NATA Now

Dear John: Someone at a holiday gathering made a claim about injuries in the NFL. The players’ association (NFLPA) has negotiated a training schedule that significantly limits the amount of scrimmage time preceding a game. The claim was that this change has resulted in an increase in player injuries this season. Are injuries on the increase? Does reduced contact time result in an actual increase in injuries? Or from your perspective, as an athletic trainer, would you expect fewer injuries due to less wear on the athlete’s body? — Thomas Thiel, St.

After two decades as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ head athletic trainer, Mike Ryan, ATC, PT, PES, has spent the 2014 football season not behind the sidelines but in front of the camera. As a sports medicine consultant for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, Ryan discusses NFL player injuries and offers medical insight on the NBC Sports Network’s Pro Football Talk (PFT) Live.
 

For a pitcher to avoid coal in his stocking, he must throw lots of strikes over lots of innings AND stay relatively healthy.
 

On May 29, 2014, President Barack Obama announced an important new partnership between NATA, the NFL and the Professional Football Athletic Trainers’ Society (PFATS) during the White House Healthy Kids and Concussion Summit in Washington, DC.. As part of the collaboration, the NFL Foundation and NFL teams agreed to provide $1 million and NATA added agreed to contribute $125,000 to place ATs in underserved high schools in NFL markets.
 

On May 29, 2014, President Barack Obama announced an important new partnership between NATA, the NFL and the Professional Football Athletic Trainers’ Association (PFATS) during the White House Healthy Kids and Concussion Summit in Washington, DC.. As part of the collaboration, the NFL Foundation and NFL teams agreed to provide $1 million and NATA added agreed to contribute $125,000 to place ATs in underserved high schools in NFL markets.
 

There's no shortage of holiday spirit among athletic trainers, evidenced by the creative decor we've seen circulating on social media. 

From the University of Maine's star made of pre-wrap, or Bay City High School's Christmas tree adorned with Gatorade cups and athletic tape, keep scrolling to see our  round-up of the most festive AT facilities we've seen yet. (Scroll down to see the array of NATA staffers' tacky sweaters, too!) We're especially loving Ashley Smith's handmade tree topper made of Gatorade cups:

My wife showed me a video on YouTube the other day of a little girl standing on the bathroom counter giving herself a pep talk.  She goes through a number of different things she likes about herself, her family and her house before hopping down and proceeding with her day as usual (If you haven’t seen it, it is pretty cute.)