Sports Medicine office emphasizes prevention

Athletic training facility offers individualized, rehabilitative work to students in need of any care

Lewis & Clark’s Sports Medicine Program helps athletes with preventative actions, pain management and treatment plans for injuries. Head Athletic Trainer Jeremy Loew and Athletic Trainer Brandon Walcott-Ayers focus on treating athletes that have injuries at the Pamplin Sports Center.

“A big part of what we do is prevention, so as much preventive work as we can do, it makes it easier to recover from injuries when they happen,” Loew said. “In injury management, we try to be somewhat individualized, as each injury is a little different from the next.”

Loew started working in sports medicine after playing college baseball. He wanted to remain in the sports world and liked the idea of working directly with student-athletes. Walcott Ayers said he also liked the idea of having a career in sports.

“I’d say that the college is really supportive of what we do here,” Loew said. “ I think they recognize the role that we play in the success of sports here in general, and that they recognize that the health and safety of the students is really important.”

One of the biggest goals of both Loew and Walcott-Ayers is to mitigate harm to athletes. At LC they make the athlete’s safety the priority, advising them on preventing injury and keeping them from competing when there is a risk of further harm.

“I think the college takes that (injury management) very seriously,” Loew said. “I think that’s what allows us to really make decisions that are really in the best interest of the students, without having to worry about what’s in the best interest of a specific program if that’s not in the individual student’s best interest.”

The Sports Medicine Office also has many student workers — such as Alyssa Abe ’23 and Eva Silberstein ’24 who help with pain management and treat injuries. They also do some clerical work and assist the trainers.

Abe said that after being injured, it can be intimidating to work in the Sports Medicine Office, but the staff is friendly and the focus is on helping everyone who comes through the office door.

“I think working in this office has given me a lot of insight into how to be better,” Abe said “I think it’s a great job for anybody going into that kind of department or healthcare.”

Silberstein was recommended to the Sports Medicine Office by Associate Professor of Chemistry Anne Bentley. She is now looking at a career in sports medicine and is grateful to Bently for introducing her to the field.

“I would definitely try to get involved with working in the Sports Medicine Department, because that’s kind of the only option that we have,” Silberstein said. “It really gives us a kind of internship, it gives you hands-on experience with being an assistant to professional athletic trainers.”

Abe said that this type of environment is good for learning and interacting with people, compared to working in a hospital. In sports medicine it is much easier to talk to people and form relationships, while also getting hands-on experience.

Student workers at the Sports Medicine Office have gone into a variety of different careers, from EMTs and firefighters to doctors and personal trainers.