Doctor from Northwestern Health Sciences University Writes a Book on Return to Play for Injured Athletes

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Jonathan Williams, DC, MEd, EMT-B, DABCI, CCSP, an associate professor at Northwestern Health Sciences University, recently wrote a book with guidelines for athlete injuries and return to play (RTP) recommendations. “My hope is that coaches, athletic trainers, and chiropractic physicians will be able to use the book to make rational decisions about when athletes should be put back in the game,” Dr. Williams says. “Hopefully by using this book, progression of athlete injuries can be prevented.” The 31-page-book, titled “Emergency Care of the Injured Athlete and Return to Play” contains signs and symptoms, treatments, and RTP recommendations for a range of conditions including bee stings, concussions, and heat-related syndromes. Dr. Williams says the idea for the book came out of a necessity. “I was looking around at different organizations for RTP ideas, and nobody had them,” he explained. Dr. Williams is currently teaching the Sports Medicine courses at Northwestern, and directs the Sports Medicine Clinic at St. Agnes Schools in St. Paul, Minn. He also coordinates the chiropractic doctors who cover St. Agnes high school varsity athletic games. The book will be sold at the University’s bookstore for approximately $11, and orders for the book were taken during Northwestern’s chiropractic homecoming which took place Feb. 5-7, 2009. Dr. Williams says the book will also be sold on the University’s website. Northwestern Health Sciences University offers a wide array of choices in natural health care education including chiropractic, Oriental medicine, acupuncture, therapeutic massage and human biology. The University has nearly 900 students on a 25-acre campus in Bloomington, Minnesota.