{"id":11065,"date":"2014-04-16T16:38:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T20:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=11065"},"modified":"2014-05-01T09:41:39","modified_gmt":"2014-05-01T13:41:39","slug":"sports-injuries-national-forum-utc-addresses-student-athletes-health-welfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2014\/04\/sports-injuries-national-forum-utc-addresses-student-athletes-health-welfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports injuries: national forum at UTC addresses student athletes\u2019 health and welfare"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an effort to put a national spotlight on student athlete health and safety, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga hosted a \u201cSports Injury Epidemic\u201d conference to address specific administrative recommendations that ensure the effectiveness of sports medicine programs in school settings. These guidelines will help to reduce the occurrence of acute, chronic or catastrophic injury, ensure a clear chain of command, and guide the selection and evaluation of the sports medicine team. School accountability and the vital role of parent advocacy efforts were also addressed by a national panel of speakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The program is held in partnership with Erlanger Health System and the National Athletic Trainers\u2019 Association (NATA). \u00a0In its continued commitment to sports safety, NATA hosted the fifth annual Youth Sports Safety Summit in March and addressed the need for a culture change in sports. Additionally, the University of Georgia will host a three-day conference on \u201cBest Practices for Intercollegiate Sports Medicine Management,\u201d May 5-7, 2014, to continue this vital dialogue and to reinforce the recommendations.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s program reinforces a clear chain of command and agreed upon communication when it comes to proper protocols should an athlete go down on the playing field,\u201d said Bill Moore Smith, MD, head team physician, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and medical director for sports medicine, UT College of Medicine and Erlanger Health System. \u201cUTC developed this forum with student athlete health and welfare as a first priority. We will continue to champion this program and the important perspectives all speakers shared in addressing accountability and injury prevention and treatment.”<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the heels of the Youth Sports Safety Summit just weeks ago, we remain challenged to address student athlete safety from accountability and best practice point of view,\u201d added NATA president Jim Thornton, MA, ATC, CES. \u201cWith the continued pressures on coaches to win, players to excel and sports medicine teams to ensure best care with no conflict of interest, we hope today\u2019s program provides a clear and consistent roadmap that ensures player safety first.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interassociation consensus statement, \u201cBest Practices for Sports Medicine Management for Secondary Schools and Colleges\u201d served as a cornerstone of today\u2019s event and was recently published in the Journal of Athletic Training, <\/i>NATA\u2019s scientific publication. To read the statement please visit: <\/i>http:\/\/natajournals.org\/doi\/full\/10.4085\/1062-6050-49.1.06<\/a>. Representative organizations include NATA, NCAA, the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Federation of State High Schools among other leading sport and health care groups.<\/p>\n

Brian Hainline, MD, chief medical officer, National Collegiate Athletic Association, <\/b>discussed the need for school athletic programs to eliminate any appearance of conflict of interest by becoming transparently accountable. He reinforced that institutions must affirm that sports medicine providers are empowered to make best-interest decisions regarding the athlete at all times and in all settings; and that this must be clearly communicated both in policy and in practice.<\/p>\n

<\/b>Brooke de Lench, executive director, MomsTEAM Institute,<\/b> addressed <\/i>how youth sports parents are working in their communities to make high school sports safer. She sourced her PBS documentary \u201cThe Smartest Team: Making High School Football Safer\u201d to show how the concerns of a football mom about the alarming number of concussions on her son\u2019s team led one Oklahoma community, working as a team, to implement a comprehensive concussion risk management program; overcome the culture of resistance to concussion reporting; and reduce the concussion rate by 75 percent.<\/p>\n

Ron Courson, ATC, PT, senior associate athletic director for sports medicine, University of Georgia<\/b>, outlined the best practice recommendations which provide superintendents of schools, secondary school athletic directors, college\/university athletic department administrators, athletic trainers and team\/school physicians with important considerations regarding duties and responsibilities of each sports medicine team member. Highlights include:<\/p>\n