June 16, 1999

These Columbia Daily Tribune stories ran on June 16, 1999

By LUKE VILELLE
of the Tribune's staff

When Corby Jones suffered a significant toe sprain in Missouri's football game against Northwestern State on Oct. 3, 1998, the clock began ticking for the Missouri sports medicine staff.

The staff had seven days to improve Jones' condition and keep him in football-playing shape so that Jones could take the field next Saturday at Iowa State. As Jones' toe became the favorite topic of sports pages across the state, Rex Sharp, MU's head athletic trainer, knew the pressure was on his staff to heal the ailing digit.

"It was probably the most well-publicized toe injury I'd ever seen," Sharp says.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Jones spent the majority of his time in the Dr. Glenn L. McElroy Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center, the new MU sports medicine facility that had opened late in the summer.

Sharp treated Jones for 10 hours a day - heating the injury in the whirlpool, running him in the SwimEx pool, having him ride the stationery bikes and exercise on the stair stepper. Sharp coated Jones' toe in a paraffin bath and treated the toe with ultrasounds and massages.

However, when Friday came, and the team made the trip to Iowa State, Sharp was still unsure of success.

"We did everything we could, but on Friday I still did not know whether he'd be able to play," Sharp says.

The line for Jones on Saturday in an MU win - 9 for 15 passing for 176 yards and two touchdowns, along with one rushing touchdown.

"When people come to a football game, all they see are the players running out on the field," Sharp said. "Then they go home. They have no idea what goes on all week long."

Every day, the MU sports medicine staff treats injured student-athletes. The new sports medicine facility has been in operation for a full school year of athletics, and coaches say they can tell a difference.

"It seemed to me that we got players back quicker this year," said MU baseball coach Tim Jamieson, who saw pitcher Chris George return in four weeks from a broken foot instead of missing the rest of the season. "There's no question the players are more motivated to go in there and rehab. It's a great work environment in there."

Sharp attributes MU's success at rehabilitating players to three primary factors -accessible and good physicians, a strong plan of treatment, rehabilitation and strength and conditioning measures, and a compliant student athlete.

And it sure doesn't hurt to have some of the best rehabilitation equipment in the country.

Now located in the rehabilitation center, six times the size of the old training room that was tucked away in the football locker room, are eight bikes, three upper extremity workout machines, five stairsteppers, a pair of treadmills, a Biodex, a SwimEx and five whirlpools.

The total value of this equipment is approximately $140,000. It might not change the basic approach to rehabilitation, but it offers the trainers limitless options for treatment.

Missouri has come full-circle from its fragmented, tiny facilities of recent history, to which Brian Stock, who has spent the past five years as a student trainer, can attest.

"Football and baseball were the only two teams in this building, and it was just jam-packed," Stock said. "The equipment we had was all old. The stuff we have now, I've traveled to a lot of different places, and nobody has anything like this. I've been to a lot of big schools, Michigan, Texas, Penn State, UCLA, they don't have anything like this.

"There are some other ones that are nice, but they're not this big, and they don't have everything we have. People come in here from other schools, and they're in awe."

The main room of the sports medicine center is split in two by a pair of offices. On one side is the rehabilitation area; on the other side, the treatment area.

All the exercise machines are located in the rehabilitation area, with separate rooms for the whirlpools and the SwimEx.

The SwimEx is the most expensive single piece of machinery in the sports medicine center at a cost of $52,000. At first site, it appears to be a giant bathtub. But closer inspection reveals what this 3,200-gallon pool, one of only about five big SwimExs located in college sports medicine centers across the country, can do.

Panels can be taken out of the bottom of the pool, adjusting its depth from 4 to 6 feet. A resistance current can create a flow of water in the pool. In addition, there are colored steps at different heights around the pool that may be used for plyometrics.

The basic idea behind the water exercises is that a person's body weighs less in water, allowing the body to do certain exercises that it might not be capable of on dry ground because of an injury. Kurt Propst was the first student-athlete to use the SwimEx.

"At that point, we wanted cardiovascular training for Kurt," Sharp said. "All the other players were outside running, but he could run in here. We'd do interval workouts. We'd have him run one minute hard six or seven times."

Next to the SwimEx room is the hydrotherapy room, containing five whirlpools. Distance runners enjoy soaking in the cold whirlpools after running to help restore their muscle energy.

But Sharp would rather have his rehabilitating athletes exercising than resting in a whirlpool.

"I like to incorporate active exercises whenever we can to warm up the injured area," Sharp said. "Instead of just putting them in a warm whirlpool or putting a hotpack on the injured area, I'm much more into the active exercise.

"There's nothing quite like a natural body warmup," he continued. "That's why we have all this equipment in our rehab area. Say someone has a thigh injury. Rather than just put a hot pack on him, I might have him start pedaling a bike. We've spent a lot of money and devoted a lot of space to rehabilitation."

Rehabilitation means not only treating athletes but also restoring them to their level of pre-injury fitness.

When a player suffers a shoulder injury, he can spend time on the stairmaster or bikes to stay in shape. Conversely, an ankle injury can send a player to the bikes or an upper body exercise machine to maintain his cardiovascular fitness.

Completing the rehab area is the Biodex, which can measure the strength of almost any joint in the body. The Missouri training staff primarily uses it for the testing of knee strength, in both the quadricep and the hamstring muscle groups.

An athlete extends and flexes a knee, and the attached computer measures the strength.

As each group of freshman athletes enters MU, their knee strengths will be tested. Then, if an athlete injures his knee a couple years later, the staff can refer to the early test for a reference point in the rehabilitation of the knee.

The Biodex can also be used for rehab, but Sharp doesn't.

In the treatment room can be found 15 taping stations and 20 treatment beds.

The equipment for electronic muscle stimulants and ultrasounds is located here. Standard hot packs are kept in a heater at a temperature of 160 degrees. A freezer contains nothing but cups of solid ice to be used in ice massages. There is a paraffin bath, in which an athlete can dip a hand or foot to create a dry, warm seal around an injury.

"It's awesome for foot and hand injuries," Sharp said. "It provides a nice increase in local circulation. I think you'd find that a lot of arthritic patients use a paraffin bath."

The taping stations are flooded during football season, as approximately 100 players come in every day for tape jobs. Just to tape all these players takes 2 hours, with four full-time football trainers and eight student trainers working.

Along with the constant taping, football season keeps the sports medicine staff the busiest because of the number of football participants.

The training room opens at 7 a.m., allowing athletes to get treatment before their classes start.

"If someone is actually injured, we expect them to be here before their classes and at every available opportunity in between classes and after classes and so on," Sharp says. "I think that's one of the major reasons we've had success in treating injuries."

Facility gives student trainers good experience

By LUKE VILELLE
of the Tribune's staff

MU student Brian Stock was there when Missouri softball player Kim Slover suffered a torn ACL while doing plyometrics at a softball practice in February 1998.

Stock was there with Slover over the next month as she worked to build her knee strength before surgery. The surgery took place March 13, a date Stock still remembers.

Stock was there during the four-month rehabilitation process, and Stock was there when Slover retook the softball field.

For Stock, a student trainer for the past five years who is headed to Texas Tech this fall to be a graduate assistant, watching Slover take the field again was a fulfilling moment.

"It makes you feel good to know you had some part in helping an athlete," Stock said. "If they're hurt with a pretty significant injury, they're in the training room six hours or more a day. So you're with them a lot.

"You get to know them really well, and as more than just an athlete. They have to trust you, and you have to trust them to do the things they're supposed to do and not do the things they're not supposed to do."

And a new sports medicine facility benefits not only the athletes, but also provides a tremendous opportunity for student trainers to become familiar with cutting edge technology.

The promise of the new equipment, increased football success, and even more important, the arrival of head athletic trainer Rex Sharp in the summer of 1996, has boosted student interest in working in sports medicine.

When Sharp arrived, there were only eight student trainers. Now, there are 27.

Sharp has been leading the charge to establish a sports medicine curriculum at Missouri.

"For three years, we have been working very closely with folks here on campus to take a look at a sports medicine program," Sharp said. "Certainly, the interest from the students is there."

Having a degree program in sports medicine will become even more important in 2004, when new rules take effect that require all certified athletic trainers to have graduated from an accredited sports medicine program.

The internship route to certification, which Stock took, will then be phased out. Stock has worked 5,000 clinical hours, and it paid off when he passed the certification test in April.

For Stock, a typical day during the football season went something like this: Classes from 8 a.m. to noon, taping players from noon to 2 p.m., at football practice from 2 to 5 p.m., treating players from 5 to 7 or 8 p.m.

Freshman student trainers don't receive any compensation. However, second-year trainers get a $1,000 stipend, increasing to $1,500 in the third year and $2,000 as a senior. In addition, MU provides their clothes and shoes and allows the trainers to eat in the athletic dining hall.

Sharp, center help Propst MU quarterback's road to recovery nears completion.

By LUKE VILELLE
of the Tribune's staff

Outside of head athletic trainer Rex Sharp, perhaps no one knows the Dr. Glenn L. McElroy Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center better than Kurt Propst.

Propst, a redshirt sophomore quarterback, spent the majority of his time there when he rehabilitated his broken right leg, suffered in a 1998 spring scrimmage. During the summer months of May, June, July and August, Propst spent about five hours a day six days a week rehabilitating the leg.

"I joked with Rex that he should adopt me as a child because I was around him so much," Propst said. "I was probably around him more than he was around his kids that summer."

When Propst first began the rehabilitation process in early May, he used the Hearnes Center training room. When the SwimEx was ready for use in June, Propst began spending part of his time in the new facility.

The staff moved some other exercise machines such as bikes and stairsteppers over to the building, so that Propst wouldn't have to shuttle between facilities.

Sharp always kept Propst busy. Maybe bored of the monotonous schedule, but always busy.

Three to four weeks after his surgery, Propst began stretching exercises to regain a little flexibility. The next step for Propst was an exercise bike.

"There were times when I felt like I was never going to get better," Propst said. "I thought I'd get better for a week, then I'd feel like I'd go backwards."

Propst stepped in the SwimEx for the first time in middle June and kept using it until December. He used it for stepups, shuffling, running in place and fighting against the current.

At the same time, Propst was using exercise bikes, stairmasters treadmills and lifting weights with his legs.

In August, more surgery was necessary for Propst, meaning additional time with Sharp. During the season, Propst would spend half a practice watching and the other half rehabilitating his leg.

Propst returned to the field for MU spring football practice, and he's working out with the team this summer. Nobody thinks he is back to 100 percent yet, especially in his agility and speed, but Propst hasn't given up on that goal.

"I wouldn't say I'm satisfied, but I'm proud of what I accomplished," Propst said. "People told me I should just quit, that I've got a scholarship and I should just go to school, but that's not the type of person I am. I don't only want to get back, I want to play. If I didn't think I had a chance to play, I wouldn't have tried to come back to football."

Instead, Propst has chosen to try and beat the odds, to return from an injury many consider to be career-ending.

"Without Rex and the rest of the staff and that facility, I probably wouldn't be where I am now," Propst said.