A Beginning 
Welcome to the first issue of  the monthly  “Athletic Training Newsletter”.  With this and future issues we hope to inform you in the sports medicine areas of  nutrition, athletic injuries, and improving your performance.  This letter is geared toward the intercollegiate athlete.  Keep on reading.  

Post-Exercise Recovery 
What and when you eat after you compete has an important impact on your future performance.  Research has shown that eating carbohydrates immediately after a practice session or game, speeds the recovery of your muscles for exercise the next day.  
Carbohydrates (carbs) are your muscles primary fuel for exercise.  They should account for 60-70% of you diet.  Carbs are digested and transformed into a sugar called glucose, which in turn is stored in your muscles as glycogen (the energy source your muscles need for exercise.) 

Carbs are either simple or complex.  Simple carbs are found in soft drinks (Pepsi), candy, fruits, juices and vegetables.  Complex carbs are found in grains, fruits and vegetables.  Complex carbs have a more elaborate molecular make-up.  Because both simple and complex carbs are broken down into glucose (a simple carb) by your body both are equal sources of energy for your workout. 

The nutritional advantage of getting carbs from fruits, yogurt, grains, cereals, and vegetables is they provide vitamins and minerals that your body also needs.  Simple carbs from soft drinks (and the like) provide only energy.  Therefore, they are a less complete source of energy. 

Recent literature has shown that eating 50grams of carbohydrate as soon as possible (15-20 minutes) after intense training will speed your body’s recovery.  When simple carbs are readily available your muscles will recover faster.  50g of carbohydrate equals about 200 calories (1g of carb equals 4 calories).   Then 2 hours later you should eat another 50g of carbohydrate.  This second 50g dose can be incorporated into your lunch or dinner. 

Some good choices for this include a large bagel, or 3 rolls, an apple and a cup of juice, or 1.5 cups of pasta.  50g of carbohydrate is not much.  You can also use liquid carbs to help refuel after exercise.  One can of Pepsi contains 47g of carbs, an 8oz glass of juice has about 37g of carbs.  So a can of Pepsi and several pretzels can meet your 50g of carb needs post exercise (if your in a pinch, because you’ll get no added nutritional value from these foods).  You should become a label reader to be aware of  how many carbs your eating and plan accordingly.  Also be aware that fatty foods slow carbs from reaching your blood stream.  In particular fatty foods should be avoided in your first 50g carbohydrate refueling. 

The more intense your workout the more important the first 50g dose of carbs become. For this first dose immediately after practice any type of carb will work.  For your second 50g dose you should incorporate complex carbs (fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, yogurt, grains, pasta). You should incorporate this strategy especially when you have back to back games or the days before a tournament. 

It is important to note that your body can only use so much carbohydrate post exercise.  50g is adequate for a 150 lb person, more will not speed recovery further.  Adjust this recommendation to your weight by adding or subtracting 3g of carbohydrate for every 10lbs.  

A Contusion? 
Contusion is a fancy name for a bruise.  It is one of the more common injuries in sports.  It is caused by some type of direct trauma to the body, such a fall or being hit with a ball.  It can occur to a joint (elbow) to a bone (shins) or to a muscle (quad, the good ole “Charlie Horse”).  Although painful, in most situations they do not cause any loss of participation time from your sport. 

A contusion is an injury where there is bleeding but no laceration to the skin.  The bleeding occurs when capillaries beneath the outer layer of the skin are damaged.  Since the blood has no place to go, it pools at the injury site.  The red hemoglobin when seen through he skin appears black, purple, or blue.  The intensity of this discoloration differs from person to person.  It also usually takes a couple days for this discoloration to appear.  

Almost immediately after the injury your body goes to work to stop the bleeding and “plug the leaks.”  Within a day or so the red begins to break down and fade, and within a week the skin has a green, yellow or orange tint at the bruise site.  These changes are part of your body’s natural healing process.  Hence a hematoma is pooling of dried blood and other stuff caused by the trauma.  

There are several things you can do to minimize the detrimental effects of a hematoma.  The first step is applying ice held in place with an ace bandage for 20-25 minutes at a time for the first 3 or 4 days.  The “compression” applied helps decrease the bleeding from the injury.  The use of ice constricts the local blood vessels to decrease bleeding and also protects the healthy tissue around the injured site by lowering its metabolism.  The ace bandage should be used for compression over the next few days to help in the reabsorption of the hematoma by your body.  With more serious contusions rehabilitation exercises may be needed to aid the reabsorption of the contusion and return the injured area to normal strength levels.  

Reporting Injuries 
Anytime you have an athletic injury you should make sure the athletic training staff knows about it, regardless of the severity.  This also holds for any type of illness you may have (flu, mono, etc.) that could in anyway effect your athletic performance or impact other members of your team.  In other words,  I should be consulted regarding all health related issues you may have. 

This will allow me to make sure:  
*All of your injuries are properly documented and covered by our athletic insurance policy. 
*You receive proper treatment, care and rehabilitation of your injury.  This will ensure you do not miss any practices or games or the time you must miss is kept to an absolute minimum. 
*You are referred to the correct type of physician (if necessary) and that you are seen in a timely manner. 
*All proper referral procedures are followed to ensure the injury/illness is covered by insurance. 

You should never see a doctor without at least consulting one of the Certified Athletic Trainers first, unless it is an emergency situation.  

If you are injured at practice be sure to inform the student athletic trainers covering your sport.  If you are hurt during a game make sure I am aware of your injury before you leave the game field.  This will ensure appropriate treatment can begin that will minimize the effects of the injury.  

Time Lines 
Following are a few time- lines you should commit to memory regarding Athletic Training Services. 

The Athletic Training Room is open Monday thru Friday 9:30am - 3pm and Evenings Monday-Thursday 7-9:30pm for rehabilitation, evaluations, and consultation regarding athletic injuries.  If you have a problem or injury this is the time to talk about it, have it evaluated, or complete your assigned rehabilitation. 

Getting Taped  
*For practices report to the Athletic Training Room 1/2 hour before practice.  No one will be taped at the practice field. 
*For games, we arrive 1 1/2 hours before game time for all pre-game preparation, including taping and treatments.