KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Many high school football games are being pushed back due to heat concerns, and trainers have been adjusting practices due to TSSAA guidelines.
Trainers use a device called a wet bulb globe thermometer, which they say can better measure how athletes will respond to weather conditions.
"The wet bulb takes into account things like wind speed, the humidity, the surrounding community, the air temperature and whether the sun is in direct contact with it or whether you have cloud coverage," Clinton High School athletic trainer Bailey Sexton said.
The wet bulb reading determines how long outdoor practices can be as well as the amount and duration of breaks during practice.
"If you're looking at an hour's worth of activity, every 15 to 20 minutes, you want to take three to four minutes of rest," sports medicine physician Joshua Johnson said. "You want to make sure that during that rest you're adequately hydrating. It's not just water, you want some form of an electrolyte replacement."
Sexton says it's important to be vigilant in measuring heat conditions and she reminds athletes to hydrate and eat well.
Johnson says heat-related injuries do have some warning signs.
"The first sign is going to be excessive fatigue," Johnson said. "For me, the really worrisome sign is an athlete who's starting to get cold, clammy, and honestly they're stopping sweating."