The following interview was done with Candace Sumner. Candace is a physical therapist at the University of Oregon Health Center. In this interview I asked her specific questions about injured athletes returning to sports along with some general questions about her occupation and experience. She stressed that athletes need to take careful precautions when they return to activities after they are injured. She says it is common for athletes to ignore pain when they return but if they are hurting they should give their bodies a break and not over-exert themselves. Candace has years of experience in her field and she gave very helpful information on my topic.

 

Sound Clip of Interview with Candace Sumner

 

What would you say is the most difficult part of your job?

 

Right now, I think the most difficult part is when I’m working with a patient that is not improving and we’re trying to figure out what is the barrier to getting back to the level they want to be. And so, for certain patients it’s a longer recovery road than others and it’s—it can be very frustrating when you really want to see them improve. And they’re not doing what they want either.

 

And is that because they don’t do the things at home or is it sometimes just injury related?

 

I think it can be both. But, often times the ones that are frustrating me the most, or most difficult are when I know that they’re doing everything they can and they’re still not seeing that progress. So that is probably right now the frustrating part.

 

 

How would you say physical therapy affects the outcome of athletes returning to sports?

 

I think it can be really instrumental. Partly because athletes can sometimes push too hard too fast. So physical therapy not only can pinpoint areas that really need extra emphasis, like being able to really look at each muscle group through the whole chain of movement. But also, can help guide students. It’s like a check and balance. The student might, the athlete might really be wanting to get back into running but, if they’re not able to hop on one leg without pain you need to pull back those demands a little bit and focus on things that can be done.

 

 

What injuries are more easy for people to recover from and what injuries take more time?

 

This can vary a lot. This is kind of a challenging question. I would say as a general rule the more recent the injury is, the easier it is to recover.