Among the key elements of the partnership, the OSF HealthCare logo will be prominently featured across the front of Peoria City’s new uniform kits designed by Aretyn, which were unveiled by Peoria City players.

Additional sponsorship elements include an increased presence for OSF HealthCare initiatives at Peoria City games, as well as more prominent signage at Shea Stadium during the Peoria City season, as well as year-round at The Yard Peoria. The OSF HealthCare logo also will be featured on all Peoria City summer camp t-shirts, as well as the season’s first premium promotional item, a foam carp-shaped hat that will be available for season-ticket holders May 23 when the Flying Carp host archrival Des Moines Menace for their League Two home opener.

Peoria City also will host OSF HealthCare Employee Appreciation Night June 20 when the Flying Carp take on Great Plains Division rival Sunflower State FC. OSF HealthCare will also receive game tickets that may be utilized by patient families throughout the season.

Peoria City players have begun to arrive in town in preparation for the start of the 2026 season and the team will take on the Northwestern University men’s soccer team in its second CEFCU Friendlies Series event Saturday at Shea Stadium. The Crusens Tailgate Zone will open at 3 pm Saturday ahead of the 6 pm exhibition versus the Wildcats.

Both Peoria City season and single-game tickets, as well as memberships in the new Peoria City Booster Club and re-imagined School of Carp Kids Club and registration links for the club’s summer camps and Joey Olson COUNTRY Financial Ball Chasers program, are available for purchase online by visiting PeoriaCitySoccer.com.

When watching a basketball game on television, you may hear coaches and announcers say the star player is missing time with a hernia.

A sports hernia is different than a hernia suffered in everyday life, says Raman Kumar, MD, a colorectal surgeon and general surgeon at OSF HealthCare. But each should be taken seriously.

Hernia

Dr. Kumar says a hernia is when an internal organ or piece of fat goes through a hole in the abdominal wall. The most common type – around 80%  – is an inguinal hernia, when a part of the intestine pushes through the abdominal wall in the lower belly (also called the groin). Anyone can get a hernia, even newborns. But Dr. Kumar says they are seen more in older men. Symptoms include a bulge or swelling in the abdominal area and pain when moving.

“A lot of chronic heavy lifting,” can cause hernias, Dr. Kumar says. “Other things weaken the abdominal wall such as diabetes and smoking. Being obese causes a lot of weight hanging down on the abdominal wall. If you’ve had surgery in the past, that’s also a risk factor.”

So be mindful when lifting objects, Dr. Kumar advises. Lift with your knees, not your back, and don’t try to lift heavy items. Get a cart or a partner to help. Eat healthy and exercise to avoid obesity and diabetes. Avoid alcohol and cigarettes.

Dr. Kumar says an exterior wrap known as a hernia belt or abdominal binder can be a short-term solution. But surgery is often the endgame.

“If you have a hole or defect, it needs to be closed,” Dr. Kumar says. “The reason we fix hernias is because we don’t want a loop of intestine or bowel to get into the hernia, twist off and die.”

That would make a person very sick and possibly threaten their life, Dr. Kumar says.

Sports hernia

Dr. Kumar says a sports hernia is a muscle tear in the groin area. They’re seen in athletes due to all the twisting, turning and bending that comes with competition.

“Stretch before you do any type of activity. Work and develop your core muscles, including your abdominal and hip muscles.” Dr. Kumar says. “If the muscles are strong, they are less likely to tear.”

Athletes who complain of groin pain should immediately leave the competition and get checked out by a trainer or doctor. Resting and icing the groin will help, but a combination of medication, physical therapy or surgery will likely be needed to fully heal.

Be proactive

If you have symptoms of a hernia or sports hernia, see a health care provider right away.

“Nine times out of 10, we can determine you have a hernia just based on a physical exam,” Dr. Kumar says.

But for more complicated cases, your doctor may order an ultrasound or CT scan. Then, the provider will develop a treatment plan.

Interview clips

Previous coverage

Hernias: More common than you think

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) makes clear that energy drinks are “fundamentally different” than sports drinks like Gatorade or Powerade. 

But scrolling through social media or strolling through the grocery store aisle, and the lines start to blur a bit. When quarterback Justin Fields was a rookie, he inked an endorsement deal with C4 – an energy drink brand.

More recently, CELSIUS signed six Heisman Trophy “hopefuls” to NIL (name, image and likeness) deals. The company’s slogan is “live fit,” a motto many athletes can relate to.

Karan Rai, MD, is a sports medicine physician with OSF HealthCare who works in partnership with Illinois State University to see and treat ISU athletes. He says he’s having a lot of conversations with athletes about these types of drinks, and he always urges caution.

"Quite a few of them are not FDA approved," Dr. Rai says. “The reason that matters is that we often don't know the exact ingredients or mix of ingredients that are in the drinks. Depending on what's in the drink, that can affect your performance and your health. For example, caffeine is commonly involved in making these drinks.”

CELSIUS and C4, both have 200mg of caffeine content in a 16 ounce can. In contrast, a can of Pepsi has 38mg in a 12-ounce can, while an average 8-ounce cup of coffee has between 80-100mg of caffeine. Dr. Rai says higher levels of caffeine can have a negative effect on performance.

"It can cause excessive energy, anxiety and jitteriness, which depending on your sport or activity, can affect how you play,” Dr. Rai says. "The data is still a little bit mixed on the benefit things like green tea extract or guarana are providing, which are commonly marketed and used in sports drinks. 

In terms of what liquids athletes are putting into their bodies, Dr. Rai likes to break down hydration based on the activity.

"In activities that are generally 60 minutes or less, I recommend maximizing your water intake and timing that for at least 30-60 minutes before your activity," Dr. Rai says. “Then as you get into longer duration activities with more endurance, and you're pushing that 60-minute mark or longer, that's when you need to look into the type of electrolytes you're ingesting as well. Looking at drinks or gels out there that have a mix of sodium and potassium. Those typically help with performance during your activity.”

Another sign if you’re drinking enough water? The color of your pee.

"I often tell my patients and athletes to consider their urination. Typically, we have various scales we use based on your urine color, the amount you're urinating and how thirsty you feel. That can play a role in deciding if you need to hydrate with water alone or use a sports drink like Powerade or Gatorade. Or if you need to adjust your salt intake, things like that," Dr. Rai says.

If you have an underlying heart condition, are younger than 18 or are pregnant, Dr. Rai urges you to steer clear of these drinks.

“With quite a few of the sports performance drinks nowadays, which CELSIUS is one of them that's more publicized, the amount of caffeine in it, and ingredients like guarana, which has a caffeine component to it, can exacerbate underlying arrythmias,” Dr. Rai says. “This can put someone with a pre-existing risk at a higher risk.”

Sports drinks like Powerade and Gatorade have a sugar and electrolyte component that is "fairly safe," Dr. Rai says. But the effects of Celsius, Prime and other drinks out there aren't fully understood yet. So, proceed with caution. Talk with your primary care provider or sports medicine physician to get an individualized take on it. 

Video Interview Clips

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa recently suffered his third confirmed concussion in 25 months – just another reminder that football and other contact sports pose the threat of a traumatic brain injury.  Research indicates it’s important to accurately and immediately diagnose a concussion because the consequences of misdiagnosis or faulty management can lead to major disability or death.

Illinois State University senior Cyerra Hibbert knows about concussions. She’s had multiple ones while playing soccer in high school and at ISU, the most recent just a month ago. Hibbert is one of the first athletes to test a new FlightPath concussion app. The lead app developer is *Adam Cross, MD, a pediatric hospitalist and clinical informaticist for OSF HealthCare and director of the OSF Children’s Innovation Lab at Jump Simulation & Education Center in Peoria, Illinois. He is working with co-lead Inki Kim, of the Health Care Engineering Systems Center at the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The concussion assessment app is a grant-funded project through Jump ARCHES, a research collaborative that partners teams of clinicians and engineers working together to improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs. The FlightPath app is being tested at Illinois State, Illinois Wesleyan and Bradley Universities as part of a clinical trial and research coalition.  Hibbert used the FlightPath app after receiving instructions from her athletic trainer six days after she received a blow to the head during a game.

Hibbert was able to finish the test. It only takes about two minutes to collect more than a million data points as a person tries to catch a hummingbird within a 3D space on a screen.

“After a while it did bring a little confusion or if I wasn’t aware of where the bird flew on or off the screen, that did trick a little bit of my memory and concentration skills, so I do think it’s definitely approachable," Hibbert explains. “It’s definitely doable. I think just based on your outcome will determine where you are in your concussion level.”

Dr. Cross says the single biggest risk factor for prolonged time to recovery is delayed diagnosis, so FlightPath is his answer with its ability to diagnose a concussion within minutes. His research team has done some internal testing.

“Regarding how well it detects differences in impairments with people – how well they can determine if someone is functioning, acting appropriately, or if there's if there's something else going on. The challenge has been really doing that with individuals that have true concussion,” says Dr. Cross.

Athletes with a suspected concussion are challenged by FlightPath to walk in their environment while trying to keep a hummingbird in a bubble on the screen.

“The players themselves are trying out this app while concussed after having been consented earlier on in the year so that we can get data around how they perform with this app while concussed versus not concussed, and comparing that to the normal, typical present-day evaluation techniques that the trainers perform.”

Dr. Cross stresses, right now, the clinical trial does not involve trainers using the app to help make decisions. He says the research is not that far along and data collection needs to happen first. But, Karan Rai, MD, a sports medicine physician with OSF HealthCare who also serves as the team doctor for ISU Athletics, says eventually, the data from FlightPath could help beyond diagnosis.

“It in turn can help us with making prognoses, coming up with recovery timelines, implementing certain vestibular therapy. Other than diagnostic purposes, we can extrapolate that data to help us come up with a better treatment plan as well.”

Takes the pressure off
Both Hibbert and Dr. Rai are excited to be part of what they consider ground-breaking research that has the potential for helping athletes in the future. Hibbert, who plans to go into medical sales, says it’s helpful to have an objective tool for an evaluation. She thinks it takes the pressure off athletes.

“Because as athletes, we’re always eager to be on the field or play the game and to have that mindset to be better and get back on your feet as quickly as you can. I think this app will allow you to really settle and to really take your time with your symptoms.”

The clinical trial is looking at whether FlightPath can do as good or better as traditional methods in diagnosing a concussion.  So far, Dr. Rai says nearly 15 athletes who have suffered a concussion have completed a FlightPath assessment and it’s been performing well.

“Results are early so far but in our sample size we found some associations at least where FlightPath has shown some abnormalities similar to what other examinations have found as well, whether that’s the SCAT test or the ImPACT test.”

There are other concussion applications commercially available, but Dr. Cross suggests none are as robust as FlightPath.

“There aren't any, as far as I've seen, that use this mixed reality approach to gather the kinds of data that we're gathering. This is very rich data in a very short time in our app. One of the things that makes it so unique and sets it apart is that we get so much data about so many different manifestations of concussion in such a short time.”

Testing is expected to take at least two years. After testing, the app will be submitted to the FDA for clinical approval.

Here is a video demonstrating how the app works.

*Dr. Adam Cross also holds these positions:
Assistant Professor, University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria, Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Adjunct Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Health Care Engineering Systems Center (HCESC)
Clinical Research Informatician, OSF HealthCare | Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center (JTSEC) 

Dr. Adam Cross, ISU soccer player Cyerra Hibbert and Dr. Karan Rai

B-roll of ISU soccer player Cyerra Hibbert on soccer field

B-roll of FlightPath app demonstration

High school athletes across the country will soon feel the heat when teams begin practices for several sports including football, cross country and soccer. 

Health experts say it's important to stay safe, especially when it comes to practicing during the grueling August temperatures. 

According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, heat stroke is the third-most common cause of sudden death among high school athletes behind cardiac arrest and traumatic brain injuries.

Dr. Faheem Ahmad, a family practice physician with OSF HealthCare, says athletes can experience anything from feeling tired because of heat exhaustion, to symptoms of heat stroke, which can include fainting, loss of consciousness and a body temperature above 103 degrees.

“The summer heat is very dangerous for so many different reasons, and it is important to know and identify those risk factors associated with heat related illnesses, particularly the athletes, their coaches and the staff who work with them," Dr. Ahmad says. 

Other signs of heat stress include headaches, nausea, body pain, muscle cramps and dry mouth. Dr. Ahmad says hydration is key, so take frequent water breaks and drink sports drinks with electrolytes.

Health Highlights Video With Chyrons

Health Highlights Video Without Chyrons

Con la vuelta a la escuela, los consultorios médicos se llenan de niños que necesitan chequeos, vacunas y, en algunos casos, chequeos cardíacos.  

Esto se da especialmente en el caso de los deportistas, según el Dr. Frank Han, pediatra cardiólogo de OSF HealthCare.  

"Cada vez que los estudiantes regresan a la escuela, es necesario realizar chequeos cardíacos para ayudar a detectar problemas cardíacos en los niños", afirma el Dr. Han.   

Los Institutos Nacionales de la Salud (NIH) efectuaron una evaluación de 10 años sobre la muerte súbita durante actividades deportivas.  El objetivo era caracterizar los datos demográficos y las causas de la muerte súbita cardíaca durante la práctica deportiva en Australia.  Se realizaron casi 20 000 autopsias entre 2006 y 2015.  La mayoría de las muertes fueron de adultos.  

Los resultados mostraron que la reducida cifra de niños que murieron por afecciones cardíacas eran arritmogénicos o presuntamente arritmogénicos, es decir, que producían o eran propensos a producir arritmia cardíaca.  O bien los niños padecían cardiomiopatías hereditarias, una enfermedad adquirida o hereditaria del músculo cardíaco.  

Por eso, el Dr. Han recomienda a los padres que hablen con los pediatras de sus hijos para asegurarse de que están al tanto de si sus hijos padecen alguna cardiopatía.  Si el pediatra intuye que el niño quizá tenga un problema, le recomendará que lo examine un cardiólogo para una evaluación más exhaustiva.  

"La evaluación general para empezar es un electrocardiograma en el consultorio de atención primaria.  Después de eso, junto con una revisión de los antecedentes familiares, se puede recomendar un ecocardiograma o una prueba de esfuerzo para determinar si hay algún problema en las válvulas cardíacas o si el músculo cardíaco es demasiado grueso", explica el Dr. Han.  "Uno de los principales fines de la prueba de esfuerzo es intentar simular el ejercicio más intenso que podría hacer esa persona.  Posteriormente, reuniremos toda la información en nuestra visita para averiguar si hay algún problema."   

Aunque puede ser difícil, sobre todo para los niños más pequeños, conocer los signos de una afección cardíaca, es importante prestar atención si creen que algo no es normal.   

"Pueden decir cosas como que les 'pita el pecho' o que les 'late con fuerza el pecho'. En el caso de los niños mayores, pueden dar descripciones muy variadas; por ejemplo, que les cuesta hacer ejercicio. Esto puede manifestarse como dolor de pecho, dificultad para respirar o fuertes palpitaciones, sobre todo al hacer ejercicio", explica el Dr. Han.  

El Dr. Han señala que no todas las cardiopatías se detectan cuando la persona es joven.   

"Algunas cardiopatías congénitas no se manifiestan de niño, como las cardiopatías genéticas, que pueden aparecer a una edad más avanzada", afirma.  "El electrocardiograma y la ecografía del corazón están diseñados para detectarlas si aparecen a una edad más avanzada".  

El Dr. Han agrega que es muy importante conocer los antecedentes médicos de la familia.  Si en su familia hay antecedentes de afecciones cardíacas, él recomienda hablar con su médico de cabecera y, en caso necesario, someterse a un chequeo cardiológico. 

Vídeos de entrevistas

As children go back to school, doctors’ offices are filled with kids needing check-ups, immunizations, and in some cases, heart screenings.

This is particularly the case for athletes, according to Frank Han, MD, pediatric cardiologist with OSF HealthCare.

“Every time people go back to school, there is a need for heart screenings to help look for heart problems in children,” Dr. Han says.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted a 10-year review of sudden death during sporting activities. The objective was to characterize the demographics and causes of sudden cardiac death during sports played in Australia. Nearly 20,000 autopsies were conducted between 2006 and 2015. Most deaths were from adults.

The findings showed the small number of children who died from heart conditions either were arrhythmogenic or presumed arrhythmogenic, producing or tending to produce cardiac arrhythmia. Or the kids had inherited cardiomyopathies, an acquired or hereditary disease of the heart muscle.

That’s why Dr. Han recommends parents speak to their children’s pediatricians to make sure they’re aware if their child has a heart condition. If the pediatrician senses the child may have a problem, they’ll recommend they be seen by a cardiologist for further evaluation.

“The general screening to start off is an EKG in the primary care office. After that, along with an assessment of family history, that person may be referred for an echocardiogram or a stress test to see if there’s any issues in the heart valves, or if the heart muscle is too thick,” Dr. Han says. “One of the major uses of the exercise stress test is to try and simulate the hardest possible exercise that person might do. Then we will put all the information together in our visit to figure out if there is an issue.”

While it can be hard, especially for younger children, to know the signs of a heart condition, it’s important to listen if they think something feels unusual.

“They may say things like their chest is ‘beeping,’ or their chest is ‘pounding.’ In older children, they may give you a variety of descriptions, that there’s some difficulty with exercise. This can be chest pain, shortness of breath, or their heart is pounding, particularly when they exercise,” Dr. Han says.

Dr. Han says all heart conditions aren’t caught when the person is younger.

“Some heart conditions that you’re born with don’t really show up as a kid, like genetic conditions of the heart that may show up at a later age,” he says. “The electrocardiogram and ultrasound of the heart are designed to pick that up if it shows up later in age.”

Dr. Han adds it’s very important to know your family health history. If your family has a history of heart conditions, he recommends speaking with your primary care provider and potentially being screened by a cardiologist.

Spanish version here: 

Video Interview Clips