T-ball, gymnastics, a parent wanting to exhaust a kid before bedtime or a passion for basketball, baseball, soccer or football — the love of sport plays a big role in h's tried and true traditions.
Becoming an athlete is not an individual endeavor. Parents, coaches, assistant coaches, family members and more all play an important role in an athlete's journey.
However, one sports support group often gets overlooked: the medical team.
In programs big and small, a medical team can make the difference for an athlete. Athletic trainers, sports medicine professionals, nutritionists, physical therapists, specialists, surgical doctors, mental health therapists, tutors and more, contribute to the success, life and journey of an athlete.
Photos provided by Chris Parent
“Being a part of an athlete’s journey,” LSU Athletic Director of Sports Medicine Micki Collins said. “A little part of this monumental part of their life, means so much to me. I love watching our athletes grow."
Because so many people are involved in the training, prevention of injury and ultimate success of an athlete, establishing the trust between athlete and medical professional is important, according to Collins.
Dr. , a pediatric sports medicine physician at Ochsner Health in Jefferson and Destrehan, works with patients from toddlers to 25-year-olds. He says the key is getting injuries checked out so that they don't progress to require intervention rather than ignoring the pain and it escalating into something more serious.
Preventing injury
There are two categories of sports injury, according to Agaja, acute and overuse. Acute injuries happen if there’s a forceful collision, or a change in acceleration quickly, which will result in straining, sprains, broken bones or concussions.
Overuse injuries are more common in sport athletes.
“Overuse injuries are really just overutilizing and doing the same motions repetitively throughout the year without getting a true recovery,” Agaja said in reference to athletes with specialized sports, like common arm and hand injuries in baseball or tennis.
To possibly prevent overuse injuries, Agaja recommends that athletes cross-train to activate different muscle groups with sports other than the one an athlete specializes in.
He also recommends the basics: implementing healthy sleep patterns for recovery, staying hydrated and practicing dynamic stretching.
Preparing an athlete’s body for the many demands of a sport — picking up speed for a tackle in football or jumping over a hurdle on the track — is essential to prevent injury and burnout, according to Agaja.
“If you’re not adequately stretched, it can put you in a position of what we call ‘avulsion fractures’ in our teenage athletes,” Agaja said. “The hamstring is where that growth plate is — that's the most vulnerable part of bone — and a forceful pull of muscle can sometimes cause a break.”
A 'holistic' approach
In larger programs, like LSU Athletics, sports medicine leaders can provide a broader and more accessible approach to an athlete’s health.
The LSU weight room is open for cross-training to all athletes and they have access to athletic trainers during the off season — a break in a sports schedule to encourage rest and recovery.
Micki Collins helping an athlete at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as LSU played Washington (Photo by: Neil Brake and Paul Levy).
Photo provided by Neil Brake and Paul Levy
LSU nutritionists are on standby at the athletics' cafeteria to answer questions about individual diet plans or food alternatives. Athletes have access to three nutritious meals and snacks daily at the facility.
During the pandemic, when students and student athletes alike were required to go on lockdown with the rest of the country, LSU was vigilant in their efforts to check on its athletes.
“You never know someone’s home condition,” Collins said. “And it’s not always negative. Sometimes families just don’t eat the way an athlete should eat, or the environment isn’t set up for our students to be active.”
Micki Collins escorts LSU football's Harold Perkins off the field.
PROVIDED PHOTO
Collins was working with LSU football at the time, and the LSU sports medicine team split up the roster to do check-ins on athletes. These meetups could include sending stretching bands to their homes, an at-home workout regimen or a nutrition guide specific to the grocery stores near them.
“That was the hardest time in my 24 years of sports medicine,” Collins said. “We just wanted to be there for them.”
New AI technology
LSU and Our Lady of the Lakes announced in early August that an AI stethoscope, a piece of new artificial intelligence technology, will provide even more personalized care to its athletes.
The digital stethoscope, , detects suspected heart murmurs, atrial fibrillation (irregular beats in the upper chambers of the heart) and normal sinus rhythms.
It also calculates the heart rate, (a marker calculated to predict heart mortality), and (used to predict dysfunction in the left ventricle of the heart).
Software in the stethoscope has recording and Bluetooth capabilities, allowing physicians to project data on mobile devices.
The device is “intended to provide support to the physician in the evaluation of a patient's heart sounds,” according to a news release from Eko Health, a company specializing in AI for early detection of heart and lung diseases.
Commercial Vice President Joseph Authement, a main component in the technology's donation to the university, is a former student-athlete who swam at LSU.
“While it wasn’t heart-related, my LSU swimming career was cut short due to preexisting health issues, which may have been identified earlier with today’s available technology,” he said in a news release. “As an avid LSU fan and h native, I’m honored to represent a technology that can help save the lives of student athletes in the future.”
Collins said the new AI technology will help LSU detect early signs of heart problems and possible concerns in real time, so that the team can send the athletes to the right specialists and doctors.
“It will show up on our screens and be a really good visual tool for our team,” Collins said.