Day In The Life

Good Morning and happy Monday! Exciting week with Thanksgiving this Thursday. Then Rivalry Weekend in College Football on Friday and Saturday! And of course, have to squeeze in the first Christmas movie of the year, Die Hard!!!

I’ve gotten a lot of questions on what its like being a Physical Therapist for a college football team and how it differs from working in a clinic. So today, I wanted to do a day in the life of a PT in football and go over what its like in my dream job.

*The injuries discussed in this newsletter are for general educational purposes only. I am not affiliated with the athlete’s medical team, and the information shared does not reflect any insider or team medical details. Specifics about the injury are often unavailable, which can significantly influence the estimated timeline for return to play.

If you’re a new subscriber or just popping in for this newsletter, here is a quick run down of how I got here.

• I knew I wanted to work in football as a Physical Therapist since high school

• I went to undergrad at John Carroll where I played college football for 4 years

• Then I went to NYU for grad school and had a clinical rotation with the Atlanta Falcons.

• The head trainer there, knew the head trainer here at Florida State, and he hired me on as an intern

It’s a very rare opportunity to get hired as a PT for a collegiate football team straight out of school, and I am extremely blessed to have been given this opportunity, however the job does come with a lot of stress being an unexperienced Physical Therapist.

Training Camp

Although I was in Atlanta for training camp and started with FSU mid season, training camp is pretty similar between football programs. Long hours.

If your unfamiliar with football training camp, this often starts in July or August where the players report back to the facilities. They typically have no other obligations besides football. This means meetings, lift, practice, more meetings, treatment, then more meetings. Its a very intensive time for football and often brings a lot of soreness with getting their bodies adapted back to the sport from the off season.

On our side of the ball as medical providers, we do our best to make them feel their best. Whether that rehab for incoming injuries, treatment with modalities due to soreness, or educating athletes about their bodies and how to get the proper amount of sleep, recovery, and nutrition.

These are the longer hours of the year, working from 5AM to about 10PM everyday of the week. When I first heard this, it was hard to comprehend the hours actually worked. But eventually, you get into a groove, and it doesn’t seem as long as it sounds. Your also not seeing patients every hour of that time your working like you would in an outpatient clinic.

In Season

Once the season begins and the games start, your hours generally slim down. With high intensity games, there comes more injuries. Therefore, we are rehabbing where we need to, as well as treating and doing maintenance work on athletes to be able to keep competing.

*Due to my professional association with the Atlanta Falcons during preseason and my current role with the Florida State Seminoles, I will not provide educational content or commentary on any injuries within these programs during or after the season.

Side note*

• Working in this setting requires A LOT of communication between departments. Whether thats with the coaches on player load of an injured athlete returning back to play, working with nutrition to make sure the athletes are eating an adequate amount prior to practice, lift, and rehab, or among our department in sports medicine. Since there are so many players, we all have to be on the same page and communicate well on what the athletes are doing in their rehabs.

In season, there are typically no days off. Some days are shorter than others, but I find myself here for about 10-12 hours a day. Whether thats doing treatments, rehab, administrative tasks, or tedious work like restocking items or filling the trunks for games.

The environment is extremely different. You have access to players 7 days a week, meaning, treatment 7 days a week if needed. This often accelerates their progression in rehab which is different from a clinic because the progression in a clinic is often based on how often they are doing their home exercises. This doesn’t even account for the amount of resources you have in a power 4 training room vs your outpatient clinic.

Pressure

With this job comes a lot of pressure. Pressure from your boss on how your rehab is going, pressure from the coaches to get a player back in time for the game, and pressure from the athlete because this is their career. You HAVE to be on your P’s and Q’s with treating and make sure you’re hitting all of your buckets to get them back safely and playing at the high level they were once at.

When I was in Atlanta, my CI made a great point, he said “You don’t want your first ACL patient to be a starting QB with millions of dollars on the line, you want to have seen the injury plenty of times before, and understand the road blocks you will hit.” This speaks volumes because this can be a very stressful environment for a young PT (which it is). To battle this, I often turn to the trainers that have been in the field for years, the director of rehab here that has been working as a PT longer than I’ve been alive, and my past CI’s for advice on the best ways of treatment. These are all resources that are very valuable and help combat the stress so I don’t have to take it on all by myself.

Game Day

One of the best parts of the job, in my opinion is game day. This is very different from your typical outpatient clinic because you get to see your work perform on the field. You have the excitement of the crowd filled with 80,000 fans, on national television, the band playing, and drunk college students screaming at the top of their lungs. It makes it worth the long days and short nights. Especially when the athletes you treat are performing well.