Graham-Kapowsin teams with Olympic Sports and Spine

Dear Parents,

Welcome to a new year in athletics at Graham-Kapowsin High School. I am looking forward to another wonderful year supporting Graham-Kapowsin. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce some of our policies and procedures regarding care of athletic injuries.

Reporting Injuries
It is very important that ALL injuries get reported to me ASAP. The resources available in the athletic training room and through our relationships with ATI Physical Therapy and our team physician are designed to give our student-athletes the highest quality of care. In addition to being evaluated by myself, ATI Physical Therapy offers free injury screenings at all of our locations. If your child needs to be seen by a physician, please keep in mind that many injuries can be seen by me to determine whether or not an athlete needs to be seen by a physician. Also if your athlete does not have a primary care physician please feel free to speak with me on recommendations.

Athletic Training Room Hours
During the school year I will be located in the athletic training room from 2:00 to 3:00pm, 3 days a week (Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays). Please encourage your athletes to come directly to the athletic training room before practice if they need my assistance. We can do light treatments with student athletes at Graham-Kapowsin, so it can get very busy after school. We ask that all student athletes arrive promptly in the training room with adequate time to get to practice on time after treatment. I will be present during most practice times and home events.
 

Returning an Athlete to Play
Graham-Kapowsin High School policy states that any time an athlete seeks care from a physician for an athletic injury, the athlete may not return to play until we have a signed release from the physician allowing the athlete to participate. Parent notes are not acceptable. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POLICY. This does not guarantee automatic return to play; athletes must demonstrate their functional ability to return to sport before I clear them to return.

Concussion Policy

The Lystedt Law of Washington concussion policy states “A youth athlete who has been removed from play may not return to play until the athlete is evaluated by a licensed health care provider trained in the evaluation and management of concussion and receives written clearance to return to play from that health care provider.” I will make the decision if a student athlete may possibly have a concussion, in which case the student athlete must be cleared to play by myself or another licensed health care provider. Additionally, once they are 24 hours symptom free, they will begin a graduated 5 step return to play protocol. As a Certified Athletic Trainer I am able to evaluate and progress concussed athletes through the protocols necessary to return to play safely. This protocol is based off of the most recent research in concussions. If you have questions about this please contact me.

Concussion Return to Play
Athletes who have been evaluated by myself or a physician will go through the following protocol to ensure that they do not return too soon to athletics with mild traumatic brain injury. Athletes who have trouble being in school should report their symptoms to the school nurse. We have a “Return to Learn” protocol for those who have prolonged concussion symptoms.

As recommended by the CDC and multiple brain trauma associations, ATI Physical Therapy follows a 5 step protocol to return athletes to play from concussions.

• Step 1: 24 hours rest with no symptoms.
• Step 2: Cardiac Test, to increase blood pressure.
• Step 3: Sport Specific Testing, to increase jarring and increased movement.
• Step 4: Conditioning Practice, no contact or live one on one situations.
• Step 5: Full Contact Practice.