The athletic trainers have always worked hard for our sake; now it is our turn to help them out. Malia Murphy is the only certified athletic trainer on campus and she trains the students who work with her. The athletic trainers are here to help and will do whatever they can to prevent any injuries and/or heal them. The best thing that we can do to help them is take care of ourselves and avoid minor injuries that can be avoided.
The athletic trainers have highly recommended to ice any areas that have been hurting in the past or any areas that slightly hurt. These areas need to be taken care of early on so that they do not become major injuries that could be permanent. It is easier to deal with the injury while it is minor, rather than later when it becomes a bigger problem.
If you know you have a recurring injury, make sure to take care of it early on before it starts hurting. The trainers encourage you to come in for any rehab that you need and to keep up with any stretches that they recommend. If you know you had a rough practice and you pushed yourself harder than usual, go get some ice just in case to avoid serious injury. Halle Fransen, one of the student athletic trainers recommended, “Come in and do rehab to make the injuries better and to listen to what is recommended.” Make sure you take plenty of time to stretch before and after practice. Malia recommended, “Watch your nutrition and build up your strength by watching what you eat and lifting weights and conditioning your body to keep up with your athletic activities.” She would also prefer if you ask as many questions as you need to be able to care for your injury. She will not be upset if you ask the questions that you need.
To make things easier for the trainers, they would like if the athletes were considerate of the times that they come in for rehab, stretches, ice, etc. The athletic trainers are usually in the athletic training room around 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Malia said she is in the athletic training room during those times for the most part until around 4:00 p.m. when she has to go and stop by all of the sports that are working that day and provide water and check up on the teams.
Fransen stated “We try our best to take care of all the athletes to get them game and practice ready.” Overall, the trainers want to help the students to the best of their ability and want the students to stay safe and healthy.