Xavier University Club Sports Benefit from TriHealth

By Caleb Childers
Originally printed in Xavier Newswire

When James Alexander arrived at Xavier University in 2009, the club sports organization did not have a strong medical care system in place.  This has changed recently with the partnership between Xavier club sports and the TriHealth Event Medicine and Sports Medicine team.  TriHealth provides top-of-the-line service to every Xavier club sport for both practices and competitions hosted by the clubs.  TriHealth supplies EMT personnel at every event, and this has made a difference for many club sports.

"Last year we had 50 injuries occur, and having TriHealth at the practices this year has helped tremendously.  They've provided excellent care that's made a difference for a lot of our athletes," Alexander said.

Over 15 percent of all Xavier students are involved in club sports and many incoming students are drawn to Xavier because of the wide variety of club sports that the school offers.  The university helped pay for some of the expenses of having TriHealth work with Xavier clubs.  Having a quality medical service available to club sports has been a valuable recruiting tool and looks to help the school attract more students in the coming years.

One way that TriHealth has made a difference with Xavier students is in the medical care they receive after they've left the field.  If any Xavier student that participates in club sports is injured at practice or competition and they need to go to a hospital, they can be taken to Good Samaritan Hospital and will be placed at the top of the list to be seen, allowing Xavier students with athletic medical emergencies to receive excellent care and return quickly.

Priority at Good Samaritan Hospital is also available to Xavier's varsity athletics program and is new to the club sports this year.

Another service that has been of great benefit to club sports is concussion testing.  Xavier club sports now require that high impact sports have every club member take a baseline concussion test at the beginning of the season.  This applies for sports such as football, men's and women's lacrosse, men's rugby, men's and women's soccer, martial arts and boxing.

Athletes are expected to take a test that measures how fast they respond.  In the case that TriHealth believes that they have a concussion, the athlete will take the same test to see how their scores compare.  Any athlete that is removed from competition with a head injury must sit out at least five days.  TriHealth is taking protective measures to ensure that Xavier students fully recover from any head injury.

Last season, club sports athletes suffered 10 head-related injuries.  TriHealth and club sports are hoping to reduce this number and limit the severity of head injuries with proper treatment.  The concussion testing system has been a valuable tool in diagnosing and treating head injuries.

While it is impossible to eliminate injuries from sports, TriHealth and Xavier University are doing as much as they possibly can to reduce them.  TriHealth has provided an extremely valuable service to Xavier, and it has helped make Xavier's club sports systems one of the best out there.