“JUNE, 1938 | oF

PREVENTION OF FOOTBALL INJURIES

Several student managers and the coach can prepare
18 players for the game or scrimmage in an hour

 

By Arthur Lustig

 

 

Arthur Lustig coaches football and basket-
ball at the Weequahic High School in New-
ark, N. J. From conversations with a number
of coaches in his state, Lustig believes that
too little time is spent in the prevention of

football injuries. actly as they would be for games. oe
So carefully does he safeguard against in- This rule has paid high dividends

juries, that during the past football season T cet ee " ale

his squad did not suffer a single ankle sprain, 0 prevent irritation to the skin

twisted knee, shoulder injury or bruised rib, wherever adhesive tape is applied,

kidney or hip. He believes that similar results we advise the boys to shave the hair Wa

can be obtained by all schools. off the skin first, and then apply a 3
compound of tincture of benzoin di- a

OO OFTEN football coaches

are so deeply concerned over

formations, scoring plays,
schedule making, and other similar
problems that they have little time
to devote to the prevention of in-
juries. Most of the coaches know how
to take care of injuries once they
occur, and can tell you all about
whirl-pool baths, hot and cold ap-
plications, remedial adhesive taping,
massage and a host of other things
to bring back into service a player
who has been injured. But how
many of them do anything to pre-
vent these same injuries?

Perhaps the slow progress in ac-
cident prevention is due to the belief
on the part of most coaches that a
program to cut down injuries must
be expensive and involve a consid-
erable loss of time. My own experi-
ence does not justify this assumption.
Such a program may result in a
greater expenditure for adhesive
tape, felt, sponge rubber, and cer-
tain other medicinal supplies, but
this will probably be the best invest-
ment made by the school. In several
cases, a slight modification of stand-
ard football equipment may be
necessary. Most manufacturers will
gladly make such changes at little
or no cost.

While it is true that some extra
time is necessary in this matter of

LEFT: Worn underneath the regular shoulder
pads, this sponge rubber pad provides com-
plete protection for the shoulder and also
protects a considerable portion of the pectoral
and upper dorsal regions. Note how well the
shoulders are protected when the complete
harness is adjusted (right). The loose shoulder
pieces on the pads have been pushed forward
about an inch to provide the collar bone with
additional protection.

BELOW: This knee guard is used in place
of the one that is cut out of the pants. A "'V"
is cut on opposite sides of a piece of felt about
a foot square and placed over a modified
"Duke Simpson" knee wrap. For games and
scrimmages the guard is anchored with tape.
It is imperative that the leg is slightly flexed
while the felt is being adjusted.

 

preventing injuries, it is surprising
how little time is actually needed. In
my experience I have found that
with the help of several of the boys
on the manager’s staff, I can prepare
about 18 boys for the game in a little
over an hour.

Here’s the plan which we em-
ployed during the past year. First of
all, most coaches will agree that al-
most as many, and in some cases

 

more, accidents occur during scrim-
mages and other practice sessions
than in games. Therefore, our boys
are prepared for all scrimmages ex-

rectly on the surface to which the
tape is to be applied. This tincture
of benzoin compound also provides
a very good adhesive surface for the
tape. About two gallons of this com-
pound will be sufficient for the entire
season. We have also found, inci-
dentally, that this compound has
practically eliminated “‘athlete’s foot”
from our squads. ~

Wherever strength is required in
adhesive tape, we use a brand of ad-
hesive tape which is a good deal
stronger than the ordinary type. We
have found from experience that not
only do we use a good deal less tape
in this way, but we also save money
and time and have a greater assur-
ance that the tape will not break or
tear. We use the ordinary type of
adhesive tape when there is little
tension or when we wish to secure
other tape more firmly. In all of our
taping we use two-inch tape, with the
exception of the small pieces which
we use to anchor these two-inch
strips. For this purpose we use the
one-half inch ordinary tape.

We have found it expedient in pre-
paring the application of tape to
have several of our managers cut the
desired number of strips into the
proper sizes at least one hour before
the squad starts to dress for the game
or scrimmage.

_ Following are the