Photo by Clara Miller
Most student athletes can agree that, no matter the sport, injuries are common when playing at the high school level. Serious or not, Franklin, among all other PPS schools, is lucky to be able to have on-site care for our athletes’ injuries on the daily. We have access to athletic trainers as well as a training room for treatment at no cost whatsoever. Now that care is so accessible to students, the training room located in the gym is packed every day after school. Our trainer this year is Stephanie Lyda. Lyda is there at school almost every day, and when she’s not, you can find her at a PIL sporting match, attending to the athletes there. Each trainer from every school in Portland takes turns working games. Lyda has seen it all, and has found that specific sports will experience different injuries depending on the level of play. “The most common injuries I see would have to be ankle sprains and lower leg injuries. But it depends on which sports are in season,” said Lyda.
Specific injuries to specific sports include:
Soccer and football: ankle sprains, knee sprains, and concussions.
Volleyball: ankle sprains and wrist injuries.
Cross Country: overuse injuries (tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, IT band syndrome).
Basketball: ankle sprains, finger injuries, and concussions.
Wrestling: concussions and shoulder injuries.
Track & Field: shin splints (also known as medial tibial stress syndrome) and muscle strains (mostly quads and hamstrings).
Baseball & Softball: elbow and shoulder tendonitis.
Tennis: elbow and wrist tendonitis.
“The sports not listed tend to stay pretty healthy!” Lyda said.
Once diagnosed from a proper inspection from Lyda, students can experience a range of treatments such as icing, taping, rolling out, biking on the stationary bikes, or specific stretches. The list is endless. “For more severe injuries, this may start out with ice, rest, and gentle range of motion exercises, gradually progressing to more dynamic exercises that mimic that athletes sport. For less severe injuries, a few corrective exercises and/or corrective taping is all the athlete may need to return to play,” said Lyda. If there is a more severe injury, Lyda may need to recommend outside diagnosis and treatment, as there is only so much she can do as a certified trainer. Despite this fact, athletic training has improved immensely over the past couple years. There used to be no trainer required and athletes used to have to seek care outside of school and pay the full price. Even just moving back into the new campus has been an amazing change with the new facility. “Treatment has improved a great deal since moving back into the Franklin campus from the Marshall campus. The accessibility of the training room to athletes, along with the addition of some very useful rehab tools, has helped me in providing better care for student-athletes,” said Lyda.
Along with treatment, athletes can receive advice for prevention exercises that could be the factor in getting reinjured. “A proper warm-up before practice and games, paired with foam rolling and stretching outside of practice can help with injury prevention. However two things many athletes neglect are sleep and nutrition. Getting 8-10 hours of sleep a night as well as eating a balanced diet filled with whole foods is a hugely important part of recovering from intense training and competition. This proper recovery will not only improve performance in your sport, but sharply decrease chance of injury as well,” said Lyda. Hydration is also a huge key in preventing injury, especially in the upcoming hot summer months. Lyda encourages athletes to follow these prevention protocols, and to make sure to always stop by with any questions or concerns.
