On-ice injuries focus of training
CRANBERRY TWP — Athletic trainers and EMS personnel hit the ice Wednesday morning at the UPMC Lemiuex Sports Complex to practice on-ice injury management.
About 25 athletic trainers from the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine worked with staff from Cranberry Township EMS to learn and practice lift techniques to get injured hockey players off the ice safely.
The UPMC trainers were involved as part of a continuing education requirement. The EMS personnel were invited to enhance their abilities in these procedures.
“It's good to meet before the incident occurs,” said Ted Fessides, deputy chief of administration with Cranberry EMS. “The first time we meet shouldn't be when an incident occurs on the ice.”
The training was part of an outreach program run by athletic trainer Phil Hensler, of UPMC Center for Sports Medicine, through UPMC's prehospital care outreach committee. They invited Cranberry Township EMS because they service the Lemieux complex.
The goal is to get into the community and work with both athletic trainers and EMS personnel before the two come together on the field or on the ice when the situation is more serious, Hensler said.
The trainers went through classroom training first, then went on the ice to get hands-on.
The group split up to cycle through three stations to practice face-up, face-down and goalie lift techniques for possible spinal injuries. An eight-person lift is what the National Athletic Trainers' Association recommends as the safest method for moving someone onto a stretcher.
However there are not always that many people available on the ice, so they also practice alternative lifts.
Lifting on slippery ice takes more people and more practice than lifting a player off a grass field, so training sessions like this are critical to ensuring things run smoothly when disaster strikes.
“We want to have this communication beforehand,” Hensler said. “So when anything happens, they work together seamlessly.”
