Parents should stay present, listen to young athletes in wake of Nassar abuse
Medical care for young athletes was put in the spotlight recently when Larry Nassar, who served as a doctor for USA Gymnastics from 1996 to 2014, was sentenced to 175 years in prison for molesting dozens of young gymnasts.
Paige Farley, 12, is a gymnast who has been inspired by Olympians. So, she's dedicated herself to the sport.
"I like the bars because I feel like I'm flying," Farley said.
Farley knows that competing in the sport often involves pain. She said she's had a couple of injuries, but none of them have been serious.
Her mom is well aware of the risk, too.
"It seems like Paige has a new injury, like, every week or so," Debbie Farley said.
But many parents now wonder how much they can trust the sports doctors who diagnose and treat training injuries. Debbie Farley said she values the trusting relationship she has with Duke Sports Medicine specialists.
She, like many parents of young athletes, is concerned about how Nassar could have violated that same type of trust with Olympic level athletes for more than 20 years.
"The Larry Nassar case is a strange and very unfortunate case that does not represent the field of sports medicine," said Dr. Jocelyn Wittstein, an orthopedic surgeon at Duke and former college gymnast.
Wittstein said Nassar's crimes were mostly related to physical exams involving lower back and hip pain with young athletes. She says parents should know their rights.
"It's definitely normal for the parents to be in the room during the exam," Wittstein said. "There's no reason that a physician should be requesting that a parent leave the room."
Debbie Farley said parents need to be aware of who they're dealing with to help keep their children safe.
"You just need to always be vigilant about, you know, who you're dealing with and make sure they understand their rights," Farley said.
Some exams may involve looser fitting clothing, but Wittstein said musculoskeletal exams by sports medicine providers should always be an external exam. She said because of Nassar, everyone in sports medicine feels they have to help restore trust with patients and parents.
"The parents and the physician together should be advocating for these adolescent athletes and for these children," Wittstein said.
WRAL Health Team's Dr. Allen Mask said there are cases when adolescents might request that their parents leave the room when they undergo a physical exam. Parents need to be sensitive to those requests, Mask said, but they should feel free to ask questions of their child as well as the physician before or after the exam.
