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Athletic trainers figure into skating championships
During the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held in Spokane in January, 13 Whitworth students joined teams of doctors, athletic trainers and physical therapists from Group Health to provide nearly around-the-clock medical care for competing athletes.
"Our athletic-training students learned about sports psychology from a realworld perspective and were able to apply their knowledge and skills to caring for some of the world's best figure skaters," says Director of the Athletic Training Education Program Russ Richardson.
The Whitworth students, along with two students from Eastern Washington University, worked under the direction of Ed Reisman, M.D., the medical director for the championships, who is also a family-practice physician and former competitive skater.
Richardson and other medical and skating experts instructed the students about the specific medical, biomechanical and psychological issues faced by elite figure skaters. The course covered topics ranging from conditioning and common injuries to the anatomy of a double toe loop. Instruction took place both in the classroom and on the ice, and included a simulation of an emergency response to a serious skating injury.
Students were incorporated into medical teams that were at rinkside at both skating venues, and at a medical suite in the skaters' official hotel for up to 18 hours a day when skaters were training or performing. The students assisted in providing comprehensive medical care, including initial injury assessment, application of therapies, first aid, and preventive activities such as stretching and massage.
The athletic-training personnel were joined at the championships (at least in voice) by one of Whitworth's favorite writers and speakers. The opening ceremonies featured the Spokane Youth Orchestra's performance of Vivaldi's "Winter" (from The Four Seasons), as well as a recorded reading, by Whitworth English Professor Leonard Oakland, of the sonnet Vivaldi wrote to describe the coldest time of the year. Oakland adapted the words of the sonnet for the arena audience, which enjoyed excerpts from his recording between each of the piece's three movements.
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