KARNS CITY — Sports medicine has changed a lot in 20 years.

Karns City High School certified athletic trainer John Burnett has changed with it and makes it his mission to tell everyone else along the way.

“So many things I've learned 20-25 years ago, you don't do anymore,” said Burnett, who is also a health and physical education instructor at the school as well as teaching a sports/health course,

“I need to maintain 75 credits in a three-year period. It's a good thing because of all the stuff you've heard in the past few years about concussions.

“Eighty to 90 percent of what I learned years ago doesn't apply now,” Burnett added.

Perhaps the biggest change Burnett, 46, of Saxonburg has seen has come through the knowledge of how to deal with concussions and head injuries.

“When I was in school, we used to categorize concussions as mild, moderate or severe or ‘getting your bell rung' or a ‘dinger.' We know those terms aren't used.

“Now, we'll see how long you recover from a concussion to see if it's mild or moderate.”

It was widely believed trying to stay awake was best to deal with a concussion, but not so anymore.

“Right now, the best treatment is rest,” Burnett said. “Years ago, medical people or the emergency room would wake you up every hour. Now, research says to let them sleep, not bed rest, but resist exertion.

“We're talking don't sit in front of the TV, computer or play video games for long periods of time. All the graphics are stimulation to the brain.”

While the temptation is great to use anabolic steroids, creatine and supplements, Burnett likes to keep things simple when it comes to the body.

“It's still safer and cheaper to eat well, work out,” Burnett noted. “There's still no magic pill.”

Even the mindset of stretching has changed, going from ballastic or static stretching such as basic pulling or standard forms of stretching to dynamic stretching, which is more beneficial because it targets certain areas.

Among the problems Burnett encounters the most in dealing with high school students is ankles, knees and shoulders.

“Those are the biggies we see,” Burnett said of injuries. “What I also see at the beginning of the year, the fall and spring, is overuse. Kids either overtrain, do too much or come in not as prepared and try to go to someone else's level.

“I'm probably seeing greater incidents of concussions because we're educating students more than before and that's a good thing,” Burnett said.

In his years of training, Burnett has not seen any greater instances of certain types of injuries to boys over girls.

“Sometimes we find girls won't report injuries as much as guys do. I don't know why, but we treat them the same ...

“I think athletes are very competitive. When you get injured, you get frustrated. I tell the kids, ‘Look, if you can't perform what the sport requires, you can't be out there. Let's get you back in rehab and get you back out there.'

“Once they see you have their best interest at heart, they understand,” Burnett added.

He also has to take many things into consideration when determining what events he will be in attendance.

“We try to prioritize things,” he said. “We look at the number of participants and look for the potential of catastrophic injuries and look at varsity over junior varsity. It's not that varsity is more important, but you can't be everywhere,” Burnett said.

Home events are a priority, although he does travel with the football team.

He does have a backup trainer, who is also certified, at the school as well as Slippery Rock University juniors and seniors assisting as part of their curriculum, plus high school trainees, the latter who cannot be by themselves.

“They're certified in CPR and first aid. They travel with the basketball team, but they just give water and basic first aid,” Burnett noted.

He also has a “mutual aid agreement” with other schools that have athletic trainers where he will not have to travel if they have one who will be there.

“If my kids go to, say, Clarion High School, I know they're taken care of and vice versa.”

He also takes the time to talk to players on the Gremlins sports teams to get everyone on the same page.

“I'll talk about injuries and that they get to us as soon as possible,” Burnett said. “Sometimes athletes won't tell. They think the athletic trainer will keep them from playing.

“We'll talk about nutrition, rest, stretching, conditioning, not to share anything because of MRSA and obviously concussions. We really try to educate them on that, really to a point of driving down their throat.”

Burnett also teaches these ideas in the classroom, including the sports/health course, for students interested in a health-related field, such as athletes, nurses and athletic trainers.

“It gives them a little about anatomy, physiology, terminology, liability, first aid and CPR,” Burnett said. “We had a lot of students in those fields and I always would pick their brains about what they would like.”

Burnett certainly would have enjoyed something like that when he was at Boardman (Ohio) High School, where he was a classmate of Bernie Kosar, a former quarterback with the Cleveland Browns. He then moved on to Youngstown State University,

He had originally planned to go to Kent State University, having worked at Boardman with an athletic trainer from KSU, but when he left, the new trainer helped open his eyes to YSU.

“I had a chance to have my education paid for,” Burnett said. “With student teaching, I was there five years and got 3Z\x years of school totally paid for.

“We were paid through work study and that was a great opportunity, a lot of hands-on training,” Burnett added.

While at YSU, he did a summer internship with the NFL in 1985 with the Cleveland Browns.

“I got to work with Bernie again,” he said. “When NFL camps had 140 athletes, which was overwhelming for two or three trainers, some college athletic trainers came in.”

With a degree in physical education, Burnett moved on to graduate school, spending the following year, 1987-88, at Ohio University, where he earned his master's degree in athletic training.

“I was assigned to help at a high school and realized that's where I want to be,” Burnett said. “It was very rewarding. That's where it's needed. The last time I checked only 40 percent of high schools have access to athletic trainers.”

Through a friend, Burnett heard about Butler Physical Therapy, which was looking to start a program with high schools.

He talked with Butler Physical Therapy, which said Butler High school needed a trainer. Burnett met with then-athletic director Art Bernardi, who showed him the facilities.

Burnett would accept the job and stay from 1988 to 1997.

“Butler was the first school that BPT got,” Burnett noted. “They also had picked up Moniteau and Knoch for a period of time.”

Since Butler Physical Therapy lost the contract with Butler, Burnett was sent to Karns City, and in 1999, a teaching position opened there.

“When I left Butler, I figured I'd stay there,” Burnett said. “But once I got a teaching job — especially in phys-ed — those are jobs people stay in until they retire. I had the opportunity to interview at other schools and I would pray about it and the good Lord would send me to Karns City.”

Burnett considers himself lucky to have worked at schools that value athletic training. He only wishes that could be the status quo for all schools.

“When I hear that other schools can't afford it, it's frustrating,” Burnett said. “School districts can't afford not to. High school kids should be treated like college kids.

“I have to give credit to school I've been associated with because it makes it that much easier. That's half the battle.

“My coaches kid me that I'm the Grim Reaper, that they don't want to see me, but they know we take care of the kids.”

<B>Name: </B>John Burnett<B>Age: </B>46<B>Address: </B>Saxonburg<B>Family: </B>Wife, Carol; son Noah, 17, and daughter Rachel, 14<B>Employment:</B> Certified athletic trainer, physical education instructor and sports science teacher at Karns City High School<B>Education: </B>Boardman (Ohio) High School (1982); Youngstown State University (1987, physical education); Ohio University (1988, master’s in athletic training)<B>Interests: </B>Outdoors, hunting, watching movies, reading, spending time with family, beach vacations