Last night, I finally got the opportunity to make the 5 hour drive to Eastern Kansas to be at my boyfriend's varsity game. I have forgotten what it's like to be at a game as "just a fan". For the past 11 years, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I haven't been "working the game" as a student athletic trainer or now a certified athletic trainer. It was very hard not to jump up when someone was slow to get off the court.
In Kansas, each athletic trainer works under a physician and that physician has "signed off" on what the AT can and cant do without their direct presence. If one of my boyfriend's athletes would have went down with an injury last night, I would not of been able to provide care as my physician is 5 hours from his high school. Granted, if there was a head/neck injury and the treatment was purely First Aid, I would have been able to provide care as I am licensed in First Aid and CPR. Thankfully, there weren't a serious injury, so I guess I can say I got off lucky. HA!
I can't decide if I liked the role as "a fan" last night. Yes, I liked not having to be on duty and liked just being able to watch a basketball game, but it was definitely a different feeling sitting towards the top of the bleachers and not making sure every player was getting an adequate amount of water.
Until next time....
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Why do insurance companies have so much control?
I have a high school basketball player that suffered a knee injury a couple of weeks ago. Because of all the budget cuts in the schools, I do not cover basketball games for my schools on a regular basis so unfortunately I was not at the game that she was injured in.
Her coach called me first thing Saturday morning explaining that his player was in a lot of pain and was asking what options he had. I gave him the standard "RICE" treatment to get her through the weekend, and got her in to see our Physician's Assistant Monday afternoon. I don't go to the schools until Tuesday, so I was not able to see her prior to her appointment.
So the PA looks at her knee and decides one of two possibilities has happened. She has either torn her meniscus or suffered a sprained MCL. We ruled out an ACL so the next step that was mutually agreed upon was to have an MRI preformed to see exactly what was going on.
The office calls the girls' insurance company to get the MRI approved prior to the testing being done, and the insurance company denies the request for an MRI due to there being "insufficient evidence" that an MRI is necessary. They don't believe that an MRI can be ordered following one visit with the doctor.
The girl was then given the option to have a brace placed on her knee and given some rehabilitation exercises to build up strength in the muscles around her knee. She tried to play, but has little success. She falls regularly during games and then takes herself out of the games. Tests were preformed in the clinic showing her legs were strong enough to not have to worry about further injury and she was able to pass a functional jumping test, so there is no reason medically that we should hold her out of activity.
Today she went in for a re-check on her knee and pending approval from the insurance company, has an MRI scheduled tomorrow. I just can't believe how insurance companies (who have no medical background) have so much power that the can say what is and what isn't "ok" to preform on patients.
GRRR.....
Her coach called me first thing Saturday morning explaining that his player was in a lot of pain and was asking what options he had. I gave him the standard "RICE" treatment to get her through the weekend, and got her in to see our Physician's Assistant Monday afternoon. I don't go to the schools until Tuesday, so I was not able to see her prior to her appointment.
So the PA looks at her knee and decides one of two possibilities has happened. She has either torn her meniscus or suffered a sprained MCL. We ruled out an ACL so the next step that was mutually agreed upon was to have an MRI preformed to see exactly what was going on.
The office calls the girls' insurance company to get the MRI approved prior to the testing being done, and the insurance company denies the request for an MRI due to there being "insufficient evidence" that an MRI is necessary. They don't believe that an MRI can be ordered following one visit with the doctor.
The girl was then given the option to have a brace placed on her knee and given some rehabilitation exercises to build up strength in the muscles around her knee. She tried to play, but has little success. She falls regularly during games and then takes herself out of the games. Tests were preformed in the clinic showing her legs were strong enough to not have to worry about further injury and she was able to pass a functional jumping test, so there is no reason medically that we should hold her out of activity.
Today she went in for a re-check on her knee and pending approval from the insurance company, has an MRI scheduled tomorrow. I just can't believe how insurance companies (who have no medical background) have so much power that the can say what is and what isn't "ok" to preform on patients.
GRRR.....
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
ACL Debate
ACL's are something everyone hears about that are associated with sports. In the athletic training world, they are always a very hot topic.
Today was a day that I was on the roads of Southwest Kansas seeing 4 of my 5 area high schools. Other than the wear and tear injuries that my basketball players are starting to feel because of the long basketball season, however the conversation I had with the girls basketball coach/athletic director at one of my schools have me wondering about this:
When do you tell an athlete to have ACL reconstruction surgery, and miss the rest of their senior year of basketball. A girl at another area high school tore her ACL approx. 3 weeks ago during a basketball game. She has spent the past 3 weeks debating if she was going to get her ACL reconstructed or if she was going to purchase a special brace to allow her to finish her senior year of basketball.
For those of you that don't know, you do NOT have to have your ACL fixed once its torn. Running and jumping are VERY difficult without an ACL, and your knee will feel very unstable without it in tact, however you can live a fairly normal life without one.
My concern is, this girl is planning on going on to the college level to play basketball. And as much as I'd like to say that males and females are completely equal, in athletics, they really aren't. The reason we're seeing more and more female ACL tears is believed to be because women's bodies weren't meant to handle the wears and tears of athletics like males were (our muscle structure isn't the same) and we have such a variation in hormones every month.
If I was an 18 year old high school athlete, I don't believe there would be any doubt in my mind that I would have surgery. I don't think a brace can provide the same effects that an ACL does, and there is no way she can build her quadriceps muscles up enough to compensate for the missing ACL before the end of basketball season.
My question is: When do athletic trainers step in and help educate athletes for long-term effects?
Today was a day that I was on the roads of Southwest Kansas seeing 4 of my 5 area high schools. Other than the wear and tear injuries that my basketball players are starting to feel because of the long basketball season, however the conversation I had with the girls basketball coach/athletic director at one of my schools have me wondering about this:
When do you tell an athlete to have ACL reconstruction surgery, and miss the rest of their senior year of basketball. A girl at another area high school tore her ACL approx. 3 weeks ago during a basketball game. She has spent the past 3 weeks debating if she was going to get her ACL reconstructed or if she was going to purchase a special brace to allow her to finish her senior year of basketball.
For those of you that don't know, you do NOT have to have your ACL fixed once its torn. Running and jumping are VERY difficult without an ACL, and your knee will feel very unstable without it in tact, however you can live a fairly normal life without one.
My concern is, this girl is planning on going on to the college level to play basketball. And as much as I'd like to say that males and females are completely equal, in athletics, they really aren't. The reason we're seeing more and more female ACL tears is believed to be because women's bodies weren't meant to handle the wears and tears of athletics like males were (our muscle structure isn't the same) and we have such a variation in hormones every month.
If I was an 18 year old high school athlete, I don't believe there would be any doubt in my mind that I would have surgery. I don't think a brace can provide the same effects that an ACL does, and there is no way she can build her quadriceps muscles up enough to compensate for the missing ACL before the end of basketball season.
My question is: When do athletic trainers step in and help educate athletes for long-term effects?
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