GREENSBORO, NC -- The U.S. Figure Staking Championships are just days away! Hopefully nobody will get injured, but of course, there's always the chance!
Doctors and emergency personnel from Cone Health spent much of Wednesday afternoon at the WFMY News 2 Winterfest training for on-ice medical emergencies.
Treating an injured athlete is hard enough but what makes that job even harder is doing it on the slippery ice, with thousands of spectators watching.
They practiced safely moving people and equipment on and off the ice -- while trying to keep their own balance at the same time.
The most common injuries come from falling -- the impact of the hard ice surface can cause significant bruising. However, Dr. Bert Fields, the Director of the Sports Medicine Clinic at Cone Health, says that some falls can also cause more serious injuries like broken bones, ligament damage, or even neck/spine injuries.
"We're preparing for something that we hope doesn't happen. We're preparing for catastrophic head or neck injuries," said Dr. Fields. "We might see fractures. Fractures are a little easier to stabilize on the ice. But, if we have a catastrophic head or neck injury, we want to know how to stabilize the spine in the safest possible way."
Figure skating injuries have increased in the last 20 years, since the moves are more demanding and crowd pleasing like jumps and spins -- which ultimately take their toll on the athletes.
Nearly 400 skaters will be taking part in the US Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro starting this Saturday.
