February 13, 2020, by Charlotte Gauja

BUCS Nationals | Team Behind the Team

Over the 15th, 16th, and 17th of February, the University of Nottingham will be taking 150 student athletes to compete for individual medals and to represent the #GreenandGold at BUCS National Championships. Our athletes will join around 6,000 students from across the country in Sheffield to compete for individual medals in 8 different sports: swimming, athletics, judo, fencing, karate, climbing, riffle, and badminton.

Every year the Sports Injury Clinic, at David Ross Sports Village (DRSV), sends 3rd year Sport Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy students alongside professional physiotherapists, and sport massage therapists support our student athletes competing in Sheffield. This gives our Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy students hands-on experience like no other, working alongside top-class professionals and athletes.

Over the weekend our athletes require a range of different elements of support from our team such as strapping, sports massage, first aid cover, and hydration. Whilst there are medical staff on site who deliver pitch side sports trauma, our team will be in place to expertly triage our athletes effectively and efficiently. Sports massages are also offered to our athletes throughout the competition, whether that be before, during or after a day of competing.

Each athlete will have had access to our state-of-the-art Sports Injury Clinic in the lead up to BUCS Nationals, offering hydrotherapy, Watsu therapy, a concussion clinic, and the new gait analysis technology, alongside the sports massage and physiotherapy they will have access to in Sheffield.

After last year’s BUCS Nationals we were able to catch up with one of the physiotherapy students who helped our athletes over their weekend of competing. The student told us how the team worked across all three venues (Ponds Forge, ICE and EIS), providing injury prevention, dealing with current injuries, and offering sport aftercare. Each day, the medical staff were equipped with a plinth and a first aid medical bag to offer immediate support to the athletes.

Demonstrating the team’s dedication to the cause, our student physiotherapist explained how they worked at extra 3 hours on the Friday evening, providing an additional 9 sports massages to our student athletes.

Our physiotherapy student told us how they dealt with one of the more serious injuries on the final day of BUCS Nationals last year: “In the semi-finals of the karate, one of our athletes fell to the floor in pain. After running down to his aid and calling the other medical team I had with me, we shortly discovered that he had a dislocated patella (knee). In one smooth motion we relocated the patella back into place, offering an instant release of pain for the athlete. Sitting him up and getting the paramedics to prescribe pain killers, we iced his knee, got some crutches for him and helped him onto the plinth with no trouble. Shortly after this, we arranged for how the student was getting home and packed away for the final time of the weekend.”

The Sports Injury Clinic will be setting off for BUCS Nationals again this year to support our student athletes. For more information on the Sports Injury Clinic here at DRSV visit https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sport/davidrosssportsvillage/sports-injury-clinic.aspx

Make sure to follow our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts to keep up-to-date with BUCS Nationals news. You can also use our social media hashtags to join in on the fun – #GreenandGold #UoNSport #BUCSNationals

For more information on Performance Sport at the University of Nottingham visit http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sport/performancesport/index.aspx or contact Alex Perry on alexander.perry@nottingham.ac.uk

Posted in Sports Injury Clinic