Athletic trainers fight McNamee steroids stigma

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Scott Sheridan watched Brad Lidge deliver the pitch. He saw Lidge grimace and immediately favor his right leg.

In an instant, the computer chip inside Sheridan's head was activated.

Get to the athlete. Find out where the pain is. Determine a possible injury. Get him safely off the field. Begin the appropriate treatment.

This was the scene Saturday morning in Phillies camp. A piece of cartilage popped in Lidge's right knee, and Sheridan, the team's athletic trainer, sprang into action, guided not by an actual computer chip but by years of education, medical training and experience.

By late Monday morning, Lidge was in and out of surgery and on a road to recovery that began with Sheridan's initial care.

Brian McNamee would not have been qualified to help Lidge the way Sheridan did.

And yet, there were times this winter when Sheridan was asked by everyday folks if McNamee was the trainer for the New York Yankees.

"It bothered me that people would equate him with what we do," Sheridan said. "I would like to see people become educated."

Most of sporting America had never heard of McNamee until George Mitchell's report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball was issued in December. McNamee was one of Mitchell's key witnesses, a personal trainer who said he injected pitcher Roger Clemens with steroids, an allegation the pitcher has strongly denied.

Sheridan shook his head in disgust at McNamee's account.

"He was basically practicing medicine without a license," Sheridan said. "No person who has gone through a certified curriculum to become an athletic trainer would say that was acceptable."

There lies the rub.

McNamee is not an athletic trainer, never having been certified by the board of certification on behalf of the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA). He is a personal trainer.

There's a major difference, and athletic trainers nationwide are uniting to point it out.

"Athletic trainers are health-care professionals, medical professionals, not just fitness and wellness professionals," said Jim Thornton, the director of sports medicine at Clarion University and a NATA board member. "Athletic trainers bring significant medical training to their profession.

"People need to understand there's a difference between McNamee and the athletic trainers employed by the New York Yankees."

For several years, athletic trainers have urged media to refer to them as just that - "athletic trainers" or "certified athletic trainers" - instead of the generic "trainer." The effort was renewed after the Mitchell Report was released.

"There are horse trainers and boxing trainers," said Joe Godek, a retired professor of athletic training at West Chester University and a NATA Hall of Famer. "We'd like to eliminate the confusion with all the various practitioners who call themselves trainers."

Sheridan and his assistant, Mark Andersen, are both certified athletic trainers, meaning they've received a bachelor's degree from an accredited college program, completed internships, passed NATA board exams, and remained educationally active in their field.

The personal-trainer industry is self-regulated. While there are some legitimate certifications for personal trainers, one is not required. Anyone with a client can call himself a personal trainer.

"The guy who works with boxers is referred to as a trainer," Sheridan said. "And though he trains boxers, per se, he's a far cry from an athletic trainer who is focused on injury management and injury prevention. We have medical backgrounds and training. And we know the limits of what we can do. We can evaluate and treat an injury, but we never give injections, and we do not prescribe medicine."

Sheridan, 38, first heard the word trainer while watching the 1976 movie Rocky as a youngster.

"Did Mick know how to prepare Rocky for the fight? Yes," Sheridan said. "But did Mick know if Rocky had a concussion? Did he know how to evaluate it and treat it? No.

"But that wasn't his concern. His concern was to prepare Rocky to fight, not medically manage him."

The NATA has nothing against personal trainers. It just wants people to know the difference.

"Even the athletic population can benefit from a personal trainer with the right credentials and knowledge," Sheridan said. "They certainly have a place in educating people on how to stay fit.

"There are a lot of personal trainers providing quality fitness help to people. But what if that person develops knee tendinitis as a result of the fitness program? Can they properly evaluate what's going on? An athletic trainer can."

Godek said he knows several personal trainers, and all were troubled by what McNamee said he did.

"The vast majority of them would never engage in such a reckless act," he said. "I deal with personal trainers, and they're good people who have a purpose and who are qualified to do what they're doing.

"It's just that they're different from athletic trainers."

---

Contact staff writer Jim Salisbury at 215-854-4983 or jsalisbury@phillynews.com.
Find this article at:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20080227_Athletic_trainers_fight_McNamee_steroids_stigma.html?adString=inq.sports/sports;!category=sports;&randomOrd=022808074112