Read the article
In the summer of 1996 I was in a motel on the way to med school when I watched Kerri Strug's Olympic vault, which led to a victory for her team and a horrible sprain for her. She is not a big person but I knew enough about physics to know that she was driving a lot of force onto her rolled ankle, and knew enough about athletic injuries to know that she was in a tremendous amount of pain.
As we watched her get carried offscreen, my friend asked me, “Are they going to teach you how to fix that?” I gulped, “Not sure.”
They did. I learned. Seventeen years later, I treat ankle injuries all the time; with medications, with kinesiotaping, with OMM. And I have also learned that DO's and athletes have enjoyed a close relationship for years. The Miami Dolphins trained literally next door to my medical school, and DO's have been the team physicians for the Chicago Bears, the Seventy Sixers, the Cincinnati Bengals, the New Jersey Nets, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Phoenix Suns. This fall, Olympian Apolo Ohno will be addressing OMED as the keynote speaker, and on a more somber note, AOA Past President Martin Levine was one of the heroic first responders at this year's bombing of the Boston Marathon. The relationship is not a surprising one. DO's share the athletes appreciation for the musculoskeletal system, as well as a bias toward treatment that focuses on recovery and motion, rather than medication and immobility. My athletic patients are also relieved when I can find the sore
spots with my hands, rather than needing to be told where it hurts; any artist is reassured by the presence of someone who can treat their instrument with reverence and recognition.
In this edition of Osteopathic Family Physician, we feature an article by Drs Sharon and Bryan Witt on “Acute Ankle Sprains.” The feature will be accompanied by a patient education handout on secondary prevention of sprains, and also an interesting assortment of supporting articles, with clinical content which discusses adenocarci- noma, acne vulgaris, and exposure injury. We will also participate in professional conversations about physician self-regulation policy, and further exploration of a past article on fertility awareness based contraception.
We will also be sharing the first of a series by Robert Hasty, DO, FACOI, who will review smartphone applica- tions which are relevant to the practice of medicine. Dr Hasty plans several such reviews which will run in ensuing issues and will help bring more tools to your increasingly electronic office.
As always, the editorial team hopes you have an enjoyable experience with this issue of the OFP. We hope to see you and Apolo Ohno at Osteopathic Medical Conference and Exposition in San Diego!
Merideth Norris, DO, FACOFP
Editor-in-Chief