Sports Medicine Behind the Scenes

Standing on the sidelines, Heather Prahl, ATC, LAT, looked toward action happening near the 50-yard line and stopped for a moment to soak in the moment.

She’s done this a thousand times, watching athletes and how they’re performing – ready and waiting for her time to step in. Thing is, she’s at a football field doing the athletic training thing. But there’s no game. Not even a practice. Prahl laughed a little under her breath and continued to watch actors and stunt doubles pretend to play football.

“For just a second, I reminded myself that this is all choreographed,” Prahl said.

Prahl was working on the season 2 of the Hulu sports comedy “Chad Powers,” caring for the supporting cast. This is her line of work now, caring for stunt doubles and athletes in the performing arts, and she wouldn’t trade it for a pass to the Super Bowl.

“This just never gets old,” said Prahl, founder of Reel Care Sports Medicine. “Every day is different, and every performance is different. There’s something magical about being on a set and watching it all come together, and there’s something so rewarding about helping a lot of people who might be getting athletic training services for the first time.”

For Prahl, the world of film and stunt performers might seem unusual for an athletic trainer. But for the people performing high-risk stunts – jumping through windows, crashing motorcycles or flying across a room on a harness – the role of an athletic trainer can make the difference between finishing a production and going home injured.

Prahl didn’t follow the typical path into athletic training.

Many professionals in the field discover the career after recovering from an injury themselves. Prahl grew up dancing and competing in track, which sparked her curiosity about how the body works.

“I loved sports and athletics,” she said. “But being in dance, I always wondered why sports teams had athletic trainers and performing arts didn’t.”

While studying at Grand Valley State University, Prahl began to imagine a career combining those two worlds. Shortly before graduating, she reached out to a hospital system affiliated with the Grand Rapids Ballet with a simple message: she planned to become their athletic trainer.

Her confidence paid off. Prahl spent five years working with the ballet while also serving as the head athletic trainer at a local high school. At the ballet, the work was mostly as a volunteer. But she embraced the opportunity.

“I was there all the time,” she said. “I was like, I’ll do it for free.”

The turning point came during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prahl attended a performing arts injury-prevention workshop in Atlanta that introduced her to a growing niche: athletic trainers working in film, television and live entertainment.

A few months later, the company reached out on LinkedIn and offered her a job working with stunt performers and actors on film sets. Prahl and her husband moved the family to Georgia and jumped headfirst into the new role.

“They just threw me right in,” she said. “They were like, this actor needs you, these stunt people need you – just do your athletic training thing.”

Stunt work might look glamorous on screen, but behind the scenes, it’s physically demanding and often unpredictable. The most common injuries she treats are similar to those seen in contact sports.

“Necks and low backs all the time,” she said. “You’re seeing whiplash, head reactions and back issues because they’re constantly in harnesses or getting thrown to the ground.”

On a film set, her job can involve everything from pre-performance warmups to emergency treatment when something goes wrong. Sometimes she’s brought in during pre-production to review stunt choreography and suggest ways to reduce injury risk. Other times she receives a late-night call asking her to rush to set when production realizes an athletic trainer is needed.

It’s a chaotic environment, and she thrives in it.

“I just need the constant chaos,” she said with a laugh.

Her work has included major productions such as “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” where she helped actor Dave Bautista recover from a knee injury midway through filming. Bautista later thanked Prahl publicly on social media for helping him safely finish the production.

But many of the people she works with aren’t household names. They’re stunt performers whose bodies are the foundation of their careers.

That reality often makes Prahl more than just a medical professional. For some stunt performers, she becomes a confidential ally. Unlike professional athletes, many stunt workers lack health insurance or worry that reporting injuries could cost them future work.

Prahl frequently sets up treatment sessions during rehearsals or production days to give performers a safe place to talk about injuries and concerns.

“They can come see me and ask questions,” she said. “Sometimes they can’t tell the coordinator they’re hurt because they might lose the job.”

In one case, a stunt performer confided that she believed she had torn her ACL but still needed to complete the production. Prahl worked with her privately to manage the injury as safely as possible.

Moments like that illustrate how much trust the performers place in her.

“They just need someone to know what’s going on,” Prahl said.

Few people understand the value of that support better than stuntman Rory Bratter.

Bratter, a decorated martial artist who won more than 100 national titles and eight world championships, built a career performing in live shows, including the Cirque du Soleil show “Ka,” before transitioning into stunt work for film and television. Over the years, injuries have become part of the job.

He has torn ligaments in his ankle and undergone multiple knee surgeries, including one after his kneecap broke following an earlier procedure. Without athletic trainers, he believes his career might have ended long ago. It’s clear that didn’t happen when you scroll for a while to get to the bottom of his IMDB page.

“Anyone who thinks athletic trainers just tape ankles is extremely foolish,” Bratter said. “They rehabbed my injuries, gave me strength training plans and helped keep the tendons around my ankle strong. After working with Heather, my body feels looser, I have more range of motion and more strength. It gives me peace of mind.”

Unlike a traditional athletic training facility, Prahl’s workspace might be a stunt gym, a film set or a trailer parked beside a soundstage. Before major scenes, performers often stop by her table for stretching, taping or recovery treatments. Other times, schedules change suddenly and she adapts on the fly.

Prahl and her husband share parenting duties for their 5-year-old twins, and occasionally the children even accompany her to the stunt gym when a last-minute treatment call comes in.

“The community is really understanding,” she said. “If I say my kids are coming with me, they’re like, ‘Great, bring them.’”

The presence of athletic trainers in the performing arts is still relatively new, but professionals like Prahl are helping expand awareness of the field. For performers like Bratter, the value is obvious.

“I’m going to do this as long as I can, and Heather is going to make sure I can,” Bratter said.