Month: January 2016

Youth Sport Safety Governing Bodies Meeting

By Samantha Scarneo, MS, ATC, Director of Youth Sport Safety

2016 YSSGB Meeting Photo

Last week, KSI had the honor of hosting the second annual Youth Sport Safety Governing Bodies meeting with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Jones & Bartlett Learning, and Kestrel, at the National Football League Headquarters, in New York, NY. The goal of this meeting was to improve health and safety standards at the youth sport level. In last years’ meeting the goal was to educate the youth sport governing bodies on top causes of sudden death in sport This years goal was to create a consensus document to serve as a best practices document for all governing bodies and its members to strive towards. This consensus document touches on the top causes of sudden death in sport and polices & procedures of how to improve these safety standards. The attendees of this years meeting included:

Michael Clayton – USA Wrestling

George Chiampas, DO – US Soccer

Elizabeth Chaffin, DPT, ATC and Alexis Colvin, MD– USTA

Lynn Moskovitz-Thompson – USA Gymnastics

Bruce Griffin, PhD – US Lacrosse

Kevin Margarucci, ATC – USA Hockey

Steve Alic – USA Football

Jack Ransone, Phd, ATC – USA Track and Field.

We also had the honor of having key representatives from the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine (Matthew Gammons, MD), National Athletic Trainers Association (Scott Sailor EdD, ATC, Tim Weston Med, ATC, AJ Duffy MS, ATC, PT, Rachael Oats CAE, Katie Scott, MS, ATC), American Academy of Pediatrics (Cynthia LaBella, MD) and Safe Kids Worldwide (Kate Carr, Ali Flury).

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The meeting was moderated by some of the KSI staff (including Robert Huggins, PhD, ATC, Doug Casa, PhD, ATC, Rebecca Stearns, PhD, ATC, Samm Scarneo, MS, ATC, Yuri Hosokawa, MAT, ATC, Lesley Vandermark, MS, ATC, Luke Belval, BS, ATC, and Ryan Curtis, MS, ATC) and was largely discussion based to create a best practice consensus. The first day of the meeting focused on cardiac conditions, emergency action plans, and exertional heat stroke. The second day was moderated identical to the first and focused on head injuries, medical personnel and other conditions (asthma, anaphylaxis, and lightning).

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One of the unique aspects of this meeting is that all of the governing bodies have strong and weak points in different areas. For example, one organization may have extraordinary policies in place for heat acclimatization yet may be very weak in an area of emergency action plans. However, despite the various levels of safety attained by each organization, all attendees had a strong will to improve standards across the board. Dr. Huggins called this meeting “one of the most important meetings that he has been to in his career.” We are hopeful that consensus document will provide a template for all leaders of youth organizations, and their members, to expand health and safety standards for the athletes.

“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

 

Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association Meeting 2016

By William Adams, Director of Sport Safety Policies

EATA Boston 2016

This past weekend KSI traveled to Boston, MA for the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Meeting. KSI had the great opportunity to present during a 2-hour symposium on the recent projects, initiatives, and accomplishments of KSI to the EATA membership. The presentation was very well received and we received a lot of positive feedback following the talk.

Lecture #3 EATA 2016

The talk titled, The Work of the Korey Stringer Institute-Assisting Athletic Trainers and the Profession, was presented by 8 of the staff from KSI. Doug Casa, began the symposium discussing the latest updates on policy changes at the high school level and how policy changes can save athletes lives. Rebecca Stearns followed discussing heat tolerance testing and how KSI has been active in this service area in helping return Exertional Heat Stroke Victims back to full activity. Yuri Hosokawa discussed how KSI utilizes Social Media to share our current initiatives and latest sports medicine related news to our followers.

Lesley Vandermark, Alicia Pike, and Samm Scarneo presented KSI’s work related to investigating the extent of AT services at the high school level. Vandermark presented the results from the Benchmark Study published in Early 2015 by former KSI staff Riana Pryor that showed the extent of AT coverage in public high schools across the United States. Pike followed up with the recent data collected looking at the extent of AT coverage at the Private School setting across the country. Scarneo closed out this topic discussing the ATLAS project, which KSI is partnered with the NATA in helping map the AT services across the United States using an interactive geographical map.

Rob Huggins presented the available data we have on the insurance initiative that we are working on for the NFL. This project is focused on investigating the potential cost savings from an insurance perspective for high schools employing a full time athletic trainer. Lastly, William Adams presented on the current work KSI is doing in the world of wearable technology from both an athlete monitoring perspective and current research being conducted examining the validity and efficacy of using wearable technology in measuring hydration status during exercise.

KSI Group Photo EATA 2016

We are hoping to get the chance to present our current work at other district/regional AT meetings to keep other Athletic Trainers aware of what KSI is doing and how KSI is promoting the profession of Athletic Training from many different avenues.

2017 NATA Meeting Preview

Rachel Katch, MS, ATC 

Associate Director of Military and Occupational Safety

 

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On June 26th – 29th, members of both the Korey Stringer Institute’s (KSI) staff and Medical & Science Advisory Board will be traveling to Houston, Texas to present at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) 68th Clinical Symposia & AT Expo. Topics for dissemination range from the most up-to-date biomechanical research, to preventing sudden death in sport, all the way to new ground-breaking research regarding insurance costs for athletic trainers. No matter the topic, these presentations will provide those in attendance with evidence based research and information pertinent to enhancing the athletic training profession. Specific dates, times, and locations for each presentation being disseminated by the KSI staff and Medical & Science Advisory Board members are available below in Table 1. Hope to see you at the NATA Clinical Symposia, and always, please make sure to come and see us at our KSI booth at the AT Expo!

 

KSI Medical & Science Advisory Board Presentations

Lindsay DiStefano, PhD, ATC, from the University of Connecticut (UConn) will be disseminating multiple presentations during the course of the symposium. One presentation is titled, “Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Prevention Strategies: Translation of Research Findings into Clinical Practice,” and focuses on introducing the most current ACL injury prevention research and the evidence behind it. Additionally, Dr. DiStefano has a feature presentation during the session, “Lower Limb Preventative Training Programs Best Practice,” titled, “Effectiveness of Lower Limb Preventive Training Programs at Reducing Injuries.” This presentation will focus on educating attendees about the effectiveness, best practices, and implementation of preventative training programs.

 

Kevin Guskiewicz, PhD, ATC from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill will be presenting, “Catastrophic Traumatic Injuries in Sport,” during the session titled, “Catastrophic Sports Injury and Illnesses Among US College and High Schools.” This is a feature presentation alongside Douglas Casa, PhD, ATC, FNATA who will also be speaking during this session with a presentation titled, “Catastrophic Heat and Exertional-Related Conditions Among Athletes.” This session will focus on the incidence and characteristics of catastrophic events, and evidence-based policies and recommendations to minimize the risk of these events in the future.

 

From the University of South Florida, Rebecca Lopez, PhD, ATC will be presenting, “Exertional Heat Illness in Younger Athletes,” as well as a learning lab titled, “Recognition and Treatment of Exertional Heat Stroke.” The purpose of the first evidence-based forum is to provide clinicians with the best evidence-based clinical practice regarding the prevention, recognition, treatment, and return to play for the most common exertional heat illnesses. Second, the learning lab will focus on providing clinicians with the knowledge and opportunity to practice rectal thermometry and cold water immersion in a safe learning environment.

 

Also from the UConn, Stephanie Mazerolle, PhD, ATC, FNATA in the session, “A Multi-Level Examination of Career Intentions and Work-Life Balance,” will be presenting, “Individual Elements that Influence the Development of Career Planning and Work-Life Balance.”  This is a feature presentation that will examine and discuss research available regarding alternative therapies utilized in the clinical setting to promote work-life balance. Additionally, Brendon McDermott, PhD, ATC from the University of Arkansas will be presenting, “Exertional Heat Illness in Younger Athletes.” This committee session will focus on providing clinicians with the best evidence-based clinical practice regarding the prevention, recognition, treatment, and return to play for the most common exertional heat illnesses.

 

Lastly, Kevin Miller, PhD, AT, ATC from Central Michigan University will be presenting, “New Advances in Exertional Heatstroke Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention.” This special topic presentation will discuss recent experimental studies that address the necessity of equipment removal prior to initiating cold-water immersion; whether cooling garments can prevent the onset of hyperthermia or affect hydration status; whether temperate water can be used to effectively cool hyperthermic humans; and how far into the rectum Athletic Trainers should insert a thermometer to obtain the most valid data.

 

KSI Staff Presentations

Multiple KSI staff will be presenting in a session titled, “Enhancing Safety of Secondary School Athletics Through Policy Change,” including Alicia Pike, MS, ATC, Robert Huggins, PhD, ATC, and William Adams, PhD, ATC. Individually, their presentation titles are, “Examining Sport Safety Policies in Secondary Schools: An Analysis of States’ Progress Toward and Barriers to Policy Implementation,” “State High School Athletics Policy Change Successes and Barriers: Results from the Collaborative Solutions for Safety in Sport Meeting,” and, “Current Status of Evidence-Based Best Practice Recommendations in Secondary School Athletics,” respectively. This feature presentation will provide participants with evidence describing the barriers associated with implementing policy change from a state administrative level and the steps that have been made to initiate change to protect secondary school student athletes.

 

Additionally in a session titled, “The Secondary School AT Value Model, Minimizing Cost and Maximizing Safety from an Insurance Perspective,” Yuri Hosokawa, MAT, ATC, and Robert Huggins, PhD, ATC, will be disseminating their respective presentations titled, “Optimizing the Direction of Care: A Secondary Insurance Claims Analysis,” and, “We Can’t Afford to Hire an AT…You Can’t Afford Not To! Reducing Risk, Saving Money, and Saving Lives.” In this committee session presented by the NATA Initiative, the speakers will: (1) discuss ways athletic training services may directly benefit multiple entities (insurance providers, policy holders, and school districts), (2) critically assess the secondary insurance cost to identify unnecessary medical costs, and (3) minimize the financial burden of secondary schools through injury prevention and appropriate risk management.

 

Lastly, Robert Huggins, PhD, ATC will present, “An Overview of the Secondary Schools ATLAS Project: Where Are We Now?” in the session, “Out of the Fire and Into the Frying Pan.” This committee session presented by the Secondary School Athletic Trainers’ Committee will outline the use of the ATLAS project to show the concentration of secondary school athletic trainers and its value for potential networking within and between states and organizations.

 

Table 1. List of Presenters

Presenter

Presentation Title

Time / Location

 

TUESDAY, JUNE 27th, 2017

 
Rebecca Lopez, PhD, ATC Exertional Heat Illness in Younger Athletes 8:15 AM

BCC, Room 370

Stephanie Mazerolle, PhD, ATC, FNATA Individual Elements that Influence the Development of Career Planning and Work-Life Balance 8:15 AM

BCC, General Assembly A

Brendon McDermott, PhD, ATC Exertional Heat Illness in Younger Athletes 8:15 AM

BCC, Room 370

Kevin Miller, PhD, AT, ATC New Advances in Exertional Heatstroke Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention 10:45 AM

BCC, Grand Ballroom C

Rebecca Lopez, PhD, ATC Recognition and Treatment of Exertional Heat Stroke 1:30 PM

BCC, Room 342

Robert Huggins, PhD, ATC An Overview of the Secondary Schools ATLAS Project: Where Are We Now? 2:10 PM

BCC, Grand Ballroom A

  WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28th, 2017  
Kevin Guskiewicz, PhD, ATC Catastrophic Traumatic Injuries in Sport 7:00 AM

BCC, General Assembly A

Douglas Casa, PhD, ATC, FNATA Catastrophic Heat and Exertional-Related Conditions Among Athletes 7:30 AM

BCC, General Assembly A

Lindsay DiStefano, PhD, ATC Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Prevention Strategies: Translation of Research Findings into Clinical Practice 7:30 AM

BCC, Room 370

  THURSDAY, JUNE 29th, 2017  
Lindsay DiStefano, PhD, ATC Effectiveness of Lower Limb Preventive Training Programs at Reducing Injuries 10:45 AM

BCC, General Assembly B

Robert Huggins, PhD, ATC “We Can’t Afford to Hire an AT”… “You Can’t Afford Not To!” Reducing Risk, Saving Money, and Saving Lives 10:45 AM

BCC, Grand Ballroom B

 

Yuri Hosokawa, MAT, ATC Optimizing the Direction of Care: A Secondary Insurance Claims Analysis 11:15 AM

BCC, Grand Ballroom B

William Adams, PhD, ATC Current Status of Evidence-Based Best Practice Recommendations in Secondary School Athletics 3:30 PM

BCC, General Assembly A

Robert Huggins, PhD, ATC State High School Athletics Policy Change Successes and Barriers: Results from the Collaborative Solutions for Safety in Sport Meeting 4:00 PM

BCC, General Assembly A

 

Alicia Pike, MS, ATC Examining Sport Safety Policies in Secondary Schools: An Analysis of States’ Progress Toward and Barriers to Policy Implementation 4:30 PM

BCC, General Assembly A