How Sequoia manages injuries

BY CAROLINE SIELING Staff Reporter

With cross country comes shin splints, with lacrosse comes sprained ankles. No matter the season, Sequoia’s trainer is expected to assist injured athletes and get them back in action.

Sequoia’s athletic trainer, Francisco Gallardo-Ramirez provides a resource that helps students, whether it be with minor injuries or in between doctor’s visits. This resource though is not advertised much by Sequoia and, being that the office is located in a small space in gym two, it is not frequently visited by students and many may overlook this resource entirely.

“I’m a senior, so I’ve learned how to find [the resources I need] and who to talk to, but I think that a fair amount of students don’t realize that we have a trainer which… it’s a really helpful resource,” senior soccer player Evelyn Harrington said.

When resources like this are properly utilized by students it can be major for their recovery from injuries and can provide an accessible resource for students to help limit unnecessary doctor’s visits. One track athlete and freshman, Oona Martin found this to be a helpful resource when she found out her foot was fractured due to repeated impacts, she visited the trainer before her first doctor’s visit.

“[My coach] helped me and he referred me to the athletic trainer, who also helped me a lot... I feel like I got immediate help,” Martin said.

The trainer can assist with many kinds of injuries whether they occurred just moments before and need immediate assistance or even once injuries have already been healing for a while. Evelyn was injured during a soccer game and left with a boot for weeks after the injury.

“Now that I have a boot, the boot throws my hips out of alignment because I’m walking unevenly, so about once a week, I’ll go [to the trainer’s office] and he’ll help realign my hips so that they don’t hurt,” Harrington said.

Athletic trainers are responsible for helping students manage a range of injuries and inconveniences. Students may come to visit the trainer during sports games, practices, or even just after school. A large role of the trainer is to be at school and ready to be of assistance no matter what is to be expected on any given day.

“I’ll get either returning students with chronic injuries or I’ll get new students with acute injuries…I try to make myself as available as I can be to [students], within my limits and I try to provide them with the best care I can,” athletic trainer Francisco Gallardo-Ramirez said.

Though of course effort is made by the trainer to be there for students Sequoia is greatly responsible for assuring that the trainer has everything necessary for the job.

“Everything’s within its limits [for example,] I don’t have an ice machine in here, but there’s one in gym one so it’s just easy to walk over there for me. I haven’t had anything where I’ve felt like I needed something urgently and haven’t been provided with it,” GallardoRamirez said.