA is, how athletes can protect themselves, and what steps the school is taking to pro-tect them, that means a lot.”

What should parents be told about

MRSA?

Parents need to receive the same infor-mation about prevention as their chil-dren do—the importance of hygiene, being proactive about wound protec-tion, keeping an eye on even minor skin problems, and contacting a health-care professional about any suspicious wound. They also need to be told to communicate with the school if their child contracts an infection.

“If a high school student thinks they have a skin infection, their parents will usually take them to the family physi-cian, and the school may never be no-tified,” says Hageman. “That’s a real problem, because if multiple athletes on the same team react that way, it can prevent anyone from noticing an out-break is underway. Other teammates might be experiencing early symptoms, but not yet realize what it is.

“Schools should set up some sort of policy for reporting,” Hageman contin-ues. “Parents should be told to inform a designated person so the athletic trainer or school nurse can be made

T&C MARCH 2008 46


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Circle No. 128

aware of the situation, and someone can put all the pieces together to see if there’s a trend.”

With any infectious disease, parents and athletes may be tempted to keep things quiet to avoid embarrassment, so it’s important to set procedures careful-ly. “You should assure everyone that the athlete’s privacy will be respected,” says Stutzke. “You don’t want things to get worse just because an athlete was afraid to tell anyone about their infection.”

Should MRSA-infected athletes be

segregated from their teammates?

Parents of healthy athletes may wish to see anyone with a MRSA infection kept as far away from their children as pos-sible. But as long as common sense is used, there’s no need to make anyone feel like a plague carrier.

“The last thing you want to do is make an athlete with MRSA feel like an outcast, because that will discour-age others who may have an infection from speaking up,” advises Thorn-ton, who has seen all manner of reac-tions to skin infections as the NATA’s liaison to the NCAA Wrestling Rules

Committee. “The truth is, once they’re under the care of a physician and re-ceiving treatment, they will not put teammates at risk as long as they fol-low good hygiene practices and take

care of the infection site.”“A doctor can provide specific guide-

lines, but in general, an infected person only has to be excluded from activities that may lead to transmission—such as those involving direct physical contact with others,” says Hageman. “If they can keep the infection covered and wash their hands frequently, there’s a low risk of transmission to other peo-ple through everyday interaction.

“The one definite thing we recom-mend, though, is for MRSA-infected people to avoid using common water

sources, like whirlpools or swimming pools, until the infection has healed com-pletely,” he adds. “A shared whirlpool can easily become a mode of transmis-sion for bacteria. Even healthy athletes

should shower before using a whirlpool to prevent bacteria from spreading.”

How should we clean our school’s

athletic facilities and locker rooms to

help prevent the spread of MRSA?

Surfaces that should be singled out for most frequent cleaning are those that people touch most often, such as bench-es, treatment tables, and door handles. “Take the weightroom for example,” says Hedrick. “In many facilities, it is now common practice to keep a spray bottle near the machines, and for each

“When a student in Virginia died recently after contracting MRSA, they closed all the area schools to clean and disinfect everything inside. That was an overreaction. As soon as the students came back, they brought the bacteria right back with them.”

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Circle No. 129 Circle No. 130 T&C MARCH 2008 47


person to wipe down the equipment af-ter using it. That’s a great idea, because those surfaces are shared by multiple users in close succession.

“On the other hand, when a student in

Virginia died recently after contracting MRSA, they closed all the area schools to clean and disinfect everything inside,” he continues. “That was an overreac-tion. As soon as the students came back, they brought the bacteria right back with them. The focus should be making it standard practice to frequently clean areas that are most often touched—not making an all-out one-time effort.”

What should our custodians and oth-

ers who clean our athletic facilities

know about MRSA?

There are many cleaning and disin-fecting products on the market today specifically formulated to be effective against MRSA bacteria. But to have the desired effect, and for the safety of ev-

eryone who shares your facilities, these products have to be used properly.

“With any disinfecting product, it’s important to closely follow the direc-tions on the label,” notes Hageman. “Some products may cause irritation if they come into contact with skin, so if they’re being used on an athletic train-ing table, for instance, the surface has to be rinsed afterward.”

In addition, some products are made for use only on hard surfaces, and thus should not be used to clean porous ob-jects. For instance, athletic padding is of-

ten made with materials that cannot be rinsed thoroughly enough to ensure that the chemicals from a cleaning agent are completely removed. The product label will usually indicate what types of surfac-es a product can safely be used on.

“Contact time is also very important with disinfectants—they need to stay on a surface long enough to be effective against the bacteria they’re targeting,” Hageman adds. “Whoever is using the product should always carefully read the instructions first.”

How about the care and maintenance

of athletic equipment?

After practices, many athletes throw their sweaty gear in a gym bag, drop it in a locker or on the floor at home, and don’t take it out again until the next time it’s needed. This creates a moist, dark, warm environment, which is ide-al for bacteria growth.

“A couple of years ago, our campus hosted a coaches’ clinic where I gave a short presentation on MRSA infec-tions, and I brought up the subject of gym bags full of dirty, sweaty clothes,” recalls Thornton. “When I explained

“With any disinfecting product, it’s important to closely follow the directions on the label. Some products may

cause irritation if they come into contact with skin, so if they’re being used on an athletic training table,

for instance, the surface has to be rinsed afterward.”

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Circle No. 131

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Circle No. 142T&C MARCH 2008 48


RESOURCES

www.cdc.gov/MRSA

The Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention offers extensive

information on preventing and

managing MRSA outbreaks.

www.ncaa.org/health-safety

➪ click on “Injury Prevention”

➪ click on “Skin Infection

Prevention.”

The NCAA’s Web site includes

the association’s sports medicine

guidelines for skin infections,

along with downloadable

educational materials for coaches

and athletes.

www.training-conditioning.

com/MRSA.html

Visit our Web site to download

free posters that can help

educate everyone in your athletic

program about the risk of MRSA

and how to protect themselves.

how this produced a great environ-ment for bacteria, the coaches couldn’t believe they’d never thought of that. Washing workout clothing and letting pads dry out after each use seems like such a simple thing. But sometimes, it’s the simple things that escape us.”

How can I stay informed about the

MRSA risk at my school and in my area?

Both on and off campus, there are re-sources you can use to make sure MRSA never catches your school by surprise. “I keep as many channels of communi-cation open as possible—from regularly talking with our school nurse to shar-ing information with nearby athletic di-rectors,” says Stutzke.

Staying in touch with peers at other institutions is a particularly valuable step. “If I hear from our county’s Di-rector of Risk Management about an illness that’s going around, I’ll send an e-mail to all the athletic directors in my conference and ask them what they know about it,” Stutzke continues. “Our athletes are continually compet-ing against each other, so it’s important that we keep each other informed about

any student-athlete health issues.”Hedrick adds that local public health

professionals can be an asset as well. “A local health department can often point you toward an infectious disease expert at an area hospital, provide edu-cational resources, or even help inves-tigate to find the underlying cause of an outbreak,” he says. “We also bring individual outbreaks into a reporting structure so that patterns can be identi-fied at the state or national level, which is what public health is all about.

“With MRSA, you always want to eliminate the ‘uh-oh’ factor,” contin-ues Hedrick. “You don’t want to learn about an outbreak and say, ‘Uh-oh, we weren’t doing this or that which could have prevented it.’ If you’re follow-ing the right procedures, making sure everyone is educated, and remaining aware of what’s going on around you, you’ve created a culture where MRSA isn’t something to be afraid of.” ■

A version of this article is also appearing in our sister publication, Athletic Management.

To help in the fi ght against MRSA, Training & Conditioning has teamed up with its

advertisers to offer readers nine educational posters.

Prevention Through Education

Warning Signs: How to spot the warning signs of MRSAHand Hygiene: Proper techniques for washing away MRSAKeeping Facilities Safe: Suggestions about MRSA and athletic facilitiesEquipment Management: Why equipment storage is criticalOn the Sidelines: Important gametime procedures for ATCsWound Care: How to treat and cover woundsTips for Parents: A special poster to educate parentsIn the Locker Room: Tips for athletes in the locker roomAthletic Training Room Procedures: A poster for athletic training rooms

You can also download any of these posters for FREEor you can receive all nine 12” x 18” color posters for $35 per set.

To order, visit: www.Training-Conditioning.com/mrsa.html


• Make frequent hand washing a standard

practice for everyone who spends time in the

room.

• Clean and disinfect treatment tables and other

athletic training room apparatus frequently. Anti-

bacterial wipes are a great choice because they’re

convenient for day-to-day use.

• If your room has a waiting area, make it a clean

environment. Any chairs or couches in the wait-

ing area must be easy to clean.

• When an athlete visits the athletic training

room with a skin wound, make sure it gets treated

and covered immediately.

• If an athlete has a wound that looks infected,

immediately refer him or her to a team physician,

other doctor, or emergency room to have the

wound tested.

In the athletic training room, preventing the spread of MRSA and other

types of infection should always be a top priority. It’s a place athletes

pass through frequently, and a few simple precautions can play a big part

in keeping them safe.

Implement these rules in your athletic

training room:

Athletic Training Room Procedures

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• Frequently touched surfaces should be cleaned and

disinfected on a regular basis. This includes weight-

room equipment, athletic training tables, lockers,

benches, and mats.• Implement a no-sharing rule. Athletes should not

share towels, toiletries, clothing, or athletic equipment.

• Encourage frequent hand washing among all athletes

and staff.• Pay attention to the storage of athletic equipment. A

dark, moist, warm environment is perfect for bacteria

growth, so storage areas for padding and other equip-

ment must be open and well-ventilated.• Products that kill MRSA can be applied to many

surfaces, equipment, and athletic apparel.• The research is inconclusive on whether athletic

fi elds can harbor MRSA bacteria. Since some studies

have shown that the possibility exists, there are com-

panies that offer antimicrobial treatments for athletic

fi elds and other surfaces and substrates.

Everyone wants their athletic facilities to be safe environments. That’s

why you make sure gym walls are padded, fi elds are maintained, and a

spotter is always on hand in the weightroom. But some potential haz-

ards are harder to see: At the microscopic level, MRSA and other types

of bacteria could put your athletes at risk for infection.

Here are some tips about MRSA and

athletic facilities:

Keeping Facilities Safe


esB ee . n

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• Launder workout clothing and uniforms after

each use, using hot water and detergent.

• Clean any equipment your child brings home,

and designate a place where it can thoroughly

dry out after each use. Wet padding and other

equipment left in a gym bag creates an ideal

environment for MRSA bacteria to grow.

• Encourage frequent hand washing with

antibacterial soap. Clean hands are a key defense

against the spread of infection.

• Tell your child to shower immediately after

practice or competition, especially if he or she

participates in a contact sport.

• Any time your child has a skin wound, clean

and treat it with an antiseptic. Make sure it

remains covered until it is fully healed since

MRSA usually enters the body through an

unprotected break in the skin.

• Make sure your child reports all skin wounds,

no matter how minor, to a coach, athletic trainer,

school nurse, or someone else who can decide

whether medical attention is warranted. If it’s

infected with MRSA, early detection is critical.

As the parent of a student-athlete, you’d do anything to keep your child

safe. When it comes to preventing MRSA, a potentially serious bacterial

infection, a few common-sense preventative measures can make a big

difference.

Here are some ways to help your child avoid the

risks of MRSA:

Tips for Parents

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Untitled-11 1 1/31/07 12:30:08 PM


● Longer than normal healing time

● Any increase in size

● Unexplained or unusual pain or sensitivity

● The presence of pus or a pustule

● Induration (hardness)

● The sensation of heat

● Abnormal swelling or redness

● Red streaks around the lesion

● Abnormal coloration

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It’s fairly common for athletes to have pimples, cuts, and abra-sions on their skin. So how do you know when it might be MRSA and should be referred to a doctor or hospital for a more complete evaluation?

Here are some warning signs to look for and ask about when deciding whether a wound requires medical intervention:

Warning Signs


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• Make sure athletes know to report all injuries and open wounds, no matter how minor, to the athletic training staff, the team physician, or a school nurse for treatment.

• Thoroughly clean wounds by washing away debris and exudate without traumatizing fragile tissue.

• Cover all wounds, even very small ones, during and after activity and tell athletes to keep them covered at all times. Covered wounds heal faster.

• Use antimicrobial wound dressings to inhibit the growth and spread of bacteria plus reduce the potential for infection.

• If a wound looks suspicious or isn’t healing normally, send the athlete to a doctor or to the hospital to have it cultured and tested for MRSA.

• Educate athletes and coaches about fi rst aid for wounds and teach them how to recognize wounds that may be infected. Follow all other MRSA prevention guidelines and recommenda-tions issued by the NATA and the CDC.

Staph infections such as MRSA can proliferate in athletic settings. Skin-to-skin contact, moist environments, and the potential for scrapes and abrasions make athletes a prime target for infection. A big part of keeping athletes safe is proactive treatment for all skin wounds.

Follow these wound care rules to help protect your athletes:

Wound Care

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To download as a printable poster visit:www.Training-Conditioning.com/mrsa.html

Circle No. 143

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Circle No. 133

Untitled-35 1 1/31/08 4:31:43 PM


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• Frequently touched surfaces should be cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis. This includes weight-room equipment, athletic training tables, lockers, benches, and mats.

• Implement a no-sharing rule. Athletes should not share towels, toiletries, clothing, or athletic equipment.

• Encourage frequent hand washing among all athletes and staff.

• Pay attention to the storage of athletic equipment. A dark, moist, warm environment is perfect for bacteria growth, so storage areas for padding and other equip-ment must be open and well-ventilated.

• Products that kill MRSA can be applied to many surfaces, equipment, and athletic apparel.

• The research is inconclusive on whether athletic fi elds can harbor MRSA bacteria. Since some studies have shown that the possibility exists, there are com-panies that offer antimicrobial treatments for athletic fi elds and other surfaces and substrates.

Everyone wants their athletic facilities to be safe environments. That’s why you make sure gym walls are padded, fi elds are maintained, and a spotter is always on hand in the weightroom. But some potential haz-ards are harder to see: At the microscopic level, MRSA and other types of bacteria could put your athletes at risk for infection.

Here are some tips about MRSA and athletic facilities:

Keeping Facilities Safe


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Circle No. 144Circle No. 134

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Untitled-1 1 2/18/08 12:30:15 PM


• Make sure padding and other equipment is stored someplace where it can dry out after each use.

• Clean athletes’ equipment regularly with a product that will kill MRSA and other types of bacteria.

• Don’t allow athletes to share equipment at practice or during games.

• Whether your athletic department launders athletes’ uniforms or athletes do it themselves, make sure uniforms get washed after each use.

• If one or more athletes in your program are infected with MRSA, launder their uniforms and other washables separately from the rest of the team’s.

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Athletic equipment is supposed to keep the wearer safe, but if it’s not properly taken care of, it can create a serious health hazard. When sweaty pads and uniforms are thrown into a bag or locker, the result is a warm, dark, moist environment that’s perfect for MRSA bacteria to grow. The problem can be exacerbated on equipment with large surface areas that are diffi cult to dry out, such as shoulder pads and gloves.

Take these precautions to help prevent equipment from harboring MRSA bacteria:

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Circle No. 136

Untitled-11 1 1/30/08 12:14:45 PM


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• Launder workout clothing and uniforms after each use, using hot water and detergent.

• Clean any equipment your child brings home, and designate a place where it can thoroughly dry out after each use. Wet padding and other equipment left in a gym bag creates an ideal environment for MRSA bacteria to grow.

• Encourage frequent hand washing with antibacterial soap. Clean hands are a key defense against the spread of infection.

• Tell your child to shower immediately after practice or competition, especially if he or she participates in a contact sport.

• Any time your child has a skin wound, clean and treat it with an antiseptic. Make sure it remains covered until it is fully healed since MRSA usually enters the body through an unprotected break in the skin.

• Make sure your child reports all skin wounds, no matter how minor, to a coach, athletic trainer, school nurse, or someone else who can decide whether medical attention is warranted. If it’s infected with MRSA, early detection is critical.

As the parent of a student-athlete, you’d do anything to keep your child safe. When it comes to preventing MRSA, a potentially serious bacterial infection, a few common-sense preventative measures can make a big difference.

Here are some ways to help your child avoid the risks of MRSA:

Tips for Parents

You’ve probably heard a lot about MRSA, or antibiotic-resistant staph, in recent months. That’s because the number of reported cases has increased significantly— and every medical professional is taking notice.

Now you can help protect yourself and your athletes from MRSA with StaphAseptic® First Aid Antiseptic. Apply it to cuts, scrapes and abrasions to relieve pain and prevent skin infections from MRSA, staph, strep and other germs.

Get a FREE MRSA Education Kit

staphaseptic.com

Call 1-888-MRSAHELP (677-2435)

or email [email protected]

to request your kit.

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• Make frequent hand washing a standard practice for everyone who spends time in the room.

• Clean and disinfect treatment tables and other athletic training room apparatus frequently. Anti-bacterial wipes are a great choice because they’re convenient for day-to-day use.

• If your room has a waiting area, make it a clean environment. Any chairs or couches in the wait-ing area must be easy to clean.

• When an athlete visits the athletic training room with a skin wound, make sure it gets treated and covered immediately.

• If an athlete has a wound that looks infected, immediately refer him or her to a team physician, other doctor, or emergency room to have the wound tested.

In the athletic training room, preventing the spread of MRSA and other types of infection should always be a top priority. It’s a place athletes pass through frequently, and a few simple precautions can play a big part in keeping them safe.

Implement these rules in your athletic training room:

Athletic Training Room Procedures

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IT’S VERSATILEWhizzer® is the perfect choice for homes, schools, locker rooms, camps, fitness centers, salons, daycare centers and hospitals. Anywhere people gather. Use Whizzer® to kill bacteria on floors, walls, training tables, benches, door knobs, shower and bath areas, toilets, counters, athletic equipment, whirlpools and more!

IT’S POWERFULWhizzer® kills HIV-1 (AIDS Virus), Hepatitis B & C, Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2, Norwalk Virus, SARS and other viruses. Kills a broad spectrum of bacteria (including MRSA) and fungus germs on contact. Whizzer® helps prevent the spread of athlete’s foot. It’s a cleaner, fungicide, mildew stat, virucide and deodorizer all in one! EPA Registered.

Kills HIV-1, Herpes Simplex 1&2 & MRSA on hard, nonporous surfaces

Gets Surfaces Better than Clean!

StaphAseptic®

First aid bactericide gel prevents skin infections caused by methicillin resistant staph (MRSA) and other germs.

Sani-Cloth® PlusPre-moistened cloths contain powerfuldisinfectant to kill germs, such as MRSA, on hard surfaces.

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*MRSA refers to Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus

Mueller Sports Medicine, Inc.One Quench Drive, PO Box 99, Prairie du Sac, WI 53578 USA

© 2008 Mueller Sports Medicine, Inc.

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• When using an alcohol-based hand rub, apply the product to the palm of one hand and then rub both hands together, covering all surfaces of the hands and fi ngers, until hands are dry.

• When washing hands with soap and water, wet both hands fi rst, apply soap, then rub hands together vigorously for at least 15 seconds, covering all surfaces of the hands and fi ngers. Rinse hands with water.

• Thoroughly dry hands with a disposable towel or one treated with an antimicrobial solution. Use the disposable or treated towel to turn off the faucet.

• Avoid using very hot water, since repeated expo-sure to it may increase the risk of dermatitis.

• If your sink is equipped with bar soap, only use small bars and make sure your soap rack allows for drainage.

• In between washings, use antimicrobial solutions and products that inhibit the growth of bacteria.

Every athletic trainer knows the importance of hand cleanliness when treating athletes. However, studies of health care professionals in many different settings have found that proper hand washing procedures are not always followed, and the result may be an increased risk for transmit-ting infections such as MRSA.

Here are some helpful reminders on proper techniques for hand hygiene:

Hand Hygiene

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• Shower immediately after practices and com-petitions. If MRSA bacteria are present on your skin, you can wash them away before they have a chance to cause infection.

• Don’t share towels, razors, soap, and other personal items and toiletries.

• Get every skin wound, no matter how minor, checked out by your coach, athletic trainer, or team physician.

• Cover all wounds to help prevent infection, especially during practice and competition. If a bandage or wrapping falls off, have it replaced immediately.

• Dry out your equipment and padding after each use. Do not store in a dark, moist, warm environment.

• Wash your hands often. Frequent hand wash-ing with antibacterial soap is one of the best ways to prevent MRSA.

If you’re like most athletes, you enjoy the camaraderie in your team’s locker room. It’s a place to relax, feel safe, and bond with teammates. But a locker room can also be a harbor for MRSA, a type of staph infection that can be deadly if left untreated.

Here are some precautions for preventing the spread of MRSA in the locker room:

In the Locker Room



AntimicrobialProducts

Many of the companies that advertise in Training & Conditioning have products which can help

prevent MRSA and other microbial diseases. Below is information from several of these companies

on a few of their antimicrobial products.

STRAIGHT TALK

Bac-Shield™ from Adams USA is a bacteria inhibitor that disrupts the growth of odor-causing bacteria and fungi. Athletic facilities, equipment, apparel, towels, and playing

surfaces can be excellent host environ-ments for bacteria, fungi, mold, and mildew. Bac-Shield “fills the gap” and makes your hygiene program more effective by inhibiting the reproduction of harmful microbes between cleanings and disinfections. The active ingredi-

ent in Bac-Shield, chitosan, has a long history of safe and effective applications. Use Bac-Shield for laundry, locker rooms, athletic surfaces, mats, and practically any place bacteria can be present. It is available in pint, gallon, and five-gallon sizes.

For more information, call 800-251-6857 or go to their Web site at www.adamsusa.com.

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Pro Tex Sport hand and skin sanitizing foam has an effi-cacy rate of up to 99.999 percent for reducing MRSA, staph, strep, e coli, and more. It’s alcohol-free so your hands won’t crack or dry out. Unlike alcohol-based products, Pro Tex Sport has an active ingredient that actually increases with daily usage. Pro Tex Sport is non-flam-mable, non-staining, fragrance-free, and leaves your skin with a smooth, natural, non-sticky feeling.

To find out more, call 508-878-8739 or visit their Web site at www.athleticlean.com for a complete list of the company’s hygiene products.

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CleenFreek® SportsHygiene® manufactures patented anti-microbial performance products and solutions. CleenFreek SportsHygiene addresses the needs of athletic directors,

coaches, athletic trainers, and athletes at all levels by provid-ing 360-degree, 24/7 protection and prevention against MRSA, staph infections, athlete’s foot, and other infectious diseases. The company’s products and solutions feature patented built-

in antimicrobial technology that addresses cross-contamina-tion of germs and offers protection for locker rooms, athletic training rooms, workout rooms, synthetic turf, court surfaces, and mats. CleenFreek SportsHygiene keeps athletes protect-ed and in the game.

To learn more, call 800-591-3585 or visit their Web site at www.cleenfreek.com

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FabricAide™ from CSG/SportsCoatings inhibits the growth of bacteria, fungi, and mold on washable fabrics for 30 washes. FabricAide integrates the world’s most unique

and reliable antimicrobial technology into washable fabrics. Microbial con-taminants such as bacteria and fungi can be a source of serious infections. FabricAide continually fights the growth of bacteria, fungi, and mold and lasts for 30 washes.

For more information, call 888-510-2847 or go to their Web site at www.csgsportscoatings.com.

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TELFA™ AMD antimicrobial wound dressings from Covidien are effective against MRSA and Staphylococcus aureus. AMD dressings contain PHMB (polyhexamethylene biguanide), an antimicrobial component proven to resist bacterial colonization within the dressing and also resist bacterial penetration through the dressing. At just pennies per day, this product offers inexpensive infection control. It is compliant with existing protocols, and proven to prevent bacterial proliferation and limit cross-contamination. Studies have demonstrated AMD’s effective-ness against a host of bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA.

For more information, call Covidien at 800-962-9888 or visit www.covidien.com.

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TRAINING-CONDITIONING.COM T&C MARCH 2008 65

STRAIGHT TALK

Z-Cool shoulder pads from Gear 2000 are patented air- and moisture-transferring shoulder pads with antibacterial foam padding. The foam used to make Z-Cool shoulder pads will

not absorb moisture from perspi-ration. As a result, odor buildup is eliminated and the pads are 35 percent lighter and cooler for the wearer, which can contribute to enhanced performance on the

field. These pads are used by pro athletes, NCAA Division I college programs, and high school state champions.

To find out more, call 785-625-6060 or go to their Web site at www.gear2000.com.

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Kill the Hibigeebies with Hibiclens®. This prod-uct, from Molnlycke Health Care, is an antimi-crobial, antiseptic skin cleanser that can be an effective defense against the spread of MRSA and other staph infections. Its active ingredient, chlorhexidine gluconate (four percent), works in a unique way. It kills germs on contact and bonds with the skin to keep killing microorganisms even after washing. It’s ideal for cleaning skin wounds, general skin cleansing, and personal hand wash-ing.

For more details, call 800-843-8497 or go to their Web site at www.hibigeebies.com/sports.

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Whizzer® cleaner and disinfectant from Mueller Sports Medicine is a concentrated cleaner and deodorizer that kills a broad spectrum of bacteria, including MRSA, as well

as viruses and fungi on non-porous surfaces. Whizzer is EPA-registered, and one gallon makes 128 gallons of cleaner/disinfectant. This product inhibits the growth of mold and mildew (and their odors) when used as direct-ed. Versatile and powerful, Whizzer kills HIV-1 (the AIDS virus), hepatitis B and C, herpes simplex 1 and 2, SARS, and other viruses. It also kills strep,

staph (including MRSA), and fungus on contact. In addition, it helps prevent the spread of athlete’s foot.

To find out more, call 800-356-9522 or visit the company’s Web site at www.muellersportsmed.com.

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Phenomenal is a total-release aerosol fogger containing a hospital-grade broad-spectrum disinfectant and antimicrobial agent. Each six-ounce fogger treats 6,000 cubic feet for viruses, fungi, and bacteria, including staph, HIV-1, and herpes simplex 1 and 2. Hard surfaces must be pre-cleaned. The phenolic ingredients allow for residual kill.

For more information, call Silver Leaf Solutions at 800-292-3653 or visit their website atwww.silverleafsanitation.com.

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Stromgren compression and protective performance garments are treated with an antimicrobial agent that may assist in protecting the wearer from MRSA bac-teria. The antimicrobial agent has been developed to attack and hopefully kill MRSA.

To find out more, call 800-527-1988 or go to www.stromgren.com.

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StaphAseptic® first aid antiseptic/pain relieving gel, by Tec Labs, helps prevent MRSA infections when applied to cuts, scrapes, and other abrasions. In a recent Oregon State University study, StaphAseptic was tested for its effectiveness at killing four strains of MRSA against com-pounds made with neomycin and polymyxin, and polymyxin and gramicidin. StaphAseptic was the only compound to have a genuine bactericidal effect against all four MRSA strains. Use it on cuts, scrapes, and other abrasions to help prevent skin infections from MRSA, staph, strep, and other germs. StaphAseptic also contains lidocaine for pain relief.

Call 888-MRSA-HELP or visit www.staphaseptic.com for more information.

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The Infection Control Towel™, created and distributed by SportPharm™, is a disposable towel designed to help fight the battle against MRSA. The Infection Control Towel helps to combat MRSA skin infection outbreaks, which pose a threat to professional, college, and high school sports teams. Unlike

cotton towels, which can easily spread infection if they are shared or improperly laundered, The Infection Control Towel is disposable and intended for individual use only. It’s soft, custom-interwoven, and has a

cotton-like texture with ultra-absorbent qualities to wipe away sweat that may contain bacteria. The towels can be discarded quickly and easily, thus helping to decrease the risk of MRSA outbreaks among sports teams and their facilities.

For more information on The Infection Control Towel, con-tact SportPharm at [email protected] or by phone at 800-272-4767.

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GymWipes Antibacterial PLUS and CareWipes Antibacterial PLUS wipes are made with a full-spectrum EPA-registered disinfectant that kills MRSA, HIV, tuberculosis, staph, and a host of other germs. These pre-moistened, disposable, surface-disinfecting wipes have been developed to stop cross-contamination on surfaces. They’re very convenient and a great choice for disinfecting seat pads, leg and arm rests, benches, hand grips, chrome plating, painted surfaces, steel and rubber surfaces, tanning beds, electronic panels, and many other frequently touched surfaces. The wipes contain no alcohol, phenol, bleach or ammonia, and have a fresh scent.

For more information, call 2XL Corp. at 888-977-3726 or visit www.2xlcorp.com.

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ANTIMICROBIAL PRODUCTS

Researching Antimicrobial Products Online

The companies listed below prominently feature products and services related to antimicrobial protection on their Web sites. This is not a comprehensive list, but it may be a helpful starting point for athletic trainers and sports medicine professionals researching infection control and preventive strategies.

Adams USA adamsusa.com Exclusive distributor of Bac-Shield™ antimicrobial product for textiles and surfaces

AthletiClean athleticlean.com Antimicrobial and antibacterial disinfectants for the skin, synthetic turf, surfaces, and fabrics

Canberra canberra.com Husky 891 Arena Disinfectant kills CA-MRSA on equipment, surfaces, and facilities

Clean Gear USA cleangearusa.com Athletic equipment sanitizing and reconditioning

CleenFreek® SportsHygiene® cleenfreek.com Antimicrobial towels, hand sanitizers, surface wipes, and equipment

Covidien covidien.com Wound care products

Cramer Products cramersportsmed.com A wide selection of antiseptic ointments, antibiotic creams, and wound care products

CSG/SportsCoatings csgsportscoatings.com Antimicrobial treatments for many applications, including surfaces, equip-ment, and facilities

Esporta Wash Systems, Inc. esporta.ca Cleaning, sanitizing, and reconditioning products and services for athletic equipment

Gear 2000 gear2000.com Z-Cool shoulder pads with 3-D Air Flow foam and antibacterial agents

Henry Schein henryschein.com Antimicrobial cleaning products and sanitizers

Kendall Products dri-dek.com Self-draining interlocking floor tiles with antimicrobial properties

Kennedy Industries kennedyindustries.com Kenclean Plus athletic surface disinfectant and cleaner for killing MRSA and many other pathogens; hair and skin antibacterial products designed for athletes

Medco Sports Medicine medco-athletics.com Antimicrobial cleaning products and hand sanitizers

Molnlycke Healthcare hibigeebies.com/sports Hibiclens® and Hibistat® antiseptic and antimicrobial skin cleansers

Mueller Sports Medicine muellersportsmed.com Whizzer® cleaner and disinfectant kills MRSA, fungus, viruses, and many other pathogens

Preventec International, LLC germstopper.net Comprehensive programs aimed at preventing and controlling the spread of microorganisms

Reebok rbk.com Team and performance sportswear featuring an antimicrobial fabric

Resilite resilite.com Antimicrobial technology used to create the protective coating of wrestling mats

RG Medical Diagnostics rgmd.com Guardian Plus antibacterial hand sanitizer that won’t dry the user’s skin

Safe4Hours safe4hours.com Safe4Hours sanitizing skin lotion

School Health Corp. schoolhealth.com CleenFreek® antimicrobial cleaning product kills MRSA, fungi, mold, and mildew

Shock Doctor shockdoctor.com Athletic equipment with SmartSilver™ antimicrobial and anti-odor technology

Silver Leaf Solutions silverleafsanitation.com Antimicrobial cleaning products

Sport Systems Canada sportsystemscanada.com Mats and wall padding treated with antimicrobial agents

SportPharm™ sportpharm.com ICC Towel™ and Hand Rub™ antimicrobial products

Sports-O-Zone sportsozone.com Treatment for athletic equipment to kill MRSA and other bacteria, viruses, and mold

StaphAseptic staphaseptic.com Pain relieving antiseptic gel

Stromgren Supports stromgren.com FlexPad™ football compression girdle made with antimicrobial fabric

2XL Corp. 2xlcorp.com Developer of antibacterial GymWipes and CareWipes

Zimek zimek.com Room and vehicle sterilizing system helps eliminate harmful environmental contaminants such as MRSA and toxic molds


NEW Product Launch

Unique features:

• Standard features include weight storage, fi xed bar hooks,

two pairs of safety spot bars, two straight-bar chin-up handles, and bar storage

• Can be used in conjunction with Collegiate Series benches and platforms to create a modular training station

Benefi ts for the user:

• Allows up to eight users to rotate through their workouts at one station in a space-saving design

Power Liftwww.power-lift.com800-872-1543

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Collegiate Series Combo

Power RackUnique features:• Improved design features 4.5-inch straps• Advanced technology gel packs remain fl exible

during application and retain cold or heat longer

Benefi ts for the user:• The new XL form-fi tting shoulder wrap offers

the same great dual strapping system as the original, providing even, effective compression to the entire target area

• The addition of a second pack allows for greater coverage and treatment to both sides of the shoulder

Unique features:

• Teaches the tactics and techniques of playing big and dominatingthe inside game

• Contains drills and sidebars featuring prominent players who performed in and around the paint

• Includes specifi c points and insights highlighted by Pete Newell himself

Human Kineticswww.HumanKinetics.com800-747-4457

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Pete Newell’s Playing Big Book/DVD Package

Pro-Tec Athleticswww.injurybegone.com800-779-3372

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Unique features:

• Developed by manual therapists• Effective for self-massage, assisted stretching,

and enhancing mobility, fl exibility, and circulation

Benefi ts for the user:

• The user can control the pressure, movement, and precise areas targeted

• Allows for self-massage techniques similar to what is received in a clinical setting

OPTPwww.optp.com800-367-7393

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Pro-Tec AthleticsHot/ColdTherapyWrap

TheMyoTool


AQUATIC EXERCISE

AquaJogger800-922-9544www.aquajogger.com

AquaJogger has introduced the TriFit bar for swim training and aquatic exer-cise. The 30-inch TriFit bar is different,

as there is no pad-ded grip to limit its uses.

Grips keep the foam rounds separated, offering only a few ways to utilize the equipment. The TriFit bar allows three positions for buoyancy distribution, producing an increased number of exercise options and training effects. It’s excellent for underwater swing training. A waterproof exercise card is included.

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NZ Mfg., Inc.800-886-6621www.nzmfg.com

StrechCordz dry-side and in-water resistance swim training tools improve stamina, power, stroke, and individual

medley times for inter-national Olympians and nov-ice swim-mers alike. StrechCordz products provide resistance training for tricep exten-

sions, rowing, overhead raises, chest flys, proper hip rotation, stroke effi-ciency, and more. Stretch your limits to enhance performance through resistance. (Dry-land StrechCordz with paddles are shown.)

Circle No. 520

Power Systems800-321-6975www.power-systems.com

To reduce stress on the lower back and help maintain a vertical position during aquatic workouts, strap on the Premium Water Flotation Belt from Power Systems. Its contoured shape

provides comfort and long-lasting sup-port by distributing buoyancy around

the entire torso. To make it both durable and comfortable, this flotation belt is made with soft, non-abrasive closed-cell EVA foam and has an adjustable nylon waist belt. It’s avail-able in three sizes.

Circle No. 521

To add cardio to aquatic workouts, fasten on a pair of Premium Water Cuffs from Power Systems. Designed for versatility, these water cuffs can be

worn on the ankles or wrists. Simply adjust the nylon

strap to the size needed and secure it with the Velcro™ closure. Premium Water Cuffs are made of soft, non-abrasive closed-cell EVA foam, so they won’t chip or absorb water.

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SwimEx, Inc.800-877-7946www.swimex.com

SwimEx makes the only pool on the market today that combines a paddlewheel water-propulsion sys-

tem, molded fiberglass composite construction, multiple water depths, and built-in workstations to provide reliable performance and a superior functional aquatic therapy session. Visit SwimEx’s Web site to learn more about all of the company’s products, including its new motorized, integrated treadmill—the industry’s most chal-lenging water conditioning workout.

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SwimEx, the manufacturer of choice for nearly 200 professional and col-legiate sports teams nationwide, has introduced a new motorized, integrat-ed treadmill. When combined with the SwimEx wall of water, it creates one of the most challenging water condi-tioning workouts on the market today.

Constructed of durable high-traction rubber with a non-corrosive frame, the treadmill is integrated into the SwimEx pool floor and features variable speeds of up to eight miles per hour, a speed indicator, and a removable hand rail for optional support. Athletes enjoy the benefits of high-intensity aquatic pro-tocols in a low-impact environment.

Circle No. 524

Sprint Aquatics800-235-2156www.sprintaquatics.com

Sprint Aquatics has been supplying the aquatics world for more than 36 years. The company’s combination of quality, great prices, and customer

service is unsurpassed. Sprint has brought a myriad of innovative and thought-provoking products to the market over the years that have altered the course of sports conditioning and set the pace for the industry.

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STAY CONNECTED,

STAY CURRENT...

DAILYDAILY

Training & Conditioning

has developed an innovative

Web site to keep you in touch with

issues facing sports medicine

and fitness professionals:

training-conditioning.comtraining-conditioning.com


CATALOG SHOWCASE

G&W Heel Lift, Inc.800-235-4387www.gwheellift.com

G&W Heel Lift has remained in the busi-ness of manufacturing and distributing heel lifts for more than 40 years. The company has done so by provid-ing excellent products,

outstanding service, and a guarantee of 100-percent satisfaction. G&W Heel Lift’s 2008 catalog features many types of heel lifts, varus/valgus wedges, foot beds, pelvic lifts, clinical treatment information, and resources for the ath-letic trainer and healthcare professional.

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Genetic Potential/VertiMax®800-699-5867www.strengthcoach.us

The new VertiMax® V6+ is a revolutionary advancement in functional sport-specific, total-

body training. It is capable of applying asynchronous loading to the arms and shoulders while athletes perform explo-sive lower-body training. The V6+ is strongly endorsed by many NFL, NBA, and NCAA Division I head coaches. Visit VertiMax’s Web site for more details and call today for a free video.

Circle No. 535

Gear 2000 Co.785-625-6060www.gear2000.com

Gear 2000 Co. offers a 16-page full-color catalog featuring the Z-Cool line of football shoulder pads that are used by pro players, top-50 NCAA Division I college programs,

and high school state champions. The catalog illustrates the many unique features and advantages of the Z-Cool line and Z-Cool accessories that are offered for use with the shoulder pads. The catalog also includes other quality Gear 2000 shoulder pad lines and Z-Cool compression girdles.

Circle No. 534

Creative Health Products, Inc.800-742-4478www.chponline.com

Since 1976, Creative Health Products has been a leading discount supplier of rehabilita-tion, fitness, exercise, and athletic equipment, as well as health, medi-cal, and fitness testing

and measuring products, all available at reduced prices. Creative Health Products offers heart rate monitors; blood pres-sure testers; pulse oximeters; body fat calipers; scales; strength testers; flex-ibility testers; stethoscopes; pedometers; exercise bikes; ergometers; stopwatches; fitness books and software; exercise bands; step benches; hand and finger exercisers; heating pads; and more.

Circle No. 530

Dynatronics800-874-6251www.dynatronics.com

The Dynatronics catalog contains more than 8,000 items offering unmatched tech-nology and name brands at afford-

able prices. This year’s catalog fea-tures new modular taping stations and innovative modalities such as the new X5 Oscillation Therapy device. If you need it, Dynatronics has it. Give the company a call to order or to arrange demonstrations of any of its electro-therapy equipment.

Circle No. 532

Cho-Pat800-221-1601www.cho-pat.com

Incorporating unique design characteristics, excellent craftsman-ship, and quality materials, Cho-Pat products are effective, dependable, durable,

and highly recommended by medical professionals, physical therapists, ath-letic trainers, athletes, and individuals for their role in preventing or reducing pain and discomfort. The company’s catalog provides information about all of its products, including descriptions, pictures, and sizing, as well as pricing and purchasing terms. Call today to request your copy.

Circle No. 529

AquaJogger800-922-9544www.aquajogger.com

AquaJogger produces a 12-page color cata-log that includes a full range of aquatic exer-cise equipment. The catalog offers nine choices of buoyancy belts and specializes

in offering belts that fit individual body type needs. This range includes belts for children, adults, and competitive athletes. AquaJogger also offers a wide range of resistance equipment for the arms and legs. Multiple buoyancy options are available depending on the amount of resistance desired.

Circle No. 528

Adams USA800-251-6857www.adamsusa.com

Athletic facilities, equip-ment, apparel, towels, and playing surfaces are excellent host environ-ments for odor-causing bacteria, fungi, mold, and mildew. Bac-Shield™, an antimicro-

bial for textiles and surfaces, inhibits the growth of odor-causing bacteria and fungi. Use it on uniforms, sports equipment, locker rooms, carpets, and all protective padding. EPA-registered and tested in the laboratory and field, Bac-Shield is available in a convenient spray bottle for laundry and larger quantities for big areas. Bac-Shield is distributed by Adams USA.

Circle No. 527

DM Systems, Inc.800-254-5438www.dmsystems.com

The Rehabilitation Products brochure from DM Systems offers information on three DM rehabilitation products. Included in the product presenta-tion are the Cadlow

Shoulder Stabilizer, the AnkleTough Rehab System, and the Adjusticizer Exerciser System. Each section includes detailed information and pho-tography depicting the application of each product.

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CATALOG SHOWCASE

StaphAseptic800-482-4464www.staphaseptic.com

Antibiotic-resistant staph infections caused by MRSA are a growing problem for all athletes. Protect yourself and your athletes from MRSA with a complete staph prevention program

including StaphAseptic® first aid anti-septic/pain relieving gel. Apply it to cuts, scrapes, and abrasions to help prevent skin infections from MRSA, staph, strep and other germs. In-vitro studies have shown that StaphAseptic kills more than 99.9 percent of MRSA bacteria. Go online for more information.

Circle No. 543

Samson Weight Training Equipment

800-472-6766www.samsonequipment.com

The newly revamped Samson Equipment Web site is an online catalog showcasing new products, video demonstrations, a full range of equipment from squat racks to athletic training equip-

ment, featured equipped facilities, and sample paint/upholstery charts. Everything you could possibly need to outfit a top-of-the-line strength train-ing facility can be found on the site.

Circle No. 542

SwimEx, Inc.800-877-7946www.swimex.com

SwimEx is a pioneer in the development of fiberglass swimming and conditioning pools for aquatic therapy and training. Designed to meet the aquatic exer-cise needs of health

professionals, athletic trainers, physical therapists, and homeowners, SwimEx pools are used by professional and collegiate athletic programs, as well as health clubs, physical therapists, and fitness-minded individuals around the world. SwimEx now offers nine therapy pools models for 2008.

Circle No. 544

Power Systems800-321-6975www.power-systems.com

Power Systems contin-ues to advance health, fitness, and physical performance by offering sports and fitness profes-sionals and enthusiasts more than 200 new prod-ucts in its 2008 catalogs. Power Systems carries

more than 2,000 innovative products, many of which are the company’s own brand. The three catalogs include an 88-page comprehensive edition packed with fitness and sports performance equipment, a 72-page edition for sports performance professionals, and a 24-page strength insert featuring strength equipment, flooring, and specialty bars.

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Pro-Tec Athletics800-779-3372www.injurybegone.com

Pro-Tec Athletics, a leading sports medicine com-pany, offers new and exist-ing products specializing in

orthopedic support and cryotherapy, all showcased in its 2008 catalog. The catalog also highlights the company’s involvement with and support of com-munities at home and across the globe. Pro-Tec’s 2008 catalog is your injury information source, as the last two pages are devoted to stretching and strengthening exercises. Call to request your copy today.

Circle No. 541

Power Lift800-872-1543www.power-lift.com

Power Lift’s Collegiate Series brochure features the company’s new product line. Featured items include the Half Rack, Power Rack, Combo Power Rack, Multi-Angle Dumbbell

Bench, and Olympic lifting platforms. All of the Collegiate Series racks feature straight-bar chin-up handles, weight storage, fixed bar tabs, dual vertical bar storage, and safety spot bars. The Multi-Angle bench adjusts from a three-degree decline to an 80-degree incline with six adjustment positions. The Olympic platforms feature a red oak center and a custom logo.

Circle No. 539

Perform Better800-556-7464www.performbetter.com

The Perform Better 2008 catalog, The Guide to Functional Training, is now avail-able. This 76-page publication is conve-niently organized into 18 different categories

covering a wide range of products from balance and stabilization training to speed and agility training. Included in each section are expert insights focusing on training and rehabilitation tips. Call today or go online to request your free copy.

Circle No. 538

OPTP800-367-7393www.optp.com

OPTP has released its Volume 20 product catalog, complete with a new design, images, and prices printed right in the catalog for your convenience. The company has added

new products, but still carries all your favorites, including the Stretch Out Strap, foam rollers, and other products for your fitness needs. To request a copy of Volume 20, call OPTP or go online today.

Circle No. 537

Mueller Sports Medicine800-356-9522www.muellersportsmed.com

The 2007-08 Mueller Sports Medicine product catalog features a complete listing of Mueller prod-

ucts with full-color photos and descrip-tive copy. New and featured products in the catalog include TapeWrap Premium, Stretch M-Tape Premium, No Glare glare-reducing strips in assorted shapes, and the Hg80 ankle brace with straps. In addition, learn how to receive Mueller’s instructional DVD on taping and bracing techniques. A handy guide to the Mueller SportCare packaging features is available in a special fold-out section.

Circle No. 536


CATALOG SHOWCASE

TurfCordz by NZ Mfg., Inc.800-886-6621www.nzmfg.com

TurfCordz resis-tance products are engineered for high-level athletic agility and strength training. Leading

professional sports teams and interna-tional Olympians train with TurfCordz for explosive start drills, power-building footwork, and simulated play action to enhance performance through resistance. Stamina, power, strength, speed, and flexibility are achieved with TurfCordz. Also available from NZ Mfg. are the top-quality MediCordz rehabili-tation products and StrechCordz swim training products.

Circle No. 547

Thought Technology800-361-3651www.thoughttechnology.com

MyoTrac Infiniti allows you to measure two channels of high-resolu-tion surface electromy-ography (SEMG) and provide two channels of electrical stimulation (STIM) in a wide variety

of configurations. MyoTrac Infiniti stands apart from the competition by including SEMG-triggered stimulation (ETS), where the SEMG signal is used to trigger stim-ulation to help patients improve volitional activation of targeted muscle groups. This combination of three modalities enhances treatment possibilities and eliminates the need for multiple devices.

Circle No. 546

Cold One Therapy, LLC503-317-5273503-841-0980www.coldonetherapy.com

Cold One Therapy markets ice and compression therapy wraps for the

common athlete. If you are looking for faster recovery from muscle soreness, injury, or strain, Cold One cold muscle wraps are the perfect solution. At the company’s Web site, you can browse its selection of back wraps, knee wraps, foot wraps, elbow wraps, hamstring wraps, shoulder wraps, wrist wraps, and more. Whether

your sport is football, bowling, soccer, basketball, golf, running, tennis, swim-ming, or boxing, there is a wrap for you.

Circle No. 548

Biofreeze®/Hygenic Performance Health®

800-246-3733www.biofreeze.com

Applied generously, Biofreeze® pain relieving gel and roll-on effectively relieve pain from heel injuries, sore arches, muscle spasms, strains, sprains, and tendonitis, and will help minimize next-day aches and pains. Use it up to four times a day. It’s available in a 16-ounce spray bottle and 16-ounce, 32-ounce, and gallon gel pump bottles. Also available is a gravity dispenser box with 100 five-gram single-use applica-tion packets for clinical settings.

Circle No. 549

Pro-Tec Athletics800-779-3372www.injurybegone.com

Experience the benefits of direct, active ice massage with the Ice Up

portable ice massager. It offers effec-tive treatment in just five to seven min-utes, and quick deep-tissue relief for

ligament, tendon, and muscular inju-ries. Ice massage increases treat-ment effectiveness and speeds recov-ery. The Ice Up

has a leak-proof design to keep your sports bag dry. A portable carry cooler keeps the Ice Up stick frozen for up to 12 hours, so it can be taken anywhere for pre- or post-activity ice massage.

Circle No. 550

Whitehall Mfg., Inc.800-782-7706www.whitehallmfg.com

The ThermaSplint™ from Whitehall Mfg. features dual voltage, an illuminat-ed on/off switch, and quick heat-up time. The unit operates on a solar-powered digi-tal thermometer that allows the tempera-ture to be adjusted with digital readouts for different splinting thermoplastics. The ThermaSplint is constructed of heavy-gauge stainless steel.

Circle No. 551

Whitehall Mfg. offers a complete line of moist heat-therapy treatment prod-ucts that are convenient and easy to

use. Each heating unit is fabricated from heavy-gauge stainless steel and polished to a satin finish. Standard features include a snap-off thermal pro-tector that prevents over-heating and a rounded bottom that minimizes

bacteria build-up. The heating units are available in various sizes and colors.

Circle No. 552

HOT & COLD THERAPIES

Thera-Band®/Hygenic Performance Health

800-246-3733www.thera-band.com

The new Thera-Band® Rehab and Wellness Station is designed for strength, balance, and core training. It features Thera-Band clip-con-nect resistance tubing, stability trainers, and the

new Pro Series SCP™ exercise ball. It provides three planes of movement for upper- and lower-extremity strength training. Slide tracks with one-hand lockdown capability provide significant flexibility for user setup, charting, and documentation.

Circle No. 545

WEB NEWS

To Get Athletes Back Into Action Faster, Just Add WaterHydroWorx, a premier manufacturer of aquatic rehabilitation and fitness products, offers innovation in every pool, with fully adjustable floors, underwater treadmills, resistance jets, deep tissue massage, and options to fit every application and bud-get. At the company’s Web site, you can find extensive details on its entire collec-tion of pools: the HydroWorx 2000, 1200, 1100, 1000, 600, 500, ThermalPlunge, and PolarPlunge. These products have proven to be among the most versatile pools for athletic trainers worldwide. Log on to the Rapid Recovery Center at the site to learn how athletic trainers and other clinicians are accelerating their ath-letes’ recovery and getting them back onto the field sooner with HydroWorx.www.hydroworx.com


A D V E R T I S E R S D I R E C T O R YCIRCLE COMPANY PAGE CIRCLE COMPANY PAGE

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500 . . . Adams USA (Bac-Shield) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

527 . . . Adams USA (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

528 . . . AquaJogger (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

519 . . . AquaJogger (TriFit bar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

501 . . . AthletiClean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

553 . . . Avazzia Med-Sport (BEST-RSI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

554 . . . Avazzia Med-Sport (Med-Sport) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

549 . . . Biofreeze®/Hygenic Performance Health® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

555 . . . California University of Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

529 . . . Cho-Pat (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

569 . . . Cho-Pat (Compression Sleeve) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

502 . . . CleenFreek SportsHygiene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

548 . . . Cold One (Two Cool) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

504 . . . Covidien . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

530 . . . Creative Health Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

503 . . . CSG/SportsCoatings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

557 . . . CytoSport (Cytomax) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

556 . . . CytoSport (Muscle Milk Collegiate) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

531 . . . DM Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

532 . . . Dynatronics (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

570 . . . Dynatronics (X5 Oscillation Device) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

533 . . . G&W Heel Lift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

534 . . . Gear 2000 (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

505 . . . Gear 2000 (Z-Cool shoulder pads) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

512 . . . GymWipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

558 . . . HeartSine Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

571 . . . HQ, Inc. (CorTemp™) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

517 . . . Human Kinetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

506 . . . Molnlycke Health Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

536 . . . Mueller (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

507 . . . Mueller (Whizzer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

562 . . . NASM (Corrective Exercise Specialist) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

561 . . . NASM (Performance Enhancement) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

520 . . . NZ Mfg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

537 . . . OPTP (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

563 . . . OPTP (Foam Roller Techniques) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

518 . . . OPTP (The MyoTool) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

538 . . . Perform Better (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

560 . . . Perform Better (Posture Ball) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

539 . . . Power Lift (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

515 . . . Power Lift (Combo Power Rack) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

564 . . . Power Lift (Dual Stack Functional Trainer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

540 . . . Power Systems (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

522 . . . Power Systems (Water Cuffs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

521 . . . Power Systems (Water Flotation Belt) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

516 . . . Pro-Tec Athletics (product launch) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

541 . . . Pro-Tec (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

550 . . . Pro-Tec (Ice Up) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

565 . . . Samson (Belt Squat) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

542 . . . Samson (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

566 . . . Save-A-Tooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

508 . . . Silver Leaf Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

567 . . . Source 1 Medical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

511 . . . SportPharm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

525 . . . Sprint Aquatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

510 . . . StaphAseptic by Tec Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

543 . . . StaphAseptic by Tec Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

509 . . . Stromgren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

544 . . . SwimEx (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

523 . . . SwimEx (pool) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

524 . . . SwimEx (treadmill) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

545 . . . Thera-Band®/Hygenic Performance Health® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

559 . . . Thera-Band®/Hygenic Performance Health® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

546 . . . Thought Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

568 . . . Thought Technology (FlexComp Infiniti) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

547 . . . TurfCordz/NZ Mfg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

535 . . . VertiMax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

552 . . . Whitehall Manufacturing (moist heat) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

551 . . . Whitehall Manufacturing (ThermaSplint) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

132 . . . Adams USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

118 . . . AquaJogger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

126 . . . AthletiClean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

114 . . . Avazzia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

106 . . . Biofreeze®/Hygenic Performance Health® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

125 . . . California University of Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

102 . . . Cho-Pat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

130 . . . CleenFreek SportsHygiene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

142 . . . Cold One (Two Cool) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

133 . . . Covidien . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

110 . . . Creative Health Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

134 . . . CSG/SportsCoatings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

140 . . . Dynatronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC

113 . . . G&W Heel Lift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

101 . . . Gatorade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-3

135 . . . Gear 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

131 . . . GymWipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

124 . . . Hibiclens (Molnlycke Health Care). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

123 . . . Hibistat (Molnlycke Health Care) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

128 . . . HQ, Inc. (CorTemp™) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

111 . . . Indiana Athletic Trainers Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

100 . . . Mettler Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IFC

138 . . . Mueller Sports Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

141 . . . Muscle Milk (CytoSport) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OBC

121 . . . NASM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

105 . . . Neuro Resource Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

108 . . . OPTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

104 . . . Perform Better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

139 . . . Perform Better (seminars) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

103 . . . Power Lift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

112 . . . Pro-Tec Athletics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

116 . . . Samson Weight Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

129 . . . Silver Leaf Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

127 . . . SportPharm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

119 . . . Sprint Aquatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

137 . . . StaphAseptic by Tec Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

136 . . . Stromgren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

117 . . . SwimEx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

120 . . . Thought Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

109 . . . TurfCordz/NZ Mfg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

115 . . . VertiMax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

122 . . . Whitehall Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40


MORE PRODUCTS

Avazzia214-575-2820www.avazzia.com

The BEST-RSI™ is an FDA-cleared microcurrent biofeedback electrostimu-lation device from Avazzia that interac-

tively detects the body’s response and adapts the microcur-rent stimulus, so every

output signal is modified according to the body’s response. The result is improved non-pharmaceutical relief from pain, quicker return of range of motion, and accelerated return to activities. This battery-operated, hand-held unit is easy to use and delivers outstanding results.

Circle No. 553

The next generation of the Med-Sport interactive biofeedback therapy device from Avazzia detects and adapts to the microcur-rent stimulus, so every output signal is modified according to the body’s response. The result is improved non-pharmaceutical relief and accelerated return to activities. It offers microcur-rent electrotherapy with automatic interactive biofeedback, all in an eco-nomical handheld unit with auto time-out. This device is not just a TENS unit. Administer an automatic biofeed-back system with various frequencies of pulsed or damped bi-phasic sinusoi-dal waveforms. Avazzia has earned the prestigious ISO13485 quality supplier certification.

Circle No. 554

California University of Pennsylvania

866-595-6348www.cup.edu/go

California University of Pennsylvania has helped build the character and careers of its students for more than

150 years. Cal U’s dedication to pro-viding high-qual-ity, in-demand programs to its students contin-

ues through the University’s Global Online 100-percent online programs of study. Through an asynchronous for-mat, Global Online allows students the opportunity to complete coursework anytime, anywhere. All that’s required is a computer with Internet access. Go online for more information.

Circle No. 555

CytoSport, Inc.888-298-6629www.cytosport.com

CytoSport has introduced the new Muscle Milk Collegiate energy bar. With 150 calories, three grams of fiber, and 11 grams of the company’s high-quality multi-source protein blend, this bar is big on taste and big on results. Muscle Milk Collegiate bars are permissible under NCAA bylaw 16.5.2.2 for nutritional supplements and are a great addition to any post-workout nutrition program. They’re available in vanilla, toffee, and choco-late peanut caramel flavors. For more information, visit CytoSport online.**NCAA is a registered trademark of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Circle No. 556

Drink Cytomax from CytoSport while training or exercising to ensure proper hydration, electrolyte replacement, energy balance, and reduced fatigue.

Drink it 15 minutes prior to training and consistently during work-outs for the best results. Patented alpha L-polylactate

buffers lactic acid production and minimizes post-exercise muscle sore-ness. Complex carbs provide sustained energy without the sugar “crash” and antioxidants help prevent free-radical damage to muscle cells.

Circle No. 557

HeartSine Technologies866-478-7463www.heartsine.com

Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death. If it happens in your workplace, be prepared. The HeartSine

Samaritan PAD is the most compact, easiest to use, most durable automatic external defibrilla-tor (AED) available, making it an ideal choice for athletic programs and sports teams. For more

information, call HeartSine Technologies or visit the company’s Web site.

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Thera-Band®/Hygenic Performance Health®

800-246-3733www.thera-band.com

The new Thera-Band® Rehab and Wellness Station is designed for strength, balance, and core training. It features Thera-Band clip-connect resis-tance tubing, stability trainers, and the new Pro Series SCP™ exercise ball. It pro-vides three planes of movement for upper- and lower-extremity strength training. Slide tracks provide signifi-cant flexibility for user setup, charting, and documentation. Each unit includes four posters with 115 exercises, plus a CD with more than 170 exercises for resis-tance bands or tubing, exercise balls, and balance boards.

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Perform Better 800-556-7464 www.performbetter.com

Perform Better presents the new Posture Ball. Its small size helps

release muscle tension in hard-to-reach places. It is great for myofascial release and maintaining body

posture. Made of closed-cell EVA foam materials, the Posture Ball is available in six-inch and eight-inch sizes. This durable and lightweight product retains its shape after exercise. See the Posture Ball in the 2008 Perform Better catalog. Request your copy today by calling or going online.

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NASM800-460-6276www.nasm.org

The NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM-PES) advanced spe-cialization offers professionals the ability

to learn cutting-edge performance assess-ment techniques and sport-specific program design. Individuals with

this credential deliver consistent results in rehabilitation, reconditioning, and performance enhancement. Learn to individualize integrated training programs to keep your athletes performing at the highest level, and utilize the OPT™ method for outstanding, measurable results. The PES offers scientifically valid, evidence-based applications that help you achieve remarkable results with top professionals and weekend warriors alike. CEUs: NASM 1.9; NSCA 1.6; ACE 1.8; NATABOC 27.

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NASM’s Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES) advanced specialization provides you with evidence-based knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve superior results with clients suf-fering from musculo-skeletal impairments, imbalances, and post-rehabilitation concerns. Comprising nine modules that cover advanced corrective topics such as movement assessment, inhibitory tech-niques, muscle activation techniques, and common musculoskeletal impair-ments, the CES integrates innovative science and solutions for optimal suc-cess. Go online to find out more.

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OPTP800-367-7393www.optp.com

The convenient Foam Roller Techniques poster set is broken down by upper- and lower-body exercises. At 18” x 24” each, the posters are an ideal resource for fitness centers,

rehab facilities, homes, and even the office. For more informa-tion about

these posters and other products, call OPTP or visit the company online.

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Power Lift800-872-1543www.power-lift.com

Power Lift’s Dual Stack Functional Trainer is an ideal equipment piece for every strength and fitness facility. Two 200-pound weight stacks feature a 2:1 resistance level that is ideal for

both strength train-ing and rehabilita-tion movements. Standard features include Power Lift’s patented Rotating Chin-Up Handles, weight stack guards, acces-

sory storage handles, and two D-ring handles. The wide opening is ideal for users working on a physio ball.

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Samson Weight Training Equipment

800-472-6766www.samsonequipment.com

The new Samson Belt Squat is yet another way Samson Equipment is lead-ing the way in custom heavy-duty weight training equipment. The brand new design limits the amount of floor space needed for this unique piece, and it’s easy for ath-letes of all dif-ferent sizes to use. It features adjustable han-dles, a unique load release that brings the athlete’s hands closer together while performing the exercise, an adjustable yoke that allows each athlete’s hips to stay in their natural range of motion, and an adjustable chain with three different size belts. Go online to learn more.

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Save-A-Tooth®888-788-6684www.save-a-tooth.com

Without proper care, a knocked-out tooth begins to die in 15 minutes. The Save-A-Tooth® emergency tooth pre-serving system utilizes Hank’s Balanced

Salt Solution (HBSS) to not only pre-serve, but also reconstitute many of the degenerated cells. The patented basket

and net con-tainer are designed to protect tooth root cells. This is the only system

that keeps tooth cells alive for up to 24 hours.

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Source 1 Medical800-217-6690www.source1medical.com

The 2738K Intelect TranSport® Combo is equally adept on the go and in the clinic. The unit’s unique design makes it ideal for tabletop, wall mount, therapy cart, or mobile use. It features fully functional 1 and 3.3 MHz frequencies, two channels of electrical stimu-lation output, 10 user-defined memory positions for user protocols, and four standard waveforms: interferential, pre-modulated, Russian, and high-voltage. This unit has pulsed and continuous therapy operation (10, 20, 50, and 100 percent), a lightweight design, a bat-tery option, and a custom carrying bag for convenient portability.

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Thought Technology800-361-3651www.thoughttechnology.com

During the past 34 years, more than 10,000 Olympic and professional ath-letes have used Thought Technology’s biofeedback equipment. The FlexComp Infiniti 10-channel system is being used

to assess muscle fatigue by some of the best ath-letes in the world. All your

needs are met in a monitoring system that monitors your athlete with BioGraph Infiniti software. Acquire data in the field using compact flash memory or a moni-tor and train your athlete directly to your PC or wirelessly up to 300 feet away.

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MORE PRODUCTS


Implementing the art and science of performance and well-being.

www.chekinstitute.com

Winning taste... Championship results.

www.cytosport.com

Manufacturer and distributor of advanced-technology medical and rehabilitation equipment, supplies, and treatment tables.

www.dynatronics.com

The ultimate pool for home, healthcare, and sports.

www.hydroworx.com

Hammer Strength is a world-leading brand of plate-loaded equipment.

www.hammerstrength.com

Manufacturer of quality therapeutic devices and supplies for 50 years.www.mettlerelectronics.com

Supplier of quality tools and resources for more than 30 years.

www.optp.com

Equipment for training without straining.

www.shuttlesystems.com

Custom weight training equipment built for strength since 1976.www.samsonequipment.com

Here is what these companies are most known for...Calling Cards

Cho-Pat800-221-1601www.cho-pat.com

Cho-Pat’s Shin Splint Compression Sleeve eases the pain associated with shin splints. Designed and evaluated by medical professionals, this unique

device tackles inflamma-tion and discomfort by using gentle compres-sion to support the lower leg muscles. It also stimulates circulation, maintains warmth, and controls excess fluid. Finally, two straps act as shock absorbers to reduce microtrauma to

the tendons and other soft tissue and keep the device in proper position. Call Cho-Pat or visit the company’s Web site for more information.

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Dynatronics800-874-6251www.dynatronics.com

The new Dynatron X5 Soft-Tissue Oscillation Device is a highly effective treatment for both acute and chronic

pain. This remark-able machine features two inde-

pendent channels and six treatment modes, and includes both large and small treatment probes. Featuring four frequency sweeps, frequency ranges from 0 to 200 Hz, a conductance meter, and a two-year warranty, the X5 is cost-effective and affordable. Feeling is believing: For a free demonstration, call your Dynatronics dealer or contact the company to learn more.

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HQ, Inc.941-723-4197www.hqinc.net

Research indicates that external meth-ods of temperature measurement are not accurate in assessing core body temperature during intense activity in the heat. The CorTemp™ system, featuring the CorTemp ingestible core

body temperature pill and data moni-tor, provides an easy, affordable approach to assessing elevated core temperature on the field. It can also be used to monitor the effectiveness of cool-ing methods on the

sidelines. CorTemp is FDA-cleared and used by professional and collegiate teams nationwide. Order early for this year’s heat season.

Circle No. 571

MORE PRODUCTS

CEU QUIZ


T&C March 2008Volume XVIII, No. 2

Training & Conditioning is pleased to provide NATA and NSCA members with the opportunity to earn continuing educa-tion units through reading issues of the magazine. The following quiz is based on articles that appear in this issue of Training & Conditioning. By satisfactorily completing the quiz and mailing it to MAG, Inc., readers can earn 2.0 BOC Athletic Training and 0.2 NSCA (two hours) continuing education units.

Instructions: Fill in the circle on the answer form (on page 78) that represents the best answer for each of the questions below. Complete the form at the bottom of page 78, include a $25 payment to MAG, Inc., and mail it by May 30, 2008 to the following address: MAG, Inc., ATTN: T&C 18.2 Quiz, 31 Dutch Mill Road, Ithaca, NY 14850. Readers who correctly answer 70 percent of the questions will be notified of their earned credit by mail within 30 days.

The Better To Heal You With (pages 13-18)Objective: Understand the most recent research on how nutritional intake can affect an athlete’s rehabili-tation progress.

1. Research has shown that dietary fat is a key factor during what rehab stage?a) Post-injury inflammation period.b) Inflammatory period.c) Chronic phase.d) Training phase.

2. Research suggests athletes should decrease _____ and increase _____ post-injury.a) Vitamin A, Vitamin D.b) Omega-3, omega-6.c) Omega-6, omega-3.d) Omega-6, Vitamin C.

3. Some authors recommend injured athletes consume how many grams of fish oil per day?a) One to two.b) Two to four.c) Three to nine.d) Nine to 15.

4. What is an example of an Omega-3 rich food?a) Cottonseed oil.b) Beef.c) Sunflower oil.d) Flax seed.

5. Research has shown that increased consumption of nuts, seeds, and olive oil can:a) Decrease satiety.b) Reduce performance.c) Mildly reduce inflammatory biomarkers.d) Significantly increase inflammation.

6. What ratio should fats be balanced at during rehabilitation?a) 2 saturated: 1 polyunsaturated.b) 1 saturated: 1 polyunsaturated: 1 monounsaturated.c) 1 polyunsaturated: 1 monounsaturated.d) 1 saturated: 2 polyunsaturated: 1 monounsaturated.

7. After the inflammation stage, the focus of rehab nutrition shifts to what?a) Endurance.b) Glycogen loading.c) Energy intake.d) Low carbohydrate intake.

8. Basal metabolic rate may increase:a) 25 percent during the season.b) 15 to 20 percent after injury.c) 60 percent with significant injury or surgery.d) Five percent after injury.

9. A standard clinical recommendation for protein intake is _____ grams per kilogram of body weight per day in healthy individuals and _____ grams per kilogram of body weight per day in athletes undergoing rehabilitation.a) 0.8, 1.0.b) 0.8, 2.0.c) 0.7, 3.0.d) 0.5, 3.0.

10. What vitamin helps reverse post-injury immune system suppression?a) A.b) B.c) C.d) D.

11. With vitamin _____ deficiencies, collagen fibers are formed abnormally and fibrous tissue is weak with poor adhesion.a) A.b) B.c) C.d) D.

On The Same Page (pages 22-28)Objective: Get advice on how to work with individual sport coaches who may question your workouts.

12. The author indicates the first step in his formula for success is to:a) Always follow the coach’s direction/lead.b) Only use equipment with a researched background.c) Have sturdy, proven equipment.d) Know who you serve.

Pooling Resources (pages 29-34)Objective: Learn how combining biofeedback with aquatic therapy can get athletes on the road to rehab quickly.

13. A benefit of aquatic therapy may be:a) Decreased joint compression.b) Increased weight bearing.c) Consistent movements with each repetition.d) An overall increase in muscle recruitment.


14. Research indicates that VMO activity generated in waist deep water is what percentage of that generated on land?a) 20.b) 30.c) 40.d) 50.

What A Save! (pages 36-40)Objective: Understand how to construct an effective strength and conditioning program for the goalkeep-ers on your teams.

15. This article discussed the following crucial building blocks for goalies:a) Aerobic training, muscle flexibility, and coordination.b) The metabolic system, muscular strength, muscular endur-

ance, coordination, and quickness.c) Plyometric training, stabilization, and endurance.d) Anaerobic training, core stabilization, and the metabolic

system.

16. What is often to blame when goalkeepers experience a breakdown in form or technique late in a game?a) Coaching.b) Muscle tightness.c) Fatigue.d) Coordination.

17. The keystone component for most successful goalkeepers is:a) Strength.b) Flexibility.c) Quickness.d) A good warmup.

Under The Microscope (pages 41-49)Objective: Get all the questions you have about MRSA, including how to prevent it, answered by experts in the field.

18. The CDC estimates that what percentage of people in the United States are colonized with staph?a) 10 to 15.b) 15 to 25.c) 25 to 30.d) 30 to 35.

19. Jeff Hageman says, “Staph needs _____ to cause a skin infection.”a) Direct contact with the skin.b) A break in the skin.c) A weakened immune system.d) Resistance to antibiotics.

20. Untreated MRSA releases a dangerous toxin called what?a) Methicillin leukocidin.b) Bacterial Meningitis.c) Panton-Valentine leukocidin.d) Valentine Leukemia.

21. Several large studies said _____ percent of skin infections that have pus associated with them are now caused by MRSA bacteria.a) 50.b) 60.c) 70.d) 80.

22. One major key to preventing the spread of MRSA is for athletes to:a) Shower immediately after practice.b) Wear sandals.c) Wear two pair of socks.d) Use fresh towels each game.

23. The new test called the BD GeneOhm StaphSR assay:a) Can identify MRSA in just two hours.b) Is a standard wound culture test.c) Identifies pustules and redness.d) Evaluates spider bites.

24. General guidelines recommend excluding an infected athlete from:a) Entering the training room.b) Activities that involve direct physical contact from others.c) Showering in the public showers.d) Participation.

25. What are some signs that a wound may be infected with MRSA?a) Redness.b) Swelling.c) Formation of a postule.d) All of the above.

Answer sheet is on page 78

CEU QUIZ ANSWER FORM


Instructions: Fill in the circle on the answer form below that represents your selection of the best answer for each of the previ-ous questions. Complete the form at the bottom of this page, include a $25 payment to MAG, Inc., and mail it to the following address: MAG, Inc., ATTN: T&C 18.2 Quiz, 31 Dutch Mill Road, Ithaca, NY 14850, no later than May 30, 2008. Readers who correctly answer 70 percent of the questions will receive 2.0 BOC Athletic Training and 0.2 NSCA (two hours) CEU’s, and will be notified of their earned credit by mail within 30 days.

Last Name ____________________________________ First Name _______________________________ MI______

Title ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Mailing Address ____________________________________________________________________________________

City ________________________________________________ State _________ Zip Code _____________________

Daytime Telephone ( _________ ) ________________________________________

E-Mail Address ____________________________________________________________________________________

Payment Information

❏ $25 check or money order (U.S. Funds only) payable to: MAG, Inc. (please note “T&C 18.2 Quiz” on check)

❏ Visa ❏ Mastercard ❏ Discover ❏ American Express

Account Number _______________________________________________ Expiration Date ____________________

Name on Card _____________________________________ Signature ______________________________________

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ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS


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• Complete quizzes found in the NSCA’s Strength & Conditioning Journal

• Complete online quizzes at www.nsca-cc.org

EARN BOC CEUs

Toll-free: 888-746-2378 I Online: www.nsca-cc.org E-mail: [email protected]

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Next Stop: Web SiteOur editorial continues on www.Training-Conditioning.comHere is a sampling of the editorial now on the Web site:

MONTHLY FEATURES

Underwater Installation Jenks High School in Tulsa, Okla., recently opened its own sports medicine center, which includes everything from an area for student athletic trainers to dress to an underwater treadmill.

Bridging the GapJames Onate, Assistant Professor and Director of the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory at Old Dominion University, discusses the need to improve the understand-ing of applying clinical practice into research and the importance of applying studies into clinical practice.

www.training-conditioning.com/features.html

WEEKLY BLOGS

Grappling with Wrestling InjuriesThe Center for Injury Research and Policy at The Re-search Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital provides T&C with an inside look at their studies of high school athletics injuries in wrestling.

NATA Sues APTA We examine the lawsuit recently fi led by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association against the American Physi-cal Therapy Association.

Performance Enhancement Awareness Dave Ellis, offers his opinions on the Mitchell Report and how to spot an athlete who may be using steroids.

www.training-conditioning.com/blogs.html

WWW.TRAINING-CONDITIONING.COM

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training & conditioning 18.2

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