My mentor:
Christy Grimes
Christy has been an athletic trainer for 23 years. She went to Kansas Wesleyan school and got her PE degree with an emphasis in AT. Her junior year she was able to intern and she traveled and was able to make decisions and then finished her master's degree to be able to perform in the field.
She has been at Northwest since 1999. Christy Grimes joined. The University of Kansas Health System Sports Medicine and Performance Center in August 2014. Christy sees about one concussion a week on average. She had about 75 concussions last year.
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MS ED, ATC/L, CSCS
Diving into long term effects, Christys worst case she ever saw was before protocals were in place and forms with past injuries were not required to play sports. She had a male soccer player who was a freshman, he did a header and his feet went under him and he got a concussion. He was out for two weeks, then got hit again. He had second impact syndrome but again there was no protocol. He constantly had a headache, was dizziness, he couldn't focus, and all his grades went down. He became sensitive to light and noise, after four years he was finally able to do 20 minutes of exercise. They think he had more than five concussions and he sadly ended up sadly ended his life. His family had said his personality completely changed and his kids and family around him said he acted very differently.
There is also a five step program that trainers use, but is said to be used less often the past year.
Step 1: Back to regular activities (such as school)
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May return to school and after a few days of rest can start followed by light activity such as shorts walks and then moderate activity such as riding a bike.
Step 2: Light aerobic activity
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5-10 minutes of with light aerobic exercise but no weight lifting
Step 3: Moderate activity
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Continue with activities to increase an athlete’s heart rate with body or head movement. This includes moderate jogging, brief running, moderate-intensity stationary biking, moderate-intensity weightlifting
Step 4: Heavy, non-contact activity
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Add heavy non-contact physical activity, such as sprinting/running, high-intensity stationary biking, regular weightlifting routine, non-contact sport-specific drills (in 3 planes of movement).
Step 5: Practice & full contact
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Young athlete may return to practice and full contact