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In this podcast, Allison Gaillard interviews Anna Szymanski, an athletic trainer for Saraland High School. The podcast is a special episode for National Athletic Training Month. The two hosts were previously classmates and friends, and they catch up on their lives since school. Anna has a run story to share, which starts back in middle school when she and her friends decided to do a sport together in high school. They chose to run cross country, and although she had tendonitis in her lower leg and ankle, she did not let that stop her. During track season, she tried various events and ended up doing 100 meters for fun. Later, she moved to Atlanta, where she participated in track but had to stop due to a small fracture in her lower spine. Anna took a sports medicine class during this time and realized that she was interested in the medical field.

Allison asks Anna what advice she would give an injured runner. Anna begins by saying that the advice she would give would depend on the type of athlete, whether they are a long-distance runner or a sprinter. She then goes on to talk about a young athlete with an overuse injury, who wanted to push himself more despite the injury. Anna advised him to take some time off and worked with his coach to create a training plan to help him recover. Anna's advice to an injured runner would be to rest the body and allow it to heal itself, as the body knows what to do in most situations. She also suggests that active rest, such as cross-training, could be a good option for injured runners, allowing them to still use their muscles while avoiding impact.

Anna talks about the misconceptions about athletic trainers, the need to change the name "athletic trainer" to something medical, and the role of athletic trainers in sports medicine. She also talks about injury prevention and rehabilitation of athletes. Athletic trainers are sports medicine first responders who provide medical assistance to injured athletes on the field. They also do rehab with athletes who have minor injuries and can't afford to go to a doctor or physical therapy. Injury prevention is crucial to their job, but they often talk about it after athletes are already injured. They work with athletes who have chronic injuries and provide them with exercises to prevent the injury from happening again.

Anna Szymanski

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Kristen Rather
Steve Taylor
Mary Trufant
Suzanne Crist
Suzanne Clark
Anna Szymanski
Dave McDonald
Karla McInnis
James Contratto
Jordan DuBose
Cristy Evans
Sharonda Shula
Nell Gustavson
Meredith Nations
Allyson Swann
Chris Strayhorn
Karen Saldivar
Stefan Clayton
Rachael McRae
Scott Thornhill