As part of our school partnership program, Dr. Fean visits the training room at Brownsburg High School once a week to work with student athletes. She teams up with athletic trainers, physical therapists and orthopedic surgeons at Hendricks Regional Health to diagnose and treat athletes for safe return to play, while helping them prevent further injury. When working with student athletes, she sees a variety of conditions, from fractures, tendon and ligament injuries—to back pain and issues related to weight lifting.
For example, Dr. Fean helped Chris, a defenseman for the Junior Fuel and baseball player at Brownsburg, with a bulging disc that made even sitting or standing a challenge. "For patients like Chris, they think an injury is going to end their season or their sport, but the majority of the things we can get them back to," she says. "Resting and healing is an important part of the process so it doesn't get worse in the future. If they take the time off, they're going to get stronger than they were before and come back even better."
When it comes to relating to her patients at Brownsburg High School, Dr. Fean credits her own experience as a student athlete: "I was involved in several sports growing up: gymnastics when I was younger, swimming when I got into high school and later dance. I do believe that because I was a student athlete, I understand the struggles they're going through when they get injured and how frustrating it can be to go through that recovery process."
When it comes to relating to her patients at Brownsburg High School, Dr. Fean credits her own experience as a student athlete: "I was involved in several sports growing up: gymnastics when I was younger, swimming when I got into high school and later dance. I do believe that because I was a student athlete, I understand the struggles they're going through when they get injured and how frustrating it can be to go through that recovery process."