DEMOPOLIS &045;Anyone who has ever played or even watched football knows that the sport is extremely physical and, with all things physical, accidents are prone to happen. From scratches to bumps to sprains to season and career-ending injuries, players at all levels of the sport are susceptible and even likely to sustain some kind injury during their career, albeit insignificant or serious.

In the past, players of the area with less than hospitalizing injuries have traveled to Livingston Mondays after Friday Night Lights to have University of West Alabama trainers examine their aches and pains and give their opinion on how to remedy the situation. This season a new option has come available for players banged up on the gridiron to receive medical attention, and one that allows Black Belt athletes a venue in which to do so that doesn’t make them wait until Monday.

Tropeano is the orthopedic surgeon at BWWMH and has had fellowship training in sports medicine at the Alabama Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham. He said he participated in a similar program with the institute, where members tended the sidelines at games for Birmingham schools. In Mobile, prior to moving to the Demopolis area, he said he and other physicians offered a similar service out of a hospital, where players could come in Friday nights after games and on Saturday mornings.

Tropeano said the &8216;Black and Blue Clinic’ is a way to allow athletes with injuries that might otherwise be ignored see a doctor to identify how serious the injury is. To encourage players to utilize the service that is meant to reduce injuries from compounding and help them heal correctly, Tropeano said the clinic is being offered for free to any Black Belt athlete that comes into the emergency room.

Tropeano said the clinic will be offered starting Labor Day weekend from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and it will continue throughout football season. He said it will be a free physical evaluation to injured high school athletes in the Black Belt region, and the only charges will be for cost incurred by the hospital, such as X-rays, splints, crutches or bracing if needed.