Athletic trainer Gagan “Gee” Cheema helps student athletes with injuries related to muscles, ligaments, joints and tendons, as well as organ injuries and concussions. Her work extends past the physical — she also helps athletes confront the mental stress of dealing with injuries. “There’s a lot of uncertainty,” she said. “(There’s) sometimes sadness, sometimes fear, sometimes anger from the individual experiencing the injury. It’s nice because I get to help, but trying to console is sometimes a little hard because you don’t want someone to be in that situation.”
Cheema started working at Gunn six years ago after learning about a job opportunity from the Paly athletic trainer, a friend of hers. After taking a sports-medicine class at San Jose State University, Cheema realized that she enjoyed the interdisciplinary nature of athletic training. “I could combine my passion for healthcare and all things biology- and health-related, and also be a practitioner where sports are involved, so I can see more of the orthopedic-type injuries,” she said. “(Athletic training) just combined it perfectly.”
Cheema works both short- and long-term with students until they are healed. She sends athletes with muscle injuries to a stretch program, which teaches them how to stretch injured muscle groups. Cheema also uses hot and cold therapy (relaxing muscles and joints through heat packs and reducing inflammation using ice packs) and taping when needed.
Although she can diagnose students, she sometimes refers athletes to other doctors to ensure the best treatment for them. “I may refer a student to an orthopedic doctor if I think that student needs X-rays, MRIs and some diagnostic testing to find out what’s going on,” Cheema said. “The (doctor) will come back to me and say, ‘This is a plan of care. Let’s go ahead and do this. You can take them from Step A through Step B, and then we’ll follow up.’”
Since different sports teams play at similar times, Cheema prioritizes visiting high-contact sports, such as water polo or wrestling. On days with many games, she tries to stay in an accessible location so that other sports’ players can easily find her.
Aside from taking care of student athletes, Cheema enjoys celebrating with them. “We have senior students who get acknowledged during those senior days,” she said. “They bring their parents out. They get to bring extended family members and friends. It’s fun all around because we get to celebrate them for all the work that they put into (their sport).”
