Teamwork keeps team healthy

By Judy Richter

Dr. Elaine Lambert is the team doctor, but she’s quick to credit the other professionals who help to keep Stanford’s women’s basketball players healthy.

“Taking care of a team is definitely a team approach,” she said. “I’m only a small part. There’s a whole group of us that are involved.” Elaine, who has been volunteering her services to the team for 10 years, named staff members like trainer Marcella Shorty, strength and conditioning coach Devan McConnell, and others.

She also has served the women’s volleyball team for 17 years. She has worked with other sports, too, but right now she’s with just those two women’s teams.

Elaine is one of two local physicians (the other is Gerry Keane) who volunteer their services to Stanford athletes. An internist specializing in rheumatology, she maintains her practice at the Sports Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Medicine Associates, or SOAR, clinic in Redwood City – frequently working 12-hour days, even on weekends. Among her SOAR colleagues is Michael Dillingham, who was the San Francisco 49ers’ doctor and Stanford team doctor for many years. The 49ers job has since gone to Stanford.

Even though she’s a volunteer, Elaine is an adjunct clinical professor of sports medicine and rheumatology at Stanford. She’s on campus at least twice a week, working in the sports medicine clinic that cares for the university’s hundreds of athletes. In addition to the two volunteers, the clinic is staffed by eight Stanford physicians along with three full-time physical therapists. A sports psychologist is available for consultation. “We function like their student health center,” she said.

Game routine

Attending all of the women’s volleyball and basketball home games, she usually starts her routine by checking with players who have been ill or injured to make sure they’re OK to play. She has few responsibilities during a basketball game because Marcella takes care of most problems. “Marcella’s awesome,” she said. She’s the first person to assess an injury. If it appears to be serious, she calls on Elaine, who also ministers to opposing players. (NCAA rules require the home team to have a physician on site to serve both teams.)

If a player needs more care than can be provided on site, the sports medicine clinic is less than a block away with X-ray equipment. The Stanford Hospital is nearby.

Elaine’s duties don’t include fans. That responsibility goes to the EMT who’s there with an ambulance. However, she has helped out on occasion.

She doesn’t travel with the team during the season, but she does accompany the team to tournaments. “They’re very good to include me,” she said, adding that the coaches and staff can call on her, too.

Although Elaine isn’t on campus every day, she stays in daily contact with Marcella via phone or e-mail. She regularly confers with the coaches and talks to parents. “Our players have very supportive families,” she said.

If a player wakes up one morning and feels sick, she’ll probably call Marcella, especially if the team is on the road. Or she can call the sports medicine clinic for an appointment, usually that same day. There’s “almost walk-in ability,” Elaine said. If she’s at the clinic that day, she’ll see the player.

Elaine treats some of the less serious injuries like sprains and will refer more serious problems to specialists if necessary. They include staff orthopedist Marc Safran, who performs surgery as needed. “We’re in pretty constant communication,” she said. “We share the responsibilities.” However, during Marc’s three years at Stanford, “he’s been way too busy,” Elaine said, referring to the torn ACLs and other injuries that have plagued women’s basketball.

Professional background

A graduate of Baylor University in Texas, Elaine received her medical training at the University of Texas Southwestern at Dallas and did her residency in internal medicine at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. She then received a fellowship in rheumatology at SCVMC and Stanford and worked at the university from 1990 to 1996.

She got involved with athletes when her Stanford mentor, Dr. Jim McGuire, became the men’s lacrosse coach and wondered why the Palo Alto Medical Foundation rather than the university had cared for its athletes for more than 30 years. Getting the blessing of the athletic department, he started the sports medicine clinic and invited Elaine to join. He also recruited Dr. Dillingham and his staff for the sports medicine group.

One of the changes she has seen during her 10 years with women’s basketball is that “so many of our athletes play all year round,” she said. Their conditioning is better, but they suffer more injuries such as the torn ACLs. Therefore, she and her fellow professionals have put more focus on prevention.

She credited Devan, the strength and conditioning coach hired last fall, for helping to prevent injuries. She also praised Brandon Marcello, director of sports performance, for his nutritional knowledge. “He’s awesome.”

“There’s a lot of preparation and thought” that goes into individual players’ weight room routines, shoes, cross training, rehabilitation and other regimens, especially during the off-season. “We’re trying to get everyone healthy,” she said. Such extra help is hard to achieve during the season because the players are so busy with practice and games. Moreover, “They’re students first.”

Factor in recruiting

Because Stanford provides such outstanding care for its athletes, the sports medicine clinic is part of recruits’ tours. “There’s not a better one in the country,” Elaine said. “That’s got to be a draw,” she said, adding that parents have told her that medical care was one of the reasons for choosing Stanford.

Moreover, “Dr. Gordon Matheson, director of sports medicine, has recruited an international staff and added the Human Performance Lab to allow for individualized testing and improvement of the athlete’s performance as well as research projects in … sports medicine,” she said.

As for her role with women’s basketball, she said, “These Stanford athletes are just the best of the best. It’s really a pleasure to work with them. They’re an easy group to help” because they listen and follow advice. “It’s really a great job.”

Her take on this year’s team? “I think we have lots of talent.”