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NEWS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2004
PAIN: Trainers help athletes get the treatment they need to play
Kansan file photo
Sophomore outside hitter Jana Coraa plays during a home match this season. Cornea injured her left MCL early in the year, missing six matches. She returned to the court on Oct. 2 against Baylor University. She played in the final 16 matches of the season and in the NCAA volleyball tournament this past weekend.
CONTINUED FROM 1A
"The athlete can play, but the coach may think that they can't play as good as someone else," Magee said.
Some injuries are so serious that a player must stop. Simien missed 22 games his sophomore season because of a separated right shoulder. Correa was out for nine months after injuring her ACL in October 2003.
It's hard to categorize injuries into those that can be played through and those that can't without a doctor's evaluation, he said.
"If an athlete comes to me and says he sprained his ankle, I will ask him some general questions," Magee said. "Can you run on it? Can you function without excessive amounts of pain?"
Other injuries are easier to play through. Ankle sprains and some back and knee problems are the most common ailments athletes play with, Magee said.
"But if he comes to me and says, 'My ankle is the size of a grapefruit,' I will tell him he needs to come in for an evaluation." Magee said.
If the athletes can do those things, Magee said they are fine to play.
Deciding on treatment is part of that evaluation. Magee said any treatment is specific to the injury. Swelling can be treated with an anti-inflammatory, like Cortisone, and if an injury is painful, trainers can treat pain with Tvlenol and Ibuprofen.
PLAYING HURT
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"If we are using anything stronger than that, the athlete shouldn't be playing." Magee said.
The most common form of treatment is ice, he said.
Simien first strained his groin a few days before the Kansas versus Michigan State game on Nov. 25. After scoring 28 points against the Spartans, Simien reaggravated the injury in practice a couple days later.
The injury dogged Simien into the 2004 NCAA tournament in March. Kansas was playing against Illinois-Chicago and Simien slipped on a wet spot on the basketball court late in the first half of the game. He fell to the floor and laid there for several minutes.
He played in the following
games against Texas Christian and Stanford, but the effects of playing injured were noticeable. He combined for just 16 points in those two games. Ten points came from free throws. Simien did not play the next game against Fort Hays State, the only game of the season he missed.
He continued to play, not wanting to miss any more games after his shortened sophomore season.
"Playing hurt is something that every college athlete does," Simien said. "You play hard every night, so you know that
you are going to get banged up because it is a long season."
After being helped to the locker room, he returned to the game in the second half. Kansas beat the 13th seeded Illinois-Chicago team, and even with his injury, Simien led the team with 12 rebounds. Out of the 40 minutes of playing time, Simien played only 23 minutes.
Some athletes don't have the option to play hurt — they physically can't. It happened to Simien his sophomore year when he injured his shoulder, and it was Jana Correa's story her freshman season.
"That was the first time that I had agrabbaged it in awhile," Simien remembered. "It was a pretty big fasco, hitting the wet spot and everything."
Correa came to Kansas from Brazil to play volleyball for the Jayhawks. An outside hitter, she remembers the day she injured her right knee, tearing her ACL. It was Oct. 11, 2003. She was leading the team with 3.88 kills per game.
On the Saturday between the first and second round of the tournament, Simien told reporters his trainers woke him up every two hours to receive treatment for the muscle.
"I tried to play on it for a couple of weeks after I tore it, and it was hurting really bad." Correa said.
She had surgery to repair the ACL exactly one month after the injury occurred. Then, Corrare spent eight months recovering. She missed the rest of her freshman season and spring training.
"It was tourney time." Simien explained. "Being an upperclassman, you only have so many opportunities to play in the tournament and in big games like that."
Correa's eight-month recovery was what Magee called an intense rehabilitation process.
Fans and people in the college basketball world take for granted how difficult it was for Simien to continue playing, Kansas coach Bill Self said.
"People don't know how hurt he was last year," he said.
"Athletes have to learn how to work their muscles again and to gain control of their bodies,"
A NEW SEASON
"T he doctor said I couldn't
hurt myself any worse, and I was in a position where I could still play so I didn't think twice about it."
By July, Correa thought she was almost at 100 percent.
"I felt that I was slower, I still feel kind of slow when I try to go to the ball and try to dig balls," she said.
There was just one thing.
She went back to rehab and missed six matches.
"I thought 'Oh no, not again'," she said.
Doctors told Correa the year after surgery is the toughest time because athletes have to overcome both physical and mental setbacks of an injury.
Keith Langford Kansas senior gua0rd
INJURIES ON THE MIND
Magee said.
"The doctor said I couldn't hurt my any worse, and I was in a position where I could still play, so I didn't think twice about it." Langford said.
Keith Langford knows what recovering from surgery is like. He played with torn cartilage in his right knee for the last part of the 2003-04 season.
Correa saw this season as a time to put all of her injuries and previous struggles behind her. But after a couple of matches, she strained another ligament in her left knee.
He had surgery just two days after Kansas lost to Georgia Tech in the Elite Eight. He didn't pick up a basketball again until late July. Although Langford's physical health was 100 percent at the start of the season, he was still working to get his mind back into shape. Self said.
"Sometimes, when you have
surgery, even though structurally you're fine, every time you get a bump you're nervous about getting hurt." Self said.
Both Langford and Correa said mental rehabilitation is just as important as physical rehabilitation.
"I would say that half of it is mental," Langford said.
Because of the number and severity of her injuries, Correa said she spent a lot of time with a sports psychologist. "He said the injury makes you stronger."
"It feels good to be healthy," he said. "Knowing that I don't have to get a shot before the game and knowing that I can help my team, not worrying that I am going to hurt myself."
Simien said he can't worry about getting hurt because this season is now or never for him.
That was the past. Langford said he wanted to focus on the present.
"I played the last month and a half of the season handicapped mentally more than anything," Langford said.
"I am definitely not going to pump the brakes at all, worried about getting hurt," Simien said at the beginning of this season. "This is it for me. It is my last year. So there is really no need for me to hold back."
The biggest thing Correa had to deal with was accepting she wouldn't be able to play for such a long time.
At the end of this season, Correa went back on the volleyball court. She played in the last 16 matches and the NCAA tournament this past weekend.
Edited by Marissa Stephenson
Simien and Langford both began this season in what they said was their best physical shape since their sophomore seasons.
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