The constant work and strain put on an athlete’s body leaves them extremely vulnerable to injuries. The injuries range from simple ankle tweaks to some being career ending.
About 90% of athletes have experienced an injury at some point in their athletic careers. Of those, around 56% still played through the injury. A huge problem for athletes is the pressure that they deal with when having to come back from an injury.
Many individuals love the sports they play and hate having to sit out and not being able to participate. Junior Connor Borbeck has recently undergone the rehabilitation process after injuring his leg and worries he might be more prone to injury now. “After last year’s basketball season, I had to go get my leg checked out and ended up having to get surgery done on it,” he said. “I have been cleared to do more activities on my leg now but something in the back of my head keeps me thinking that I might injure it again and this time make it even worse.”
Borbeck is not alone as many athletes go through reinjury anxiety. Reinjury anxiety is when athletes do not trust their injured part of their body the same way they used to because they feel as if it is not fully healed. Despite the idea that athletes want to slowly ease back into things, there is still a push for them to return back to their sport quickly.
Senior Max Vanderschaaf has been involved in sports his whole life and feels as though some coaches push too hard for an athlete’s return at times. “I have luckily never had a very serious injury that has kept me out of a sport I was playing, but I have had several teammates become injured and seen the responses from different coaches,” he said. “A lot of the coaches are constantly asking when you will be back, how much longer do you have to sit out? And no matter what answer they give the coaches will always ask the question if they are doing their exercises to return back quicker than expected.”
Athletes will always be vulnerable to injuries because of the amount of strain they put on their body. It is important that during the rehabilitation process it is taken seriously and nothing is rushed to prevent injuries in the future.
