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Director of OrthoCarolina Motorsports William Heisel, who helps make sure the team stays healthy through the NASCAR season, says it’s actually the pit crew that tends to get injured during race week more than the drivers.

As an athletic trainer, Pam Brown serves OrthoCarolina patients and motorsports athletes. Celebrate National Athletic Training month

How she stayed on track and made her dream come true

Race Night at Bowman Gray, a new documentary series from the Discovery Channel, follows modified racing and the Points Championship at one of NASCAR’s most storied, longest running weekly tracks in Winston-Salem. 

Aric Almirola won the 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, October 14, 2018 in the No. 10 Smithfield Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, marking his second-career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory. For Almirola, it was a sweet taste of success after a nearly-devastating injury in a wreck at Kansas Speedway in 2017 when he suffered a compression fracture to his T5 vertebra.

For Robby Maschhaupt, racing isn’t just a job. It’s his life. In fact, it’s the only job he’s ever had. Robby has been in racing for 33 years as a crew member, including Off Road racing, Indy Car, NASCAR and endurance racing. Despite facing numerous injuries, this is how he stayed in the race.

For drivers, pit crew and teams, NASCAR races are their jobs and their livelihoods, and they take their work just as seriously as anyone else. Here are eight things about NASCAR that might surprise you.

Aric Almirola knew immediately following his horrendous crash at Kansas Speedway that he had a spinal injury, but the NASCAR driver said Friday he didn’t realize the severity of his broken back until he talked with doctors and learned he would be sidelined for eight to twelve weeks.

As the 2018 NASCAR season begins, one of the sport’s top medical providers is emphasizing the need for teams to focus on minimizing the number of injuries on pit road. Bill Heisel, PA-C, Director of Motorsports with OrthoCarolina, suggests that recent NASCAR rule changes mean teams should carefully consider their strategies and injury prevention plans over the course of the season.

Working on a NASCAR pit crew isn’t an easy job. Fast-paced, physically demanding working conditions mean pit crew members must be in top physical shape.

You can find him at nearly every race, hauling a large backpack full of supplies, walking like he’s on a mission. Over the course of a race he’ll walk a total of around seven or eight miles. He’s there because he knows the sport inside and out. He can offer up NASCAR history, facts and trivia on demand. But he’s not who you might think.

Ken Breath, PT, ATC, LAT, Cert DN is the Manager of Motorsports Outreach for OrthoCarolina Motorsports. He works closely with NASCAR athletes, including rehabbing many of its drivers after various injuries. Listen to what he said about the season ahead, as he offers an insider’s perspective on the medical needs of the rigorous schedule of NASCAR.

Bill Heisel is the Director of OrthoCarolina Motorsports

Femoral acetabular impingement and hook of hamate injuries are on the rise in NASCAR pit crews according to new research presented at the 2017 NASCAR Summit in Concord, North Carolina, on January 10, 2017.

An epidemiological study of 118 upper extremity injuries in NASCAR pit crews tracked over a 10 year period shows a surge in hook of hamate (a bone in the palm on the small finger side of the wrist) hand injuries in particular among changers and carriers.

Femoral acetabular impingement injuries have increased among rear tire changers, according to research done by OrthoCarolina Hip and Knee surgeon Dr. Walter Beaver, who also serves as head team physician for Hendrick Motorsports, and Bill Heisel, director of the OrthoCarolina Motorsports program.

“Without Bill {Heisel, PA-C, Director of OrthoCarolina Motorsports] and Ken {Breath] and their team I wouldn’t be back where I am today,”

Dedicated to keeping you in the race

Bill Heisel of OrthoCarolina Motorsports and Physical Therapist Ken Breath join us to discuss how they were able to get Kyle Busch ready to win the Sprint Cup Championship after breaking his leg

In the Fast Lane with PA Bill Heisel