RUN IT OFF

Back when I was playing football, any time someone got an injury where the bone wasn’t sticking through the skin, the advice from the coach was RUN IT OFF, which meant something like “KISS the BOO BOO” only you did it yourself by running around until the pain went away. Surprisingly it worked most of the time, including for concussions. I got a healthy respect for the human body’s ability to heal itself and for this primitive form of physical therapy. We did not have a team doctor, or a sports nutritionist, and no physical therapist. The “trainer” was self taught mostly and had hot packs, ice packs, and ace bandages. Admittedly we had very few 300 pound players who could run like sprinters but we also had very little equipment. My first helmet had a somewhat flexible plastic shell and no face guard. I never had a mouth guard. (Want to count my teeth?) Even the last helmet I used in the early 70s only had a double plastic bar across the face and some air filled padding here and there inside. To quote Paul Simon, “It’s a wonder I can think at all.”