Most Alabama fans would give just about anything to stand on the sidelines and meet with Nick Saban after each game. For Mountain Brook resident Dr. Lyle Cain, this is just a normal Saturday.
This fall will be Cain’s 13th as the Crimson Tide’s team doctor. Along with Cain’s duties in Tuscaloosa, the orthopedic surgeon is also Mountain Brook High School’s team doctor, making for an incredibly busy fall full of evaluating injuries and performing operations in high-stress situations.
“The reason I got into this is because I’m a sports fanatic,” Cain said. “I’ll watch tiddlywinks on ESPN if I have to. I’m not one of those guys sitting back and talking on my phone; I’m usually watching the game pretty closely. And when an injury happens, I’ll usually be able to tell what it is before I even see him.”
A typical week in the fall for the 45 year old, who partners with Dr. James Andrews at their practice at St. Vincent’s, is hectic. During the week, Cain sees patients and performs surgery. One night a week, he goes to Tuscaloosa to see any player on any team, not just football, who has an injury.
Then, on Friday night, Cain stands on the sideline at Mountain Brook football games ready to evaluate injuries and tell coaches if players can come back in the game or if they need to stay out.
“I played football at Mountain Brook and now I’m at the age where a lot of my friends’ kids are on the team and my boys are on the junior high team, so it’s a lot more close than it’s ever been,” Cain said.
After the Mountain Brook game, Cain will go to his office that night to host an injury clinic for high school football players around Birmingham who suffered injuries. Besides Mountain Brook, Cain and his partners cover Hoover, Spain Park, Homewood, Oak Grove and Bessemer City as team doctors. At the clinic, Cain and his partners evaluate injuries, perform x-rays, and set up MRIs and other diagnostic tests for the next morning.
“In a sports environment, the last thing you want to do is have an injury Friday night and not really know what’s going on until Monday or Tuesday of the next week,” the Alabama graduate said. “Not only for the athlete but also for the coaches and the family. The injury clinic is a big outreach program we have.”
Fall Saturdays bring even more business for Cain, as he catches up with the Alabama team, home or away, about two hours before the game to evaluate injuries and tell players if they are cleared to play. He also assists the team trainers with getting braces for players that are playing with injuries.
Then, during the game, Cain moves to the sideline. Typically, if an injury happens, it is the team trainers who run onto the field, not the doctors. However, if the injury is severe or if the trainers aren’t sure what to do, they will signal for Cain to come and assist. Either way, Cain always evaluates the injury on the sideline and communicates with Saban and his coaches about how quickly a player can return to action.
“We do a lot more than people think,” Cain said. “People watching the game only see an injury here or there because that’s when the TV shows it. But in a typical college football game, there’s about 10 or 12 injuries where the guys will come off and I have to decide what to do with them.”
A typical Alabama fan would feel nothing but joy to watch the game on the sideline. But Cain says his responsibilities change how he watches his favorite team play.
“I go to the games with a different mentality,” he said. “Instead of just being a fan and enjoying the game, there’s always butterflies. Every play, rather than worrying about whether we’re going to score or get a first down, I’m hoping no one gets injured because it changes lives. I don’t like big hits like I used to. I don’t like seeing someone come across the middle and get laid out. It makes me sick instead of making me excited.”
Cain’s weekend schedule comes to a close with his meeting every Saturday night with Saban. After the coach finishes with his press obligations, the two meet to discuss each injury and the plan of action.
“I’ve worked with a lot of coaches over the years, and Coach Saban is actually pretty easy to work with in terms of the medical side,” Cain said. “He doesn’t ever try to micro-manage someone’s care or anything. He doesn’t give me a hard time about anyone’s injuries. Just like any family member, he wants to know how to keep this from happening again and when they can they come back and play without being hurt. He just wants to know the plan to get the guys back on the field.”
As his schedule shows, Cain won’t have much free time come fall. Beside his Mountain Brook and Alabama duties, he also serves as Medical Director at the University of West Alabama. He goes there once a month, and if they have a Thursday night game, he’ll be there.
“The downside that people don’t see is that it’s a pretty busy, stressful job,” Cain said. “There are certainly more stressful jobs – I don’t deal with life and death on a daily basis but with people’s careers and livelihoods. People are counting on us as surgeons to get them back to a normal life. I work long hours, and I’m not home for dinner every night.”
Cain has four children all in the Mountain Brook School System: Sarah, a senior, Virginia, a sophomore, Edward, seventh grade, and George, fourth grade. After growing up in the community, Cain has been able to keep up with many families and friends through his practice.
“I really enjoy being involved in the Mountain Brook community,” Cain said. “One of the things I’ve had the opportunity to do, which is a bit surreal at times, is operating on my principal, my teachers, my friends’ families. I’ve had the ability to keep up with a lot of the people I grew up with and treat a lot of their family members, which has really been gratifying. It’s really unusual to be able to do that in your home community. Mountain Brook is a great place for it.”
Cain’s involvement with Mountain Brook – his favorite being Career Day for the sixth graders at Crestline Elementary – makes it easy to forget his practice with Dr. Andrews is the most famous in the world of sports medicine. Not many Mountain Brook dads can drop names like Nick Saban, Adrian Peterson, Derrick Rose and Robert Griffin III with the ease and experience of Cain. Cain and Andrews have treated a high percentage of professional athletes that have had knee or shoulder issues.
“Lots of pro and college athletes are just genetically unusual, and they are able to do better with bad injuries than normal people,” Cain said. “I’ve had guys at Alabama come back from devastating injuries like nothing happened. And it had nothing to do with my surgery. They’re just amazing specimen that can heal fast. These NFL guys are like Wolverine or something.”
The typical Alabama fan might want Lyle Cain’s access to the program, but not everyone could handle the stress and business of his job. This fall will be another hectic one, as Cain ensures that the players at Spartan Stadium and Bryant-Denny are evaluated by one of the best orthopedic surgeons in the world.
