Feb 3, 2015Talking Sports Medicine
Last week, the University of Georgia held a forum on student-athlete health that covered topics ranging from ACL prevention to mental training. The event was headlined by NCAA Chief Medical Officer Brian Hainline.
The full article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution details the following:
- The school has implemented proprioception in an effort to reduce the number of non-contact ACL injuries suffered by football players.
- A five-member panel consisting of Hainline, current and former UGA student-athletes, and Ron Courson, the school’s Director of Sports Medicine held a discussion called “Sound Minds, Sound Bodies and College Sports: A conversation with Dr. Brian Hainline,” which focused on physical and mental training.
- Hainline pointed to over-specialization of athletes at a young age as a major contributor to injuries, burnout, and mental breakdowns.
- The other panelists included current UGA student-athletes Malcolm Mitchell (football) and Brittany MacLean (swimming) and former Georgia and New Orleans Saints offensive lineman Jon Stinchcomb.
Hainline, a neurologist, opened the event emphasizing the importance of sound physical and mental training. He also spoke about strides the NCAA is making in areas such as concussion research and treatment. He also noted that head injuries aren’t the biggest medical issues facing today’s student-athletes.
“I actually think mental health issues and the recognance of over-use injuries is more important,” he told the Journal-Constitution. “But concussions are the elephant in the room, and honestly that opened the door for us to take a step back and say, ‘what are we going in the sport model?’”
During the forum, Courson said when it comes to topics such as preventing ACL injuries, it’s important that the school stays on the cutting edge of science.
“Traditionally a lot of things have been done in strength and conditioning just because that’s the way it’s always been done,” he told the Journal-Constitution. “We did heavy squats because they’ve always been done that way, and we ran and did a lot of other things because it has always been done that way. I think we’ve got to advance with sports science.”