US Sports Teams Use High-Tech Treatments to Reduce Injuries

 

One of the biggest struggles for professional sports teams is finding ways to keep their players from getting injured. Major injuries can greatly affect a team’s overall success and profitability.

One team that has suffered many injuries in recent years is the Washington Redskins of the National Football League, or NFL. During the past two seasons, the Redskins lost more players to injury than any other NFL team.

Washington officials say they have learned that reacting to an injury after it happens is not good enough. They are now attempting to lower the risk of players getting injured in the first place.

With this goal in mind, the team’s trainers are now offering players treatments that use technology-based sports medicine.

Redskins head trainer Larry Hess showed off some of the high-tech¹ equipment recently to a reporter who visited the team’s headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia.

Hess says the treatments are aimed at strengthening the body as a whole.

“There are things in here that are setting their body up to perform better in the weight room, to perform better in their meetings mentally,” he said. “Mental preparedness - that’s where our advantage is.”

Hess said an important part of the injury prevention program involves something that many people struggle with – getting enough sleep and relaxation².

Hess said he learned a lot about this idea while visiting several English Premier³ League football clubs. He said the clubs told him they consider quality sleep a huge part of keeping players healthy and injury free.

The Redskins decided⁴ to partner with Bedgear, a New York-based company that works with other U.S. sports teams. Bedgear sells products it describes as “performance bedding.” Its specially-designed beds and pillows are made to provide strong neck and back support for better sleep. The products are also designed to moderate sleeping temperatures.

Team officials say the bedding products combined with other methods are helping⁵ the team make progress in fighting injuries. Hess noted⁶ that the Redskins were able to reduce soft-tissue injuries, such as damage to muscles, by more than 50 percent last season.

The team now operates a “recovery room” at its Ashburn training center. The room is always open and a place for players to rest up after a physical workout.

After a game, there is a three-part “restoration” process. It starts with the player spending at least 12 minutes lying down inside a large covered machine. The device uses three kinds of infrared⁷ light to help repair cells all over the body. Hess said that studies have shown it is good for helping players regain⁸ strength and recover better from intense weight room workouts.

The next step involves cryotherapy, in which the body is put inside equipment that produces extreme cold. During the treatment, a player can feel like he is having difficulty breathing because the cold tricks the body into sending blood to major organs to survive. There have been studies linking cryotherapy to improved and faster recoveries from sports injuries.

In the third part of the treatment process, a player enters a large tank filled with water mixed with 450 kilograms of salt. He floats in the water and salt mixture in complete darkness, usually with soft music playing. The experience is designed to temporarily reduce the player’s sensitivity to help him reach a state of total relaxation.

Hess said the floating experience is supposed to recreate the weightless feeling of a baby still inside its mother. “It’s an amazing experience,” he said. He added that the feeling can be compared to floating in the Dead Sea.

“Our goal is to get them to that pre-sleep state to shut their body down,” Hess said. “It will lower their heart rate. The temperature of the water replicates¹⁰ your body temperature. Really we’re taking all sensation out.”

Redskins head coach Jay Gruden says the players choose which treatments they want to use. He has spent time in the recovery room himself and liked the results.

Gruden says he believes the treatments can provide his players with yet another way to help their bodies recover and prevent injuries for years to come. “Even if it gives them a mental state of mind where, ‘Hey, I feel pretty good,’ then let’s give them every avenue to feel that way,” he said.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

professional – adj. related to connected to a job

advantage – n. something that will help someone succeed at something

relaxation – n. the loss of tension in the body

pillow – n. a soft support for the head of someone lying down

restoration – n. the act of repairing or bringing something back

amazing – adj. causing wonder or surprise

replicate⁹ – v. do something again in exactly the same way

avenue – n. a possible way of doing something

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

3 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

8 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

9 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

10 replicates   

复制( replicate的第三人称单数 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• The bluetongue virus replicates in the insect. 蓝舌病病毒在这种昆虫体内繁殖。
• The chameleon's skin replicates the pattern of its surroundings. 变色龙的皮肤可随环境的模式而改变颜色。