Hey Kansas Wrestling Community!

I wanted to reach out to everyone and talk about a topic that hits painfully close to home, and that's injuries commonly sustained by our wrestlers. During my 15 years competing, I suffered a torn and later re-torn labrum in my left shoulder as well as severe cartilage degeneration in my right knee. All required surgery and extensive rehab to continue wrestling. These injuries are eventually what lead to my decision to end my wrestling career well short of my goals.

Thankfully there is a silver lining to this story, as all my time spent recovering from these injuries in the rehab room solidified the dream that someday I would be on the healthcare providing side of the equation. I have since checked all the necessary boxes, and I am currently one semester of Physical Therapy classes away from starting my last year of full-time clinical rotations at the University of Kansas Medical Center. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that I want to do everything in my power to set myself up to work primarily with wrestlers!

I've been doing extensive research outside of class work regarding injuries commonly faced by wrestlers during competition/training and it just so happens that wrestling is the number two sport behind only football when analyzing the rates of injury in college athletes. While the pages upon pages of research are great, I would love to hear more information about these injuries from a wrestlers perspective. I am also in desperate need to watch some great wrestling. Thankfully I can accomplish both of those this weekend at the 3-2-1A State Wrestling Tournament!

I would love to chat and offer any advice to any wrestlers, coaches, parents, etc. about any injuries you or your team has been dealing with! If all goes as planned I will at least be able to make the semis and all of Saturday! Feel free to shoot me a text/call to make sure we run into each other if you'd like.

I also created a quick survey today regarding injuries and wrestling that would be a great alternative if we can't meet up this weekend. It is specifically geared for those who have suffered a wrestling related injury. You can access the confidential survey at https://goo.gl/Mq2EoU

Safe travels and good luck to all those competing this weekend!

Clay Mulligan
620-214-2500