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camera, which transmits images of the injured area to a TV screen the surgeon can see. The main benefit of this procedure is that it gives the doctor detailed information about the injury without performing major surgery. If he sees a repair is needed, the surgeon makes additional small cuts to insert surgical tools. The small cuts mean the patient recovers faster. For someone like Dr. Terry, who sees patients in a hospital in addition to his work for the Blackhawks, one of the benefits of the job is seeing a wide range of patients and injuries. He told a Northwestern University news site, “I find myself doing hip surgery on a sixty-year-old one day and a knee procedure on a teenager the next.” But once the patient is on the table, he said, it doesn’t matter if he or she is a weekend warrior or a star player for the Blackhawks. The focus is on treating the joint in front of him. Getting the Mental Edge When working with athletes, sports psychologists have several useful techniques. They teach them to the athletes so they can use the techniques on their own during training and competition. One of the most important tools is imagery or visualization. The psychologists teach the athletes to imagine every aspect of what a game or event might be like. For a skier, for example, that

58 C areers O ff T he F ield • Health Careers in Sports