A Look into Sports Medicine

Sports Medicine is a career pathway at Granite Hills with hands on learning of the basics of preventing, assessing, and treating sports injuries.

Sports Medicine teacher Katherine Leek said, “The first year we go over general information about what is sports medicine.” The second year is more of assessment and treatment of injuries.

The students “learn about the taping techniques,” Leek said. Being able to use them outside of class once they’ve learned them is a very useful skill for students.

“We’ve learned about lots of different injuries and how to help them,” Bailey Wallace (20) said. Some of the skills students learn are shoulder bracing, wrist taping, ankle taping, and checking vital signs.

They’ve also learned some about situations like if a patient comes in with a hurt knee to, “check the elasticity,” Mandilina Yousif (20) said, and to feel around the hurt area.

“I would recommend it for students who are into anatomy,” Yousif said. She added that the class is ideal for students who want to help people.

Leek agreed. “Anyone that’s interested in the medical field,” would benefit from the class Leek said. She would recommend the class to gain some experience and see if they enjoy the area of work before pursuing it as a career.

For what the students find most useful to learn, they are, “the tape jobs being an athlete myself,” Wallace said. It’s useful to know how to prevent your own injuries and how to address them should they occur.