If a doctor tells you to sit out a few weeks of wrestling to heal, is it right for a coach to persuade them to come back earlier and risk the injury to possibly get worse?

It's mainly based on the wrestler's heart and actual severity of the injury if they should sit out or not.

I think you have to get a doctor to sign a release. If not the school could be held liable.

No, it does not mainly depend on a wrestler's heart as to when he should come back. It does however depend on the seriousness of an injury. If a health care provider advises you to sit out for 2 weeks, then they are basing that on their professional expertise and the safety of the child, not on how the time off will impact a wrestling team. I am a mid-level practitioner and I make those decisions all the time. A coach should not overstep his bounds by demanding a quicker return to action, if an athlete has been sidelined by injury. In all actuality, a school should not let a kid return to their sporting activity until cleared with a medical release note, to protect all those involved.

My son has a shoulder injury. We took him to the best doctor in Louisville, he informed us he should not have anycontact for two weeks. He go to rehab several times a week where professional help him get back. Our coach knows the regions are coming up and we won't know if he will get to be there or not until the 6th. If not the coach knows he young and has a big future ahead of him and said lets not rush it but wait until we hear from the doctor. It is also the parents who should stop it. If the coach pushes for a kid to wrestle then the parents should step in and say NO we are talking about some injuries that could hurt the kids later in life or the next year. So the parents, coaches, and the doctors all have to be on the same page on this. THESE ARE JUST KIDS and given the choice many would try and then end up in worst shap for the rest of their life.

Iceman I agree with you with one exception.

Many times athlets go to their family practicioner for injuries. Many of these family practitioners tell them 3-4 weeks off before practicing.

I think coaches can/should recomend that the athlete go to a sports medicine doctor. Not only will this give them a real timetable for recovery, but will probably send the athlete to a physical therapist.

Otherwise a coach should NEVER allow an athlete back to practice without a doctors note. Even if the parents give the coach the OK. The coach can always sit an individual whenever he/she feels that it is necasary, which means he actually over-rides the parents decision if they say Yes, but not if they say NO>

Something that I noticed over the years pertaining to this is that doctors tend to exaggerate injury times, in order to protect themselves from any type of liablity should the injury be re-aggravated before the time period is up. In my opinion, the best thing you could do is to be examined by your school's athletic trainer; an athletic trainer is more well-versed in athletic-type injuries, and therefore would be able to make a more accurate estimate as to when an athlete can return. I jammed my finger really bad during a practice a couple of years ago; the athletic trainer said it could be broken, but she couldn't say for sure because they are not allowed to diagnose injuries, only examine and give their opinion. I went to the doctor, had an x-ray, etc. and the finger was not broken, only badly jammed. I could have practiced the next day, but the doctor advised me to stay out of action for 2 weeks. That was 2 weeks of non-contact that I had to experience, 2 weeks that could have made me a better wrestler, because the doctor was covering his you-know-what. In the end, an athletic trainer is without a doubt your best bet.

There's no way to know a doctor is exaggerating an injury unless you are one yourself. That being said, i think you need to take their word for it when they tell you when you're ready to wrestle again. In such situations, a coach should never ask a kid to tough it out ... this is high school sports not the NFL.

I will concede that its likely the doctor is thinking about liability though, i just wouldn't assume he's pumping up the recovery time. Medical lawsuits have gotten to be an outrage ... too many people looking to get something for nothing.

Something that I noticed over the years pertaining to this is that doctors tend to exaggerate injury times' date=' in order to protect themselves from any type of liablity should the injury be re-aggravated before the time period is up.........In the end, an athletic trainer is without a doubt your best bet.[/quote']

I agree with your first statement to an extent, but the 2nd statement I must respectfully disagree. I have 2 examples of this being VERY bad advice.

1) my sr year in h.s., playing football...i broke my ankle....our trainer on the sidelines did some basic strength tests on my foot and said "it's not broke, you can play in the 2nd half..." I knew she was wrong, and it was a scrimmage, so i sat out and got it x-rayed...sure enough it was broke.

2) my younger brother had slightly torn cartilage in his knee in college....the genius trainer thought he knew some maneuver where he could slightly tug and extend my brother's knee and "flip" the cartilage back over, and lessen the amount of cartilage to have removed....when the trainer tugged on it, it caused the cartilage to tear so badly, he lost probably 80% of the cartilage in his knee. my brother said he almost passed out and vomitted because of the pain this caused him. this will without a doubt cause him a lot of problems when he is older.....golfing, walking, etc....will always be painful because this trainer thought it was wise to tug on his knee. the doctor that ended up cleaning up my brother's knee reamed this trainer for doing this.

bottom line is, the parents need to stay in control and make the final decision.

You are right. I did not mean just a doctor. We took our son first to our school's sports medicine trainer at the school to look at him. He said there was damage, we then took him to the hosiptal where they did a general exam and said yes they agreed there was damage. We then took him to see the Rudy Elllis doctors group who has one of the best sport medicine doctors in KY and has one of the best rehabs to insure total recovery. So as a parent it is incubment on us to insure that all steps are taken to make sure the kids get the best care taken so they don't suffer the rest of their life over an injury they sufferd in high school.And yes it looks like my son is going to miss the regions so there goes state. But there is always next year and he is young and he will get better for next year.

great decisions iceman.

Looks to me that you went throgh all the steps. That was probably the correct line of effectiveness.

If your school has a trainer go to that person 1st. After that go to a doctor or hospital. If at that point they say there is an injury then go to a sports doctor. This is the last step. A coach cannot override a doctors decision.

I have heard of parents overriding a doctor before. This puts the coach in a difficult position. He/She holds the athlete out becuase of the doctor yet the parents say, we want him/her to participate.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. I was just saying that athletic trainers are usually more well-versed in the extent and recovery time of athletic related injuries. Overall, yes, a doctor would know best.

The problem is with the type of doctor that is doing the exam. Many family practioners do not think in terms of athletics. They will tell an athlete to lay off of an injury for two weeks when a sports minded doctor will give the same injury two days. A guy on our team went to a local doctor because of a possible broken finger and was told it was only a sprain and he should sit out for a week. He went for a second opinion with another family practioner that had played sports in college and was told to tape his finger and keep practicing.

Nice to see you could get on the boards Northern.

I agree with you entirely that you should always get a second opinion.

Well the results were not good. In my thread above I mentioned that we went thru all the right doctors, well I am glad we did. His Sports Medicine Doctor today said he is out of the regions and to make things worse he has to go back Wedneday for an EMG and an MRI they have found nerve damage all this from slam to the shoulder that should have been an illegal slam but the ref didn't see it that way. Now we have to wait again if minor, rest will heal if surgery, maybe be done with wrestling. Now its off to see more specialist and wait.