The Journey of Anna Linstedt, LAT

As the chair of the Awards & Scholarships Committee for the Wisconsin Athletic Trainers’ Association (WATA), Anna Linstedt relied on input from the Board of Directors to identify a candidate for the organization’s Distinguished Service Award, given annually to a servant leader in recognition of their dedication to the advancement of the athletic training profession.

“We have a name,” said WATA President Keith Owsley.

Linstedt listened for it. There was a long pause.

“What are you waiting for?” she said.

“I really don’t know how to go about doing this,” he said.

“Just fill out the nomination form, send me a letter, get me their curriculum vitae,” said Linstedt. “It’s not that hard, Keith.”

“Well, we’re nominating the committee chair,” came the response.

The realization that Linstedt herself was the recipient of the award caught her off guard. A question immediately popped into her head; it came out of her mouth almost as readily.

“Don’t you have a better name?” Linstedt asked.

The President answered without hesitation.

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The path that led Linstedt to this moment can be traced back to her college days, as one of WATA’s founding fathers was her instructor. He impressed upon Linstedt the vital importance of participating in the association, and she’s been involved ever since, from member to committee leader to regional representative to President, leading the organization from 2020-2022.

The challenges would begin for Linstedt even before she took office, as three weeks prior to the beginning of her term the decision was made to cancel WATA’s annual meeting, the most important event on the calendar and the group’s main revenue generating source.

This would be the first of many disruptions during Linstedt’s unprecedented tenure, but such was the nature of first great pandemic of the 21st century.

Despite the inability to meet in person with lobbyists, state government officials, and even her own staff, Linstedt spearheaded WATA’s effort to achieve their goals, one of which was the streamlining of athletic trainer license requirements.

“That was a huge win for us,” said Linstedt.

Another effort was to gather and present data to lawmakers to ensure reimbursement rates for athletic trainers were equal to those of physical therapists. Working with insurance companies, WATA was able to provide the state legislature evidence from more than 90,000 episodes of care that demonstrated

rehabilitation processes followed by trainers and therapists were the same and should be compensated as such.

“A year later,” rued Linstedt, “this still hasn’t crossed the goal line.”

With the cancellation of the annual meeting and the concomitant reduction in capital, Linstedt and her team needed to go through the budget with a fine tooth comb, determining the absolute must-haves through a process of budgetary triage. Linstedt praised the work done by her predecessors for years of fiscally responsible choices that helped the association to weather the storm that was COVID and still come out in the green.

“The pandemic really forced us to think outside of the box,” said Linstedt.

When asked to reflect on her time at the helm, Linsted wistfully mentioned that a “do over” would be nice.

“There are so many more things we could have done for the association if not for COVID,” she said. “But our focus on advocating for all athletic trainers, in both traditional and non-traditional settings, never wavered.”

Her tenacity as a leader and her journey to athletic training is rooted in her experiences on the playing fields. As a high school freshman, Linstedt was a varsity starter for volleyball and basketball. She ran track as well. And it’s also when she tore her ACL. That very year was the first year Burlington High had an athletic trainer, and she worked diligently to get Linstedt back in the game.

When Linsted returned to her sports the following year, she found herself on the on the bench for JV squads.

“That’s not where I thought I belonged,” said Linstedt.

It was at this point when the school’s athletic trainer took Linsted under her wing, teaching her how to tape and rehab, as well as encouraging the fledgling trainer attend camps over the summers to hone her skills. Linstedt, the kind of athlete who took to sports and made them look easy, was now directing her focus to learning about injuries, keeping athletes healthy, and getting those sustaining injuries back to their sports quickly and safely.

She never went back to high sports as a player. But Linsted’s mentor took her to every football game, every basketball game, wrestling, baseball and track events too. You name it, she was there.

“I became involved in athletics in a different sense,” Linstedt said. “I wasn’t participating, but I was an integral part of our sports programs.”

Linstedt would later attend UW-Oshkosh and complete coursework that included experiences working with athletic trainers in a variety of environments. She also got back into sports as a participant. As testimony to her athleticism, Linstedt was seen “messing around” on a diving board when a lifeguard asked her to try out for the school’s diving team.

“I was never a diver,” said Linstedt.

Nevertheless, she became a collegiate diver.

And as a water skier, she traveled to China to represent the United States in competition.

After earning her degree in exercise fitness management, Linstedt gravitated to the most traditional of settings for the athletic trainer: the high school.

“Even early on, I knew that high school was the place for me,” said Linstedt. “I felt that's where my gifts were.”

She would spend the better part of two decades treating high school athletes. A chance encounter with Advanced Physical Therapy’s Traci Tauferner, Director of Industrial & Tactical Medicine for the Appleton-based group, led to a change in setting that once upon a time would have been unthinkable.

“While I cherish all my time at the high schools, it can be a tough gig for a mom,” said Linstedt.

Tauferner pitched the idea of having Linstedt join her industry team and bring her skill set to a completely different clientele, namely the employees of companies who contract with Advanced to supply onsite injury management services. Linstedt was receptive to the idea of a very different kind of work schedule.

“My kids grew up looking at my calendar,” said Linstedt. “They knew I was going to be missing their activities, that I wasn’t going to be home in time for dinner or to tuck them in at night. I was the only trainer at my school, so I missed a lot of my kids’ events because I couldn’t find anyone to work my time.”

Now a year into her job as industrial onsite provider for Advanced, Linstedt feels comfortable with the transition, using her strengths with the high school athlete and their acute injuries and applying them to a slightly older population who are more often than not dealing with chronic issues. She highlights one important similarity in the treatment of the two groups.

“This goes for everyone, be it a high school athlete or a 47 year old shift worker: each one has to come to the realization that they have to care more about their recovery than I do,” said Linstedt. “I can give you all the exercises in the world to make you better, but if you don’t do them, it’s going to inhibit your recovery. The high school athlete and the industrial athlete have different motivations, but they share same desire for the best outcome, the one that gets them back to the playing field or back to work.”

And Linstedt certainly has no problem relating to the injured workers she sees at multiple industrial sites. In addition to her ACL tear, she’s had multiple shoulder surgeries, ankle issues, and once tore her hamstring off the bone. She understands the sinking feeling that you’re just not going to get through an injury.

“I’m able to use my experiences. I let patients know I understand how they feel, like you’re never going to be able to walk again,” said Linstedt. “But three weeks down the road it’s ‘Look, you’re walking!’ There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I know. I’ve been there.”

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Anna Linstedt received WATA’s Distinguished Service Award on April 23, 2023. A person who prefers not to be called into the light, Linstedt was nonetheless grateful for the award, and very humbled. In her acceptance address, she recognized her husband and family, and now, by removing both the schedule of a high school trainer and the responsibilities of President of her professional organization (oh, but she’s still involved!), she gets to see them with greater regularity.

Quick Access to Quality Care

The Zoom connection was spotty.

“So you said you’re from the Twin Cities? I love Minneapolis,” I stated.

“Not Minneapolis,” she said. “Leopolis!”

Wait, what?

“And now I live in Pella.”

After the reconnect, I had Sally Egan of Advanced Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine (APTSM) begin anew.

“As an onsite provider at three companies and a municipality in Northeastern Wisconsin, it’s my job to help create and maintain healthy environments for employees,” said Egan. “And the best way to do that is to provide quick access to quality care.”

Egan is a veteran of APTSM’s industrial rehabilitation team, a group of licensed athletic trainers and physical therapists dedicated to keeping employees healthy, safe, and on the job. Like many of her colleagues from the athletic training world, she began her career in the high school setting, as the athletic trainer at nearby Shawano High School (about 15 minutes away from what she refers to as the “Twin Cities”) for nearly a dozen years.

She stresses the similarities between the two environments.

“What we do as industrial athletic trainers is bring the sports medicine model of immediate, consistent care to the workplace,” said Egan. “And we do this at no cost to the employee.”

Which is so important to her clients, everyday people who are just trying to make a living and put food on the table.

Egan understands that concept well.

“I grew up in this area on a very small dairy farm. I know what it's like for a family to live paycheck to paycheck and not able to get healthcare when you really should, because you just can't afford it,” said Egan. “So being able to provide that service—literally in my hometown—is just an amazing opportunity for me.”

Interesting that she and her chiropractor brother (“two tiny farm kids”) both pursued careers in health care. It makes complete sense, though, as she describes it as a simple transition from fixing tractors or boards on a wall to fixing people.

The similarities don’t end there, as Egan quickly points out.

“You have to be adaptable and inventive because you don't usually have the resources. That's what onsite rehab is. You don't have a lot of equipment, so you have to work with what you have,” she said.

The companies and organizations she works with rely on Egan to deliver services known as “rapid response,” where direct access to care means employees will be seen in 24-48 hours for an evaluation. That kind of quick care creates the opportunity for an improved healing timeframe, as the onsite provider can swiftly address and manage issues that, if left untreated, could become a recordable injury.

“We can prevent that from occurring,” said Egan. “So you’re keeping the employee healthy and keeping them at their job, and you’re saving the employer money by reducing direct and indirect costs that result from such an injury.”

Again, she leans on her sports medicine background.

“One domain of athletic training is about reactive and emergency care, which in industry is rapid response and OSHA first aid. So we're there for that assessment, and occasionally wound care and emergency care,” said Egan. “For injuries, we’re able to assess and make appropriate decisions if this is something that you can rehab or treat, or make that decision for a proper referral and guide them to where they should go for the best quality and line of care.”

Developing a relationship and a rapport with her employees is crucial.

“Well, it’s on me to get out on the floor and make connections,” said Egan. “You need to show them that you're there to know them as a person, not just a patient.

Forming such bonds requires a level of trust, something Egan says comes naturally when employees get treated right away and feel better. Whether it’s Egan making the rounds on a factory floor or working with a patient who scheduled an appointment in a (usually) small treatment room, the brief interactions are the sources of the best kind of marketing there is word of mouth.

“One employee will say, ‘Sally has done great things for my shoulder. Go see if she can help you.’ And that keeps my days full,” said Egan.

Egan highlights additional services she can provide if companies so choose. One company, for instance, wanted to offer their office personnel some strategies to improve general wellness. So, every week at the scheduled time, staff members stop what they are doing, grab a chair, and join Egan at the center of the office, where she leads them in fifteen minutes of stretching and body mechanics.

“It’s just a special need that the company felt strongly about, and we can do those types of things,” said Egan. “We individualize services based on the company. I meet with HR every single week at my companies just to keep the lines of communication open. We’re there to prevent health issues as much as possible, so that kind of collaboration ensures their needs are being met.”

The stability of the Wi-Fi connection notwithstanding, someone needed to get going. Technically her “day off,” Egan was headed to a side gig, teaching chair yoga to retired adults. But she wanted me to know she hadn’t looked at list of questions I had sent her prior to the interview.

“I wasn’t going to prep for this. Because what works in this field is that we're ourselves. We're not scripted. You get the real me,” said Egan.

The small-town country girl paused, and before signing off acknowledged one final similarity between her job as an industrial rehabilitation specialist and her work with high school athletes in a previous life.

“We’re in healthcare for a reason, and that’s to help people. I get to make those personal connections with industry clients just like I did in sports medicine. And the best part is when I get somebody that comes in and says, ‘Thank you so much for helping me. I feel so much better, and I didn't know if I was ever going to feel better.’

“That’s the best part of my job.”

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Click Here to learn more about our Industrial and Tactical Medicine and Wellness programs.

Trail Blazer to Trailblazer

Ray Mack is inducted into the St. Francis High School Hall of Fame by Dr. Deborah Kerr, Superintendent of Schools, on December 9, 2022

Many physical therapists have an injury story that contributes to a career path.

But most don’t include a connection to a legendary Wisconsin team whose mad dash to a national championship helped make March Madness what it is today.

Ray Mack of Advanced Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine vividly recalled a high school football injury from six decades ago that led him from athlete to athletic trainer.

“As defensive end, it was my job to get crushed first on a student body left,” Mack said. “Hurt my back and that was it. To continue participating in sports, I decided to become a student athletic trainer.”

And the rest, they say, is history. A history that includes the improbable journey with the Marquette Warriors basketball team from 1973 through 1977.

Understand that at the time of Mack’s injury, circa 1970, athletic training was in its infancy: it was the coaches who primarily handled injuries to their athletes. Outside of football hotbeds like Texas, the presence of athletic trainers was few and far between.

The year after Mack’s injury, he became the student trainer at St. Francis High School and would continue for the remainder of his high school career.

“I wanted to continue participating in sports and I had the aptitude for the health and medical stuff,” said Mack.

As a result of his performance, the St. Francis football coach obtained a scholarship for Mack to Marquette University as a student athletic trainer, which also allowed him to attend physical therapy school there. He covered multiple sports at the university including soccer, wrestling and cross country/track. Ray was also one of the first student athletic trainers for the new Marquette University's Title IX women’s sports program.

It was Division 1 college basketball, however, that powered the engine that was Marquette sports.

“I was blessed to be part of the national championship at Marquette in 1977 under legends Al McGuire, Hank Raymonds, Rick Majerus, and Bob Weingart,” said Mack. “All Hall of Fame members.”

While many know the names of the coaching legends, Mack highlighted Weingart’s impressive resume, which included 38 years as Marquette’s head athletic trainer as well as trainer for the USA track team in the 1972 Olympics.

“He was the man at Marquette,” said Mack. “Working with Bob was both an honor and an opportunity.”

It was during Mack’s senior year stint as the Warriors student athletic trainer when he was told he couldn’t continue with the basketball program during his second semester, as he was being sent to New York for his physical therapy residence—exactly when Marquette would make their run to college basketball’s ultimate prize.

Though Mack didn’t exactly appreciate the timing of the move, he later came to appreciate the wisdom of the choice his advisors made, sending him to areas that took him well beyond his identified niche in sports medicine.

“As a function of that experience, I became through my VA tenure an amputee specialist and a medical surgical clinic specialist,” said Mack. “It broadened my horizons dramatically.”

After 45+ years as a physical therapist, Mack continues to treat patients, specializing in the non-operative treatment of orthopedic-related injuries of the spine/pelvis and extremities. His personal interests are as vast as his medical pursuits and include photography, website development, history, learning theory and aquatics.

Oh, throw in mustaches and Hawaiian shirts too.

Mack described his work as an athletic trainer and physical therapist not as an occupation but a vocation, something he was meant to do in life. And while there is plenty to look back upon, there’s much more ahead.

“I'll do this for as long as I feel like I can contribute and make a difference.”