{"id":29775,"date":"2019-08-28T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=370643"},"modified":"2019-08-28T08:00:03","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T14:00:03","slug":"meet-summit-countys-medical-quarterback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/local-news\/meet-summit-countys-medical-quarterback\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Summit County\u2019s \u201cmedical quarterback\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editors Note: This sponsored content is brought to you by Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

From her presence on the sidelines at practices and games to answering calls directly from parents, Rachel Freeman has become a recognizable face to anyone involved in youth sports in Summit County.<\/p>\n

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Rachel Freeman is an ImPACT Trained Athletic Trainer at Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery. She\u2019s been working to streamline sports injury care for school-aged athletes in the county.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The term \u201cmedical quarterback\u201d is used a lot to describe Freeman\u2019s work at Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery<\/a>. She\u2019s been working to streamline care for school-aged athletes in the county so that when injuries occur, these kids can get back to their beloved sports as quickly and safely as possible.<\/p>\n

Freeman is an ImPACT Trained Athletic Trainer, which is a special distinction in her field that means she\u2019s skilled in assessing and interpreting concussions, and formulating return-to-play plans. Concussions are one of the most common injuries in youth sports, and properly assessing and treating them is critical due to the severity of symptoms that can occur when a second concussion happens before the first has healed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is called second-impact syndrome, which can have a fatal consequence,\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n

Overdiagnosis vs. appropriate treatment<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Rachel Freeman, MA, ATC, OTC, is the \u201cmedical quarterback\u201d who can coordinate care for your athlete, making sure they get in quickly and with the correct specialist in the Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery office (knees, shoulders, wrists, feet, etc.).<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For more information, contact Freeman at rfreeman@vsortho.com<\/a> or 970-296-4811.<\/h4>\n

\u201cIf they see me at practice, I\u2019ll also try to be at their appointment. I\u2019ll work with the doctors and support them along the way,\u201d she said of all youth sports injury patients. \u201cThese kids are out there because they love it and they want to be there, and they have so much pride putting on their uniforms and wearing their team colors \u2014 who wouldn\u2019t want to support these kids?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Freeman studied the increase of concussions among youth athletes in graduate school and how overdiagnosis and overlegislation could lead to  some unintended consequences. For example, if a student athlete knows a concussion diagnosis is going to prevent him or her from returning to their sport for a longer period of time, they might be more motivated to lie about the severity of their symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure we\u2019re treating these injuries appropriately in order to keep kids safe,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cIf they\u2019re not really concussed and it\u2019s more likely a simple headache, they could feel better quickly. Once you call it a concussion, they\u2019re required to do a five-phase return-to-play progression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concussions are common and very serious, which is why Freeman and the entire team at Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery offer continuity of care for all patients to not only ensure proper diagnosis, but also the best treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not in the business of keeping you out, I\u2019m in the business of keeping you safe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Freeman\u2019s medical quarterbacking includes her direct line of contact with patients, parents, physicians and physical therapists, so she knows the play-by-play for each case.<\/p>\n

Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery youth sports outreach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rachel Freeman, MA, ATC, OTC, is the \u201cmedical quarterback\u201d who can coordinate care for your athlete, making sure they get in quickly and with the correct specialist in the Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery office (knees, shoulders, wrists, feet, etc.). She is also the best resource in Summit County for concussion care. With the help and support of Drs. Gnirke and Braxton, Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery is on the forefront of return to play and return to learn procedures.<\/p>\n

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Athletic Trainer Rachel Freeman works closely with youth athletes across Summit County to provide streamlined care for all types of sports injuries.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Prevention<\/strong><\/p>\n

The only way for a youth athlete to prevent a concussion is to stop being a youth athlete and do nothing. Freeman said that\u2019s not an option for these kids, so the next best thing is to provide great care, both on the prevention and treatment side.<\/p>\n

Since concussions aren\u2019t preventable, Vail-Summit Orthopaedics offers baseline concussion testing for student athletes. At the beginning of a sports season, students can take this test while healthy so providers can develop specialized treatment for concussions if and when they happen. This is just one step in the entire spectrum of care offered by the sports injury specialists at Vail-Summit Orthopaedics.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom injury to clearance, we\u2019re here for them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As for preventing other types of athletic injuries, Freeman recommends that student athletes play multiple sports. Multi-sport athletes also tend to succeed more at the collegiate level, which includes more scholarship offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoaches are looking for well-rounded athletes,\u201d she said. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to try something new and experiment with new activities. If you keep your athletic resume diverse, it can help with overuse and overtraining injuries, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overuse injuries are the most common injuries seen in local youth athletes. Many kids are out there playing the same sport throughout the entire year, using the same muscles and motions over and over again. By changing things up and trying new sports, athletes can strengthen new muscles and train their bodies to move differently, she said.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editors Note: This sponsored content is brought to you by Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery From her presence on the sidelines at practices and games to answering calls directly from parents, Rachel Freeman has become a recognizable face to anyone involved in youth sports in Summit County. Rachel Freeman is an ImPACT Trained Athletic Trainer at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-29775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 12:15:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIFT - The LIFT FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29775\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}