Dani Welniak, vice president of communications, Kansas City Current
- The partnership between the Kansas City Current and The University of Kansas Health System is perfect because the medical staff is world class.
- As a former athlete, personally having the opportunity to have the experience from the high school level all the way to the pros, plus the experience they have with the Royals and the Chiefs just adds to the credibility.
- The University of Kansas Health System is putting a significant focus on the female athlete. To be able to put an emphasis on the importance of treating female athletes differently than male athletes is big part of why this is such an ideal collaboration.
- The players have raved about how efficient and focused the medical team is on getting them prepared for the season.
- There's been a huge growing interest in women’s sports, and I think that has created the need for more female sports medicine practitioners.
Dr. Lisa Vopat, assistant chief medical officer, Kansas City Current; director, Female Athlete Program, The University of Kansas Health System
- About 10 years ago, there were only a few female athlete programs in the country, but that has grown, which is wonderful because there are female athletes with specific sports medicine needs everywhere.
- We just completed a study to take a look on what the science has done over the last 10 years.
- The study looked at human representation in sports science, and women only represented about 39 percent of the population. Ten years later, it has improved, but it is certainly not at equal levels.
- When we're looking at female athlete-only studies, we've seen little to no increase as we still only have about 6-7 percent of the literature being focused only on the female athlete, where with men, it's closer to 18-19 percent. So, it is improving, but again, we have to work toward equality.
- Nutrition is essential for female athletes. A dedicated team nutritionist looks at the fueling for the athletes and she'll meet individually with each of the players that to go over their intake to make some recommendations.
- From a medical standpoint, that's important. Female athlete nutrition can really play into how they perform and can impact whether they have soft tissue injuries or bone stress injuries.
Dr. Nicole Yedlinsky, chief medical officer, Kansas City Current; sports medicine specialist, The University of Kansas Health System
- On a typical match day, we meet with the players and medical staff to go through all the issues that they might have been dealing with for the week prior. And then we also meet with the stadium security, the EMS and paramedics that are there to make sure everybody is on board with taking care of those athletes in case something happens.
- Traditionally, women athletes have been underrepresented in research. And now with this increased focus on the female athlete, we've been seeing more and more research studies that are focusing on the female athlete and the difference between the physiology and the psychology of what it means to be a female athlete and what it means to go through that lifecycle from early days on into their professional career and then even after their professional career is over.
- With concussions, one of the nice things about the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) is there are dedicated timeouts for any athlete, and we have medical observers there to witness any potential injuries that might indicate a concussion. There are some wonderful protocols in place to ensure the safety of our athletes.
- I'm fascinated by the psychology of sport, and particularly for female athletes, and what it means. We know that female athletes tend to be much more resilient and mental health support for female athletes is very important.
Dr. Matthew Vopat, team orthopedic surgeon, Kansas City Current; sports medicine surgeon, The University of Kansas Health System
- Female athletes require focused treatment. For example, ACL injuries are more prevalent in female athletes because of the natural laxity of their ligaments.
- So, training and treatment can be specialized for female athletes to better fit their needs.
- There's been a lot of research done at the University of Kansas looking into how outcomes are different for female athletes and how you must treat them differently because the anatomy is different. We must be very specific in our training.
- I think the KC Current sets the gold standard for female athletics.
Dr. Jeff Randall, head team orthopedic surgeon, Kansas City Current and KU Athletics Department
- This is a great situation because we have a professional women's soccer team, and the medical staff is led by women.
- We follow a specific program with 11 different basic exercises you could do to work on prehab – or before the injury happens – to help prevent ACL injuries.
- There is a huge need right now for female medical practitioners because we've learned through time and through our athletes that not only are our female issues different than male issues in athletics, but most of our female athletes tend to feel more comfortable and have better relationships – and then even better outcomes – when they're treated by females.
- Women's athletics is on the rise in participation, viewership and interest and the medical care behind it is on the rise and to keep these athletes safe and healthy.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System
- There are eight COVID patients hospitalized this week, down from 11 last week.
- We have seen a decrease in influenza infections as well.
- There have been several headlines about avian influenza infecting humans. This can happen when people are working very closely with infected livestock.
- While there has been some non-sustained transmission of these avian influenza viruses from humans to other humans, it is not in the same realm as the typical influenza virus or COVID. It can happen, but it is certainly less frequent.
- Overall, when you are working with livestock, take those precautions to help reduce any spread to yourself or your family.
