Sports are an essential part of the high school experience and at HHS, athletic trainer Daniel Yusim plays a large role in maintaining this culture. As an athletic trainer, Yusim said his job is to provide injury evaluation and treatments for student-athletes. Yusim treats acute injuries, such as sprains or muscle tears, and chronic ones, such as soreness. 

Every sport has different common causes for injury, so Yusim said he has to be versatile in his treatments.

“We’re lucky here since we have lots of different modalities, so for modalities of different forms of treatment, we use different tools,” he said, “That can range from electrical stimulation that we use for pain management and inflammation to ultrasound that we use to help with soft tissue injuries. We also have cryotherapy, which is an ice compression unit.”

Students should train properly and get into a physically fit shape before trying out for a sport in order to prevent injury, the athletic trainer said. 

“The biggest thing that we see here is people wanting to play a sport, but they’re pretty sedentary and not preparing prior to that sport starting,” he said.

Yusim said he wants to let athletes know the training room is always available for anyone who is interested.

“If anyone ever has an issue, they can always come see me here at the health office, or they can come see me in the athletic training room anytime after lunch to provide treatment,” Yusim said.

The best piece of advice he has, Yusim said, is for students to take care of their bodies and health by staying hydrated and having healthy habits.

“I would say at least eight hours a day would be good to give your body a break,” Yusim said. “Give your brain a break and let your muscles recover after a hard day at school and working out, whether that’s on the field or on the court.”