Earlier this summer, the Peconic Bay Medical Center's Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Center reached out to area high schools with a training program designed to prevent common injuries from occurring.
Greg Dunn, the supervisor of outpatient therapy, said that female athletes hurt their knees at eight times the rate of male athletes. "When they make sharp cuts or quickly change direction, injuries happen to females in more aggressive sports like basketball, soccer and lacrosse, at a much higher rate," Dunn said. "We offer an ACL [anterior cruciate ligament] prevention program. If a school said yes, we would do a trial, like with a girls' soccer team. We would go to the school and step them through the program, show them the techniques.
"Most school teams warm up on the field. They line up in rows and stretch from side to side. They often do sprints. We have a dynamic warm-up that stresses flexibility. We use plyometrics, which is an exercise composed of explosive movements like jumping and sharp cuts. We want to promote explosive power and jumping capability. It is very intensive. We try and retrain people how to use their legs, how to properly make movements. We show them the proper jumping techniques and how to land, how to use their hamstrings more. Research has proven that if you use these techniques and run right, athletes that participate have a lower rate of injury."
Dunn said, "We could bring in six or seven players and have them go through this with a therapist or we could teach the coaches so they could teach it on their own." Dunn said Riverhead Athletic Director Bill Groth showed interest in the program and was going to discuss it further with his board of education.
"This looks like a positive program, so we will bring it to the table for discussion," Groth said. "Anything that benefits the school and the kids, we owe it to ourselves to look at it."
In addition to the prevention program, Dunn said his staff strives to get injured athletes back on the field again. "Our mission is, once you are injured and get referred to us by a doctor, we want to get you back on the field or the court," Dunn said. "Whether it is a kid in high school or college, or a weekend softball player, we're looking to help any athlete who wants to get back on the field of competition. If someone is sent here, we perform a free screening and give them the findings. If we see something, a weakness or a poor technique, we could contact their physician."
Dunn said injury prevention programs are not covered by insurance and that rehabilitation of an injury is covered for a certain amount of visits. "It depends on what the doctor and insurance wants," he said. "But if the doctor thought the patient is a high risk, insurance might cover it with a diagnosis from the physician."