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Joey Whaler (Host): Well, if you've never had an athletic trainer or haven't for some time, you may be misinformed about what such trainers do and how it can benefit you. So we're discussing athletic training myth-busting, what athletic training is and isn't. This is Right Beside You, a Reid Health Podcast. I'm Joey Wahler.

Our guests, Jesse Tittle, Sports Medicine Outreach Manager at Reid Health and Trey Hollar, a certified athletic trainer at Reid Health. Gentlemen, thanks for joining us.

First for you, Jessie, how does Reid Health's athletic training compare with what many are used to say at their local gym? And what are the most common misconceptions as you see it about athletic trainers and the services they provide?

Jessie Tittle: I think you said it right there. We're not in gyms. We're at the schools. We are an allied healthcare professional. So a lot of times the misconceptions are that we're going to put together workouts and dieting plans and things like that for people. We can probably do some of that, but that's not what our job title is. We are the ones that are running out on the fields for when athletes get hurt. We're ones that are doing a lot of the rehabs for them, their recoveries, you know, the assessments and the diagnoses and stuff for all these athletes.

Joey Whaler (Host): So then for you, Trey, generally speaking, what type of person should seek and can benefit from the type of athletic training that you guys provide?

Trey Hollar: I would say definitely our athletes at the high schools that we cover, the colleges that we cover, and then more of the active population lifestyle. So if you're a weekend warrior, you're a marathon runner and you're feeling some aches and pains, discomfort, or you roll your ankle or something small, minor that doesn't require, you know, surgery or anything like that, definitely come check us out. I would say that we work for a variety of different injuries. We see a bunch of different things. We can help from the injury aspect side, but we can also help recovery side, like Jesse said. So really, any active population plus our athletes that we see day in and day out.

Joey Whaler (Host): So Jesse, a person's needs and training regimens obviously vary greatly. But typically, what does working with an athletic trainer like you guys consist of?

Jessie Tittle: We're the full gamut of everything that an athlete needs to be honest. We are the only healthcare professional that is there from the onset of the injury to the return to play. So whether it's prevention of injuries or hydration, if an injury happens, assessing it and evaluating it to an actual diagnosis or a referral to maybe one of our orthopedic surgeons or orthopedic doctors. But yeah, we're really just that bridge of communication between the coach and the doctors.

Joey Whaler (Host): So trey, since Reid Health caters to both, what are the main differences between training in active adult, weekend warriors was just mentioned, versus a competitive a competitive. athlete

Trey Hollar: There's not much difference in our eyes. We treat them as, you know, athletes are playing sports, they're being competitive. They want to get back to playing basketball or football or whatever their sport is at the highest level that they're capable of. The weekend warrior, the marathon runner, they're active people too that want to get back to running those marathons and working out at their highest level to better themselves.

So to me and Jesse can speak more, but I feel like we cater to both about the same, because like I said, they are both very competitive people. It's just one competes in sports and one competes in, you know, working out and weekend warrior type stuff.

Jessie Tittle: Yeah. I'd like to add, you know, injuries are injuries, regardless of if you're, you know, a 15-year-old kid or you're a 35-year-old, you know, that hurt themselves in the gym or on a pickup basketball court. So we treat them all the same.

Joey Whaler (Host): Gotcha. Jesse, how about balancing from your standpoint as a trainer between pushing someone so that they can get back to where they want to be or where they want to be in the first place and then not pushing too hard so that you overdo it, rush things, that type of thing?

Jessie Tittle: Yeah, so we take every injury and look at it separately. We don't compare them to other things. Yes, there's protocols and stuff that we have, but not everybody hits those goals or those milestones at the same time. So yes, we know that, you know, obviously the ultimate goal is to get back to play or get back to your normal routine. But we have a timeline and we want to make sure that the athletes or the active lifestyle participants are at a healthy rate. That way, we're not pushing them back to too soon.

Joey Whaler (Host): Trey, how about most common injuries that you guys see? What would be the top hand for them?

Trey Hollar: Ooh. Most of the time, it's dependent on the season, what sport is, you know, in season right now. I would say typically fall season is usually ankle sprains. And then more in the spring, we do have our ankle sprains, but more shoulder injuries from overhead throwing athletes for softball and baseball.

Jessie Tittle: Yeah, I would like to add that, you know, obviously, like he said, with the seasons, you know, when you have contact sports and stuff, you start to get concussions involved, ankles are, like he said, a big thing in basically every season as your foot is the one place on your body that's always in contact with something as well as like low back injuries are a very common injury for not only athletes, but the active lifestyle.

Joey Whaler (Host): So Jessie, to add to that, how about injury prevention? How much of that do you guys do? And what does that involve on your end and perhaps in terms of advising or training people to do some things along those lines on their own?

Jessie Tittle: So, yeah, we work with some coaching staff or even the athletic trainers that are out at the school develop like flexibility programs, really watch forms on how things are being done. Sometimes you can do everything right, and it just takes a certain incident or a certain range of motion to put your body at a susceptible position. And so not everything is perfectly preventable, but yeah, maintaining like a good strengths, a good ratio amount of strength between certain muscles as well as flexibility definitely puts you on the level to succeed.

Joey Whaler (Host): I'm glad you mentioned flexibility there, Jessie, because, Trey, I want to ask you then, do people stretch enough? Because I know, for most of my life personally, I was not a stretcher and I'd almost be proud of it. I would say, "I don't stretch. I don't need to stretch." But when you get a little older, you realize that you can keep on not stretching, but it's probably to your own detriment. So I've learned the hard way, I'd like to think. Are younger people generally better at stretching if, for no other reason, perhaps because when they're in school, under a trainer's eyes or no?

Trey Hollar: I would love to say yes. But realistically, I believe people don't stretch enough. There are the few outliers that do take care of their body and do stretch and listen to the athletic trainers and coaches about, you know, taking care of your body. But for the most part, I would say people could use a little more stretching in their daily routine.

Jessie Tittle: Yeah. I like to add that sometimes it almost takes a wrong situation to correct it. So usually, it's the people that get hurt first, and then they learn about rehabbing and flexibility and strengthening and things, and then they carry that on the rest of their career. And then, hopefully, you know, they may pick up a few of their teammates along the way to kind of help make that a habit.

Joey Whaler (Host): How about, Trey? Anything about Reid health straining programs that you're most proud of and want those listening to know about?

Trey Hollar: I would say the staff is the number one thing. I'm proud to be a part of, because we're a great group of individuals. We're very intelligent and compassionate at what we do. Our number one priority is the care of the athletes and making sure they get the best benefit they can. But I would also say that I'm proud of the athletic training clinic that we have. That is a source for athletes and active population members that, you know, can't get the best of the best that they can at the schools. We have this outlet for them to come here as an extension of that athletic training room where we have more resources here to help them recover quicker, treat their injuries better and make sure they can get back to the field of play as soon as possible.

Joey Whaler (Host): So Jesse, these relationships that you guys through Reid Health have with various schools, how are those partnerships formed?

Jessie Tittle: Basically, they either reach out to us or we reach out to them about providing services for their athletic events. And it's usually a pretty easy negotiation. Reid Health here being a non-for-profit hospital, we actually don't charge the high schools any money for us to be out there. It's considered a community benefit. And that way you know, one of our main missions here is, you know, to lead our communities to wellbeing one person at a time. And if we're there at practices and at games and we see the onsets of every injury that happens, I mean, that's what the whole mission's about.

Joey Whaler (Host): And in closing here, let me get each of you to comment on where you think your industry is going right now in terms of is there a particular trend right now? Is there a particular innovation, an area of study where you think it's sort of the next plateau that people in your business are talking about?

Jessie Tittle: I mean, we're just kind of a steady horse right now. Our education just did increase to now we are a masters required education. So that kind of raises some eyebrows with some individuals that don't realize that's how much education that we have to have to do what we do. But yeah, we're, our profession is kind of growing every day in a way. I mean, we're in the military. We're in industrial settings. We are at the schools, we're in colleges, we're at pro teams. We're just clinic-based where we're working with orthopedic physicians. We are kind of the Swiss Army knife of health care if I had to say.

Joey Whaler (Host): A great analogy.

Trey Hollar: Like you said, the education is getting better. Medicine is evolving every day, so we stay on top of things with continuing education units, which are required to continue to be certified as an athletic trainer. We have to get 50 hours of those learning seminars every two years. So we stay on top of the evolving medicine and rehabs and different techniques and things that come out from constant research that programs and businesses are doing. So we are evolving as medicine involves.

Joey Whaler (Host): All right. So we hope we've cleared up some of the misconceptions about what athletic training is and isn't. Jesse Tittle and Trey Hollar, thanks again so much.

Jessie Tittle: Thank you.

Trey Hollar: Thank you.

Joey Whaler (Host): Now, if you're interested in seeking athletic training or care for an injury, you can call 765-973-8057. That's 765-973-8057 or please visit reidhealth.org to connect with one of their providers. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. And thanks for listening to Right Beside You, a Reid Health podcast. Hoping your health is good health, I'm Joey Wahler.