Quenching the thirst for knowledge, one employee at a time

Advanced Physical Therapy’s Lynsey Hansen gives Wisconsin Rapids Officer Travis Plowman a gentle reminder about hydration: “Don't forget: Drink water and get some sunlight. We are basically houseplants with more complicated emotions.”

“Lots of people don’t like water,” she began.

Lynsey Hansen is one of Advanced Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine’s Industrial Athletic Trainers. It’s her job to care for employees of the companies, organizations and municipalities at which she works.

Hydration is one of her things. She brings it up a lot. But she tries not to hound.

“Being properly hydrated is super important, so I talk about it frequently,” said Hansen. “It can actually help improve your overall well-being.”

How that conversation starts is dependent on her audience—a police officer, a firefighter or someone in industry—but the questions that follow are the same:

“How have you been feeling lately?”

“How have you been sleeping?”

If the answer to either is “Not that great,” Hansen will touch on hydration in pretty short order.

If someone says they’re tired, she’ll ask how much water they’ve been drinking; Hansen uses the standard “drink half your weight in ounces per day” as the bare minimum, then adjusts that based on activity levels. If it’s about frequency and getting up at night, she’ll discuss front-loading the day with water intake. If it’s about simply increasing water consumption, she’ll provide tips to get reluctant water drinkers to move in the right direction (she sees sports drinks as a kind of compromise, which supplies some benefits but includes lots of additives).

Or, said Hansen, they might be complaining of being tired or in pain or struggling with some sort of issue that makes them reliant on eating sugary things or drinking caffeinated beverages.

“Many times in these moments when our body wants those things, we’re just dehydrated,” she said. “If you’re dragging or feeling like crap on a daily basis, you need to understand drinking more water can flip the script. Such knowledge can be a powerful motivator.”

Hansen acknowledges that getting people on board with better hydration (and better health and sleep as well) is not always an easy sell.

“If you don’t want to do it, you’re not going to do it, regardless of what I say.”

But the resolute athletic trainer carries on, undaunted, sprinkling her discussions with tips that might resonate with the unenthusiastic H2O consumer:

• “Add low-sugar Liquid IV to your water now and then. It tastes great, keeps you in the hydration habit, and trust me, it enhances the functioning of your cellular transport chain!”

• “Athletes prioritize hydration. You’re an industrial or tactical athlete, so you need to have that exact mindset. Now drop and give me twenty!”

• “Put 6 rubber bands around your 16 oz. water bottle because that’s how many bottles you should aim to drink daily. Every time you drink one, take one of the bands and put it on your wrist. By the end of the day, all 6 should be off the bottle and on your wrist! Easy way to keep track!”

At the mention of rubber bands, Hansen segues into another subject near and dear to every athletic trainer: injury prevention.

“Sorry, that just made my brain go this way. Your muscles are rubber band-like, so when you're hydrated, your muscles have that fluidity and pliability. When a force comes on, your muscles can take it and bounce back. If you’re dehydrated, your muscles will be super tight, and any force that comes along can create damage. Staying hydrated helps you prevent injuries. So rubber bands are very cool on many levels.”

Speaking of injuries, Hansen has a concussion tale, a fall of about three stories from a pyramid.

And there’s another about tearing her hamstring from the bone (it didn’t stop her from what she needed to do, however).

She’s a tenacious one, no doubt.

But those are stories for another time . . .