Growth Plate Injuries are hard to identify unless you know what to look for. Dr. Lindsay Crawford specializes in Pediatric Orthopedics and shares some of her wisdom with the Sports Medicine Broadcast.
The location of the pain is an indicator
Is it at the joint itself or on the bone adjacent?
Dr. Crawford likes to have xrays before doing a lot of special tests on athletes with swelling
How can they verbalize?
Take your time
Look all around
Break it down and say words they understand
Use your normal system for evaluating
Give them a distraction – maybe close their eyes
I try to not clue them into what I am looking at.
Little league elbow – what tips do you have?
Year-round baseball is huge in the southern states where you can play all year long.
You need to have a feel for the parents and kid and know if you can say rest or not throw anything at all other than in a life-threatening situation.
Return to throwing instructions are complex and have a lot of steps.
After they begin their program require them to come back into the clinic to re-evaluate
Speak to the Mental Health of the kids that get shut down.
Know what the patient’s goal is, and form a plan that works and they can follow.
Do we have an end point or goal
The curveball and growth plate injuries?
If there was no pain, and then they started throwing the curve ball and pain started, we need to cut out the curve.
If you have mysterious knee pain then check the hip.
Growing pains are real
Some kids have growing pains
3-6-year-olds, typically have pain in their calf or knee
Mental Health Coordination
Jul 01, 2023
Show notes
Mental Health Coordination is preparation for when a mental health crisis occurs. Amanda Groller and Bubba Wilson discuss things available to Athletic Trainers when they need help.
ATsCare – Professionals responding to professionals
2016 is when it became official
How did it start –
A perfect storm of events.
Jim Thornton had been trained in CISM as an EMT and reached out to him after a wrestler died.
This sparked some conversations and got the train moving.
Many people separate mental health and physical health, but really it is just health.
This statement could help destigmatize mental health
It only makes sense for ATs to have their own CISM tools
Military people want to hear from people in the military, someone who knows their situation.
Having conversations about CISM teams is really important. It gets the ball rolling and allows us to call in support to continue to do the job that we do.
Self-care is emptying your bucket and escaping for a minute.
Compassion fatigue is a problem.
You need to debrief the debriefer
Dr. Jessica Yellen went through a Trauma Informed Yoga Course. This course was meant for the caregivers to release their burdens.
What techniques can you share?
We use this approach:
“What has happened to you?” rather than “What is wrong with you?”
Psychological first aid
Suicide prevention training – get them to the next step alive
Stay within your scope, but know the resources available.
Help simplify the process for the ones struggling. REMOVE THE RED TAPE
QPR training is a good option
Know when to refer
“When you do not know what you do not know you become dangerous” – Dr. Josh Yellen
We are mandatory reporters, but we also have a duty to report people who are struggling.
You are not going to get in trouble for calling 911, you are going to get in trouble for NOT calling.
Build relationships before so that the resources are available.
How do we help people start to process?
My crisis is not your crisis
I can not force you to take the help
Education is one of the best things we can do.
If you did not need help then there would not be available.