By IAN PENCE
Sheridan High School Student
While most athletes think about scoring their next point and finishing with a win, few ever think about the possibility of sustaining an injury. In many cases, the athlete thinks to himself, “that could never happen to me,” or “that only happens to other people.” However, I learned the hard way that this not the case. I, myself, used to think these exact same things. After tearing my ACL my freshman year, sidelining me for eight months, and more recently rupturing a pectoral muscle that is expected to put me out for the next four months, I have learned that I am not invincible. Because of my injuries, I have spent hours in surgery and recovery through physical therapy. During the months of healing, I have learned that the most effective thing to do is to prevent injuries before they happen.
For athletes participating in football, preventing injury is done before every competition. Steps need to be taken in practices and workouts before any sporting event takes place. Mark Lahr, retired Ben Davis High School athletic trainer and current athletic trainer for Methodist Sports Medicine, explains that “improper tackling form (in football) can lead to injuries to the athlete such as fractures and spinal cord contusions.” Something as simple as not listening to your coach on proper tackling techniques can lead to injuries that may result in the need of a surgical repair. Even though knowing proper tackling techniques in football can still lead to these injuries, it greatly reduces the chances of their occurrence. Lahr also stated that conditioning programs that include weight lifting, running, and stretching also help reduce the odds of getting hurt because “a properly conditioned body can absorb more.” It is also crucial that the athlete intakes proper nutrition and gets suitable rest between workouts.
Though track is a non-collision sport, many injuries can still develop without proper preventative techniques. These injuries can range from something as minor as fatigue to something as major as a torn ligament. Rob Craig, Director of Outreach Services for Methodist Sports Medicine and certified athletic trainer, says that in order to prevent track and field injuries, athletes must get sufficient rest to ensure “they don’t over-train… Giving adequate time for their bodies to recover is crucial.” Cross training (working different muscle groups on different days) can also help your muscles to acclimate to the strain your body will experience during competition. Lahr adds to this by stating an athlete needs to gradually increase his repetition range because “adding too much of a workload too quickly can cause injuries to bones and muscle tissue.”
Increasing your knowledge about weightlifting is important because in nearly every sport weightlifting is incorporated into the training cycle. Craig emphasized that education is possibly the most important aspect of preventing injury in weightlifting. Knowing proper technique will help prevent weightlifting-related injuries from occurring. Lahr stresses that an athlete should not increase his workload by more than ten percent each week. Also the use of spotters will help decrease the chance of an injury taking place.
Even though Lahr believes that teenagers are just as likely to sustain an injury, Craig believes that teenagers are more likely to get injured solely because they take more risks. I personally can say that Craig is correct after witnessing my peers’ actions in the weight room. Many times the people in the weight room have competitions among themselves in order to out lift each other. Competition can be a good thing but can lead to loss in technique, therefore causing injury.
Injury prevention is the most important thing any athlete can do while he is training. It doesn’t matter how strong or skilled you are, if an injury sidelines you, you’re as useful as someone who didn’t even come out for the team.