The Red Sox faced off against the Rays on Thursday afternoon at Fenway. The Patriots played against the Washington Football Team in a preseason game in Gillette Stadium. And all these shows of athleticism were happening in temperatures in the 90s — when it “felt like” nearly 105 degrees.
Massachusetts is going through a draining heat wave that, for those who run around outdoors professionally, could prove dangerous. But even for the rest of us non-professionals, outdoor exercise can suffer when high heat hits.
On GBH’s All Things Considered, Arun Rath spoke with Joseph Van Allen, the director of the Boston Sports Performance Center in Wellesley and the vice president for rehabilitation medicine at Steward Health Care. And before that, Van Allen was the Patriots’ Director of Rehabilitation for 18 years. The transcript that follows has been lightly edited.
Arun Rath: The feel-like temperature, as it's called, also known as the heat index, is close to 105 right now. And I keep talking about how unhealthy that is for people. For professional athletes: What do you do? What do you take into consideration when your game is in the middle of the afternoon on a day like today?
Joseph Van Allen: Well, yeah, I think there's quite a few considerations to be made. And I think it's really throughout the organization — not only with the sports medicine staffs, but also the sports nutrition, as well as the coaching staffs. Now, when we're looking at practice-type settings, there's quite a bit to consider, including cool zones, pre-hydration, taking multiple breaks during practices, as well as removing some equipment. For instance, with football that we're speaking about, removing the helmets and also using external cooling devices, either fans with misters or ice towels can also be very beneficial.
Rath: Some of that stuff we see on the sideline during during days like this.
Van Allen: It certainly is. It certainly is. So I would say the staff down at Gillette right now is preparing for that, preparing for the sideline ice buckets with towels as well as sports drinks with electrolytes and ice water for each and every athlete.
Rath: You mentioned nutrition. Does that mean that that training is a part of this, you know, things that you're thinking of well before the actual day that you're playing?
Van Allen: Yes, certainly. Especially as we're looking into these fall seasons. Much of the early part of training camp, for instance, is used to acclimate to these temperatures, and it typically takes the body, even in the most elite athletes, 10 to 14 days to really adjust to these temperatures that they're going to be performing in. So really the preparation has started weeks before this initial, for instance, first preseason game for the Patriots.
Rath: So those of us who are not professionals and not in that kind of training, I imagine we might want to be more cautious about our own athletic activity.
Van Allen: Oh, most certainly. For instance, my running now is prior to work, when the temps are still much cooler and when we're out of the direct sunlight, because that can all be a factor as we get into the peak heat of the day.
Rath: One thing I'm wondering about, again, talking about normal people, thinking about myself or other people who would want to go to it to a game. What about safety? For for those of us who might want to go and watch it, is there is that safe or is there a smart way to go and sit for five hours in the heat?
Van Allen: Certainly. I think, much like the athletes that everyone's going to be watching this evening, I think some pre-hydration — making sure you're adequately hydrated before you find your seat in the stadium — and also, if you're beginning to feel any of the effects of the heat, you know, seek shade, seek some shelter or a cool area, if possible, seek some air conditioning. And I think that's probably the best bet. But really,start to hydrate, much like the athletes are going to before this evening's games.
Rath: We know other times that a game would get called for for weather, but is there ever a point in which folks might have to come together and say, you know what, we can't play this, we have to postpone or cancel it?
Van Allen: In my experience, at least at the professional level, no, that's not the case. Usually it's, the teams are relying on the sports medicine and nutrition staffs to adequately prepare the athletes. Now, you know, when we're talking about youth sports, I think that's another consideration. As a parent, I've had many practices for both of my children either rescheduled or postponed because of the heat that we experienced in the area this spring.
Rath: So, for practices for youth and for others, there is a cutoff point where you do not want to push things.
Van Allen: Certainly, certainly. And I think as parents, we all have to be realistic and remember that, considering our body mass versus our children's, they tend to heat up much faster and also have a more difficult time regulating the heat than we do. So we have to kind of put ourselves in our children's shoes — or cleats — and think about those things, and remember that these are these sports that we're playing are really just a game at the end of the day, and first and foremost, take care of the health and safety of our young athletes.
Rath: You know, I think we like to think of the Patriots playing in extreme cold more — just because of many great, great moments — and for all of that, I’ve never heard of players getting getting frostbite. Is extreme heat harder to manage than extreme cold?
Van Allen: You know, it's funny, I think one thing that we've spoken about over the years is the extreme heat is definitely more of a physiologic type of factors where, you know, extreme cold is a little more psychological. You have to be ready to play in that. Obviously, there can be cases of frostnip or frostbite with extreme cold, but I think much more easily we can get in trouble during these extreme heat waves that we're experiencing lately.
Rath: Well, this has been fascinating and useful. I mean, the main question I was having was like, how those guys are not just dropping over in the field. And explaining that and how we can also be smart when we're watching it and enjoying it as well. Thank you so much.
Van Allen: Oh, my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Rath: That's Joseph Van Allen. He's the director of the Boston Sports Performance Medicine Center in Wellesley and vice president of rehabilitation services at Stewart Health Care. This is All Things Considered.
