Treating injuries from 19 sports and 43 different teams, Lake Braddock’s athletic trainers have a lot on their plates when it comes to rehabilitation and prevention of injuries.

Meredith Sheeron, one of LB’s athletic trainers, has been working here for 13 years. The most common injuries that she has seen are sprained ankles and muscle strains. She chose to be an athletic trainer because she wanted to go into physical therapy, she said, but didn’t want to work with the elderly.

Emily Davis, the other schools athletic trainer, joined LB this past August. She wanted to become an athletic trainer after she tore her Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) in her senior year of high school and enjoyed spending time with the athletic trainers at her school.

Of all of the sports played here, each one is dangerous in their own unique way. Sports like basketball, cheerleading, field hockey, football, lacrosse, soccer and wrestling are known as contact sports. Contact sports are sports that involve players coming into physical contact with each other.

“Cheerleading [is the most dangerous sport] because the moves are difficult and dangerous, and if you don’t train the coaches or the kids, it is a disaster,” Sheeron said.

Other sports, like football and lacrosse, which involve constant contact between players, piles up just as many injuries as cheerleading.

“Football [is the most dangerous sport] because of the number of people, the contact and people can be uneducated on how to hit,” Davis said.

Of course, athletes can’t immediately come back to play after an injury. A long process must be completed once the player is pain free. Students who have suffered an injury, you have to go and see the athletic trainers every day until cleared for play.

“It depends on the injury, but the first step is pain management, second is range of motion, and third is functional rehabilitation and gradual return to play,” Sheeron said.

Students can easily avoid injuries in sports. If playing  a sport with a lot of contact, such as football or lacrosse, keeping the head up is the best way to avoid a head or a neck injury, which are among the most dangerous injuries.

“More strengthening, education, good warm ups, and proper equipment are the best ways to avoid an injury,” Davis said.