Dr. William Thompson Discusses Sport Injuries

Dr. William Thompson, an Orthopedic Surgeon at TOC specializing in sports medicine, appeared on the Greg Tish Show on Real Talk 93.3 on September 11, 2023 to talk about sport injuries.

Dr. Thompson explained that in his many years of working in sports medicine, his job becomes much more fun when the FSU Football team is playing well, as they are now. He stated, “Just like the players … for us as a medical team, we look forward to the games, you know, but especially when we’re doing well.” He continued, “When you run onto the field and you have this really full crowd, it’s electric down there.”

He noted that between working full-time at TOC and working on the football field with the athletes during football season, he ends up working around 70 hours per week. He noted that he prefers night games as that allows him to get other things done throughout the day.

When asked about what it was like back in the day when most of the football fields were made of AstroTurf, compared to what the fields are made of now, he explained that what the fields are made out of now is designed to be more like grass and are definitely much better for the athletes compared to the Astro-turf used before. However, Dr. Thompson noted that it’s still not the same as grass. He stated, “From an injury standpoint, when we do the indoor practice facility, if we practice several days in a row in there because of weather, the guys feel it.”

Additionally, Dr. Thompson explained that the shoes the football players wear today make them much faster than before, as they are much lighter, stiffer and narrower. However, he noted that these shoes cause other stresses, noting that he sees much more stress fractures in the feet than he used to 20 to 30 years ago.