Athletic trainer serves up advice for weekend sports enthusiasts

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

What?s better than a pick-up game of flag football during a nice, crisp, fall weekend? Well, other than winning, not coming away with an injury.

Andrew Niemann, athletic trainer at Iowa Wesleyan University, said for those weekend warriors who are looking for a little sports therapy, there are some easy preventative measures that can be taken to make sure they stay injury free and able to head back to work on Monday.

?A soft issue injury, like a hamstring strain or quadriceps strain, is most prevalent for that population,? said Niemann.

Niemann said obviously hydration is key, but to also make sure to warm up properly and cool down afterwards. ?I usually tell people to do a dynamic warm up, do some light jogging or run in place until you start to sweat. That tells you your body, your internal temperature, has come up to a point that you?re ready to start doing some dynamic or static stretching.?

Niemann said things considered ?old school? stretching, like jumping jacks or high knees, would be considered a dynamic stretching and help to get muscles ready for activity. Static stretching would be sitting in place and stretching out muscles, like hamstrings and quadriceps, and holding the stretch.

As for his student athletes, Niemann said trainers and coaches do their best to make sure students are playing safe. ?Here at IWU, to make sure our athletes are hydrated we track their weight. We make sure they?re hydrated when they come in and we weigh them before and after practice. They have certain amounts of fluids they have to drink based off of how much weight they lose,? said Niemann.

Niemann said right now is football season and he and assistant athletic trainer, Dave Stecker, as well as IWU and Mt. Pleasant coaches, are very cognizant of concussions. Niemann said players are being trained on new tackling practices to avoid causing concussions.

Stecker said ankle and shoulder injuries are also very common, especially for volleyball players.

?I put together a little shoulder prevention program for the volleyball team,? he said. ?I gave them simple exercises they could do right before warm ups or practice just to keep the muscles engaged and prevent the overuse portion of injuries.?

As for weekend players, Niemann said if you feel off after a game sometimes just an ice pack wouldn?t cover it.

?The most important thing is if something that is not normal persists, you should get it checked out,? said Niemann. ?Especially if it?s in the lower extremity and you feel like you can?t walk normal or you?re walking with a limp, you should get it evaluated because there?s most likely some kind of injury.?