Ula Naszynska-Spitzer started as the athletic therapist for the Slave Lake Wolves on June 13, she runs an in-home clinic.
Naszynska-Spitzer says she was drawn to the position because she has worked as a hockey therapist before and missed the field side of athletic therapy while doing more clinic work.

“I have worked hockey before and I actually miss working in the field because I do so much clinic work,” she says. “I’ve worked for Hockey Alberta and in Calgary and at the Arctic Games. I was just missing it.”
She certified as an athletic therapist in 2007 but began working in the field during her undergraduate studies.

According to Naszynska-Spitzer, one thing she would like people to know about athletic therapists is that they have formal education and training for both field and clinic settings.

Becoming an athletic therapist, she says, requires an undergraduate degree and graduate school.
She says an athletic therapist can help a hockey player off the ice and remain involved through the recovery process.

“We can help a hockey player off the ice and back on from start to finish,” she says. “Not a lot of professions get to be there for the entire process.”
The role of an athletic therapist is diverse, Naszynska-Spitzer says.
She says people do not have to be high-level athletes to benefit from athletic therapy.

“A lot of my patients say, ‘I’m not an athlete, but I need help,’” she explains.
Naszynska-Spitzer says athletic therapy is based on understanding how the human body works. She also works with seniors at Vanderwell, where she puts programs together for them.

She also works with industrial athletes by breaking down the work they do and helping them with their physical needs.
Naszynska-Spitzer says she also wants people to understand the difference between the titles of trainer and therapist.
She says ‘trainer’ is often used to describe people doing medical work in sport, but ‘therapist’ refers to a trained profession.

She says ‘trainer’ is not regulated in the same way and does not require the same level of education.
Naszynska-Spitzer also has an in-home clinic.
Her approach to athletic therapy is that once someone gets better, they do not need to keep seeing her.
Naszynska-Spitzer can be reached by email at uan@shaw.ca.

Sara Driedger
Lakeside Leader