Can You Take A Peek? By Kent McDill
| PHOTOS COURTESY OF U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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harlene Durham believes all skating rinks and coaches should have a professional relationship with a physical therapist just so there is someone nearby who can “take a peek’’ when an athlete expresses a pain or discomfort. Of course she is going to say that; she is a physical therapist. But her motivation is to prevent pains from happening in the first place and addressing those pains early before they become anguishes. Durham is a physical therapist and figure skating coach working at the Carolina Ice Palace in North Charleston, S.C. She has a master’s degree in physical therapy from The Medical University of South Carolina, and after years of specializing in pediatric physical therapy, she is now converting her knowledge to teaching. But Durham is also working as an athlete assessor for the U.S. Figure Skating athlete testing programs S.T.A.R.S and the Athlete Movement Screening program. A former competiitve figure skater who grew up in Canada, she has combined her athletic experience with her educational experience to serve dual
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purposes for her athletes. Her desire to teach comes from her experience working with figure skating coaches who must deal with the aches and pains of children athletes. She understands the limitations some coaches have in knowing how to address all injuries, and that’s why she promotes the idea that rinks can connect coaches with an affiliated local professional for that “peek”. “Figure out who your go-to specialist is,” Durham said. “Some training centers might have an athlete trainer, but coaches need to be aware if there is a complaint that persists, they have that person they can go to and say, ‘can you take a peek’?” A physical therapist can also educate the athlete and the athlete’s parents, especially when treatment runs counter to the goals of the athlete. This is especially true when the treatment required includes rest. Telling a figure skater to stay off the ice is like telling them to stop breathing. “You have to be able to explain to the kids why they are doing what they are doing and how it is going to benefit them,” she said. “You tell
them if you don’t take the next five days off, this is what is going to happen to you. “The communication is also needed with parents and coaches so that they are on board, so that the PT is not saying one thing and the coaches are saying ‘they are fine, just go skate’.” Durham’s work as a pediatric physical therapist addresses the pains which child athletes experience, but her work with the S.T.A.R.S program created by U.S. Figure Skating is an effort to prevent injuries from happening. The Athlete Movement Screening program provides athletes with a diagnosis of their physical framework in order to provide direction that will prevent the injuries which plague child figure skaters. “The whole point is you want to participate injury-free,” Durham said. “We look at movement, we look at strengths and weakness, so we can identify the one particular area that is a weakness and address it now before it becomes a problem. It is a great program to prevent injury.” In pursuing her doctorate in pediatric physical therapy, Durham
