An Encouraging Sign

Very often, athletic trainers find themselves at the front of the educational push to increase the awareness of a health related issue amongst the athletes they serve.  This has certainly remained true with the latest issue, TBI. Usually, we find ourselves frustrated to no end trying to educate our clientele as to the intricacies of an injury, only to have somebody suffer the injury we were warning them about.  The infuriating phrase "I never heard you say that" or the same old, outdated argument(s) are often the excuse given by the athlete.  We then wonder how much of our effort was actually worth it and should we really keep plugging away at trying to educate people.



I can finally say yes, it is absolutely worth it.  Earlier this week, I was discussing an unrelated injury with an athlete when he mentioned to me "I hit my head playing a soccer game this weekend and I think I might have a [TBI].  At this point, I pulled out my testing materials and began to examine him.  Sure enough, through the interview process and discussing his symptoms, he scored high enough that I believed that he had a TBI.  When I asked him what made him think that he had a problem, he cited the large amount of press coverage that the topic was receiving and that he thought he better get it looked at.  I commend the young man for being so proactive and taking the necessary steps to take care of himself appropriately.  Maybe, just maybe I will be able to see a little more of this responsibility and less of the macho "leave me alone, I can handle this" attitude that is usually associated with this injury.

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