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Feature Sports medicine: American football

The Super Bowl doctor

BMJ 2014; 348 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g1745 (Published 03 March 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g1745
  1. Edward Davies
  1. edavies{at}bmj.com

Jonathan Drezner is a team physician for Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League. In this interview he talks about concussion, hydration, and the Super Bowl

“We [the Seattle Seahawks] entered the season with a lot of hype and expectation. For me, it was early in the season . . . when I realised that this team had some resilience to them. And then later [in the season] our home crowd was incredible. We had a couple big wins against San Francisco, against New Orleans, and against some great teams at home. Then you realise what the team can do.

“During the season I go to the team training facility twice a week to hold clinics. One of those clinics (called an injury clinic) is the day after a game—usually a Monday morning—where we see pretty much all the players that need to be seen.

“I’ll come back later in the week for some follow-up visits and a medical clinic—usually on a Friday—a couple of days before the game where we can try to tune up players who are sick or have some ailments. For home weekends it’s about an eight hour commitment on game day, arriving in the stadium about three hours before the game, and then the game, and hanging around a bit afterwards. When we play on the road, typically we will leave two days prior, have two nights in the city that we’re playing in, then return immediately after the game, arriving home late.”

The week before the Super Bowl

“Pretty much everything was different about Super Bowl week. It was something that I had never experienced. As team physicians, it is a privilege to be along for the ride. It’s an honour to care for some of our elite athletes. And what we’ve seen in the city of Seattle and with …

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