INJURIES hampered UST athletes this season.
The Golden Tigresses’ much-anticipated Season 80 campaign suffered a big blow early on after losing three vital players.
Opposite spiker EJ Laure suffered a shoulder injury, while libero Rica Jane Rivera and new Fil-Italian recruit Milena Alessandrini both missed four
With a reliable spiker and defensive anchor sidelined, the Golden Tigresses are at sixth place in the standings with a 3-7 win-loss record.
“Sana naman ‘wag kami maiwan sa dulo. Pipilitin pa rin naming at least ‘yung remaining games, guluhin na lang namin ‘yung standings baka sakaling umakyat pa kami,” Golden Tigresses head coach Emilio Reyes Jr. said in an interview.
UST’s top pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena was also sidelined this season after suffering a left anterior crucial ligament (ACL) injury while training for the Southeast Asian Games. Obiena was a sure-fire gold medalist for the Male Tracksters in the pole vault category.
While the Female Tracksters copped another championship this year, the short-handed men’s team missed the podium for the first time since 2010 after sliding to fifth place in Season 80.
During a game against defending champion University of the East last Feb. 10, Warren Lagahit of the Male Tennisters endured a right lateral collateral ligament sprain while competing in the doubles category.
The Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) findings of UST Hospital, however, revealed that Lagahit needed a direct surgical repair the following day which left him on rest for the entire second round.
Lagahit’s injury left a hole in the Male Tennisters’ rotation, which eventually led to the team sinking to fourth place after reaching the finals in Season 79.
Male Tennisters head coach Alexander Diego saw the downside of Lagahit’s absence and said his wards were disheartened in the remaining games.
“Kinailangan ko na mag-adjust ng lineup palagi. Pero hindi gumana, kaya bumagsak na tayo sa loob,” Diego said.
Recovering stage
While injuries took a physical toll on the players, the recovering stage hit financial responsibilities at the hands of the Institute of Physical Education and Athletics (IPEA).
From broken fingers, dislocations, turf toes and sprains to concussions and ligament and meniscus tears, the University has allotted P5 million at IPEA’s disposal for the medication, rehabilitation treatment and surgeries of the players for Academic Year 2017-2018.
Gabrielle Karch Camangian, conditioning coach of the Golden Tigresses, said there are three people involved when a player gets injured: the sports medicine doctor, physiotherapist or the physical therapist and the conditioning coach.
The sports medicine doctor suggests the necessary steps to be undertaken on an injury.
Alberto Molano, UST Hospital orthopedic surgeon and resident sports medicine doctor, said sports medicine is a sub-specialty of orthopedic and rehabilitation medicine.
“[I]n orthopedics, we trained and graduated as orthopedic doctors until we further studied sports that is why we are called sports medicine doctors. ‘Yung mga orthopedic surgeons, mayroong fellowship
UST only has seven physical therapists to attend to the needs of 17 competing teams.
Whenever a player goes down with an injury, the sports medicine team assesses the situation and undergoes the immediate first aid operations like putting ice packs, bandages, pain-relieving sprays and fast-acting pain medications.
Athletes who would show signs of severe pain would then be brought to the UST Hospital.
MRIs and ultrasound would be done for accurate diagnoses of minor tears or major cases on tissues, knees and shoulders while computed tomography scans examine the bones.
Surgery comes next, depending on the gravity of the injury.
Physical therapies, such as lunges and squats, are the usual conditioning practices athletes do to vitalize their knees.
The healing time for ACL takes at least six months of rehabilitation while MCL covers three to five months. Athletes with minor injuries such as sprains and strains recover within two to four weeks.
