Being an athlete comes with countless responsibilities and troubles. An athlete has to make sure to get the right amount of sleep or eat the right foods to fuel your body, and many have to deal with injuries. Athletes can experience various types of injuries in many different sports. For instance, an athlete could roll your ankle, hurt their hip, or tear an ACL.
In talking to various Lewis Cass athletes about some past injuries they experienced. Two athletes suffered hip injuries and two had ankle injuries. Sophomore swimmer and runner, Mia Hall, suffered a hip injury which caused her limited activity, and eventually had to take two to three days to rest at a time after working out. Because of Mia’s injury, she is now undergoing physical therapy and going to the chiropractor to fix the alignment of her hip back. Luckily for Mia, she was able to come back quickly, but recovery has had its challenges. Mia states when she came back to running she was less strong and moved down rank on the team, and she had to regain her muscle strength to return to running as fast as she was prior to her injury.
Sophomore runner, Gracie Spicer, also went through a hip injury as well. Gracie Spicer partially dislocated her hip causing her to be on crutches for three to four weeks. Gracie said,”I went to physical therapy. After that, my hip actually popped out again so I continued doing my stretches and continue to do so.” Spicer did not need surgery, however, she and her mom had to pop her hip back in. Gracie said her injury still affects her running because she still has problems with her hip partially dislocating and still dealing with pain. Her injury has not made her run slower, but she still has to stretch her hip daily.
Senior basketball and baseball player, Wade Tocco, also dealt with a hip injury in the past however this time Tocco sprained his ankle. Wade was out of basketball for just over four weeks. He did not need surgery, but he did have to do stretches on his own. Cass Athletic Trainer, Sally Young also made Tocco soak the ankle in cold and hot water treatments. Junior basketball players, Trey Johnson, and Wade also got in the pool to work on movement in their ankles. This injury affected Wade’s basketball conditioning and made him more conscious about spraining his ankle again.
Personally, I also experienced an injury to my ankle. At the start of my injury, the doctors told me it was a sprain, and I should do stretches; it (the injury) would improve over time. My ankle continued to worsen over time. It started to get more swollen and the bruising would continue to worsen. My ankle worsened so much to the point where I could not put any pressure on it. I was in a boot for seven weeks and out of sports for two more weeks after that. I continue to undergo physical therapy and still can not officially get back to running. Over time my injury will continue to recover with the help of physical therapy.
Overall, Injuries have a major role in athletes’ performance. Athletes need to take care of their bodies to try to prevent injuries. If athletes get injured they need to listen to their bodies because playing through an injury could possibly worsen it. The worse the injury gets the more time the athlete could be out of their sports.