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Medical time out: Physicians keep the teams playing

Behind great athletes (and amateurs) is a physician working to keep them healthy.

By Tanya Albert, amednews staff. April 9, 2001.

Chicago -- The United Center erupts in cheers as the Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers gather at center court for the tip-off. Camera flashes dot the stadium. Benny the Bull pumps up the crowd. And as the basketball smacks against the wood floor on the first dribble in the game, Jeffrey Lee Weinberg, MD, sits an arms length behind the Bulls bench.

They're seats any fan would love to sit in for just one night. Dr. Weinberg has been there for more than five years.

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But the lifelong Bulls fan is a physician first tonight. His role as a fan takes a back seat to his responsibilities as the Bulls' team physician. The suburban Chicago internist works with team trainers, x-ray technicians, orthopedic surgeons and other specialists to keep the players healthy on and off the court.

"I am the luckiest doctor in the world," said Dr. Weinberg, who traveled with the team during some of its championship years. "To be right there, you can't even describe it."

Physicians who work with professional, college and high school athletic teams say the job is exciting and rewarding no matter the level of competition.

The patients are some of the best-conditioned people in the world. They are highly motivated to heal their injuries. And traveling with a team is fun, especially if it's to a championship game.

But team physicians also say the job isn't always glamorous. Media, fans and others are watching, and sometimes second-guessing, treatments. Examining a player in a noisy stadium is not the best of working conditions. The hours are long; doctors working as team physicians also run their own practices.

Still, those who have committed their time to working for professional and student athletes say it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience that they wouldn't trade.

"I like the challenge of it," said orthopedic surgeon Harlan Selesnick, MD, who works with the Miami Heat and other professional teams in Miami. "Advising who you think will remain healthy ... and doing a lot in the off-season to help prevent injury."

Getting the job done

Dr. Weinberg usually arrives at United Center about an hour before tip-off, and the game against the 76ers is no exception. First on his agenda: Taking care of a referee with a sinus infection.

As the team physician, he's responsible for the Bulls, the visiting team and the referees. National Basketball Assn. team physicians travel with their teams only during playoff and championship games.

Dr. Weinberg has learned over the years that most players don't like to see him before the game. People usually see doctors because they have a health problem, a connotation athletes don't want to think about as they're preparing to perform. Still, after a workday that started at 7 a.m., he's there to help out anyone who needs it.

Just before the lights are dimmed and the starting players are announced, Dr. Weinberg takes his spot on a folding chair behind the bench. He sits next to the team's orthopedic surgeon. An x-ray technician, a dentist and an ophthalmologist are also in the stadium.

On the sidelines, Dr. Weinberg is armed with his stethoscope.

But examining players on the court can be difficult. For example, during a playoff game after Dr. Weinberg first joined the team, he tried to examine a player complaining of a stomachache.

"I was in the United Center with 21,000 people and trying to listen to bowels," he said.

For a little more privacy, there's an x-ray machine, medication and examining tables in a room off the hallway behind the court. If anyone is hurt during a game, the team trainer is the first responder. The trainer decides when it's time to call in a physician.

No one is seriously injured during this night's Bulls-76ers match.

Bulls starter Elton Brand twists his knee. Doctors also look at another knee, an ankle, a thigh and an eye.

The doctors address some of the problems on the sidelines. Other players are looked at in the training room.

"It's a busier night than usual," Dr. Weinberg said.

His days are long, attending to his practice all day and attending Bulls games at night. Some afternoons and weekends are spent at the training facility in suburban Chicago. But even after more than five years of this schedule, Dr. Weinberg is still excited about being on the sidelines.

The scene is nothing like his offices in suburban Skokie and Northbrook, Ill., where he sees patients in quiet, private rooms. "I still enjoy basketball," Dr. Weinberg said. "I still enjoy being there."

"It's a nice change from the routine of a daily medical practice," adds Dr. Selesnick of Miami.

But along with the excitement come additional pressures that physicians don't typically have in their offices: fans, coaches, media members, athletes' agents. It's a side of sports medicine that team physicians acknowledge can be challenging.

"It's not like your office, where you're king of the hill," said physiatrist Stanley A. Herring, MD, who works with the Seattle Seahawks and the University of Washington.

Chicago orthopedic surgeon Michael S. Lewis, MD, says even though doctors face life-and-death decisions in their practices, treating professional athletes brings with it the additional pressure of coaches, other physicians and the media second-guessing some of your decisions.

"But it pushes you to a higher level because you know your actions are being looked at," said Dr. Lewis, who works with the Bulls and the Chicago Wolves, a minor league hockey team.

Lest you think that team physicians spend their time hobnobbing with famous athletes, Dr. Weinberg said it doesn't work that way. When he took the job, he was hoping he might be able to develop friendships with some of the players that might extend beyond their professional relationships. But he quickly saw that wasn't going to work.

He's had the chance to get to know the players and their families. But it's in a friendly, professional setting.

"There's a dividing line that has to be there," Dr. Weinberg said. "That was a hard thing to accept."

Dr. Weinberg found himself sitting behind the Bulls bench after a patient who was a member of the Bulls organization asked him whether he was interested in working with the team.

He said he got the job because of his hard work as a physician, but also because he was in the right place at the right time.

Others agree that chance encounters often play a part in becoming a team physician.

"There is no fast track," said family physician William Straw, MD, who worked with the San Francisco Giants for 13 years and now works with high school teams in California. "Part of it depends on who you know and luck."

And these team docs have a bit of advice for physicians who want to get involved at any level: Don't get into it for the money.

Instead, get involved because you like working with athletes. Even at the professional level, some doctors say, the financial compensation isn't that much when you consider the time commitment.

"And marry the right woman who won't throw rocks at you when you leave town every weekend," adds Dr. Herring, who travels with the Seahawks during the football season.

The buzzer sounds to signal the end of the game between the Bulls and 76ers. Players from both teams file off the court and back to the locker room.

Dr. Weinberg and his colleagues follow the teams back. They look at a player's eye and stick around to see if the trainer needs any other assistance as he finishes taping up some of the players' ankles. While it's a thrill to walk back to the locker room with NBA players or other professional athletes, doctors who have been physicians for high school and college teams say those jobs also have their rewards.

In fact, some physicians who have served as team doctors for athletes of all ages, amateur and professional, say that the high school students are the most fun to treat.

"The kids are more willing to listen to you," said Dr. Straw, who works with athletes at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif. "They need you more because they don't see doctors on a regular basis."

At the college level, physicians find they are working with well-informed athletes who are driven to get and stay healthy.

"They ask a lot of questions," said family physician Cindy Chang, MD, head team physician at the University of California at Berkeley. "It keeps you on your toes."

All in a day's work

The lights that illuminate the United Center floor have been dimmed. Crews work to clean up around the seats. Food vendors head home. Once postgame evaluations are finished, Dr. Weinberg also heads home, well after 10 p.m.

The next day, he'll make rounds about 7:15 a.m. and then see a full schedule of patients in his office.

It's a routine that he and other team physicians follow on a regular basis. But they continue to do it year after year because they find that it's an invigorating diversion from their day-to-day practice.

"I did the job just for fun," Dr. Weinberg said. "It wasn't for money. It wasn't for prestige."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

What team physicians do

Coordinate screenings, examinations and evaluations before athletes are allowed to participate in the sport.
Manage game injuries.
Coordinate an athlete's rehabilitation.
Provide education and consulting on nutrition, strength and conditioning and medical problems that can affect an athlete.

Source: "Team Physician Consensus Statement," written by six major professional societies as an outline of what's expected of the team physician