Written by Participation in any form of exercise comes with a risk of injury. Factors that contribute to the risk of injury include what type of exercise one might participate in. Examples include, playing sports, going to the gym, and excessive running without proper recovery. Injuries are something that athletes never wish to face, however, accidents do occur and there isn’t much we can do about it besides wait patiently on the sidelines as our bodies heal. For many competitive athletes, getting injured and having to sit out for several months not only tears down their fitness, but also mental health. Athletes are driven individuals who value their sport and run with a burning passion. Being unable to participate, they have to sideline this passion as they go on to watch the rest of their team achieve new heights or make progress.
Injuries comes in various forms and very few athletes experience the kinds of injuries that will have them out for several months. The most common form of this injury is the ACL tear. ACL or Anterior Cruciate Ligament is a ligament in the knee whose purpose is to maintain stability and prevent hyperextension. The ACL tear is also commonly associated with the MCL tear or Meniscus tear which often happens at the same time as an ACL tear. The purpose of the Meniscus is to aid in shock absorption and to smoothly move the knee joints. Since these injuries are associated with a ligament tear, they will often take months or even a year to heal because ligaments don’t have adequate blood supply unlike muscles and other body parts. Seeing young athletes experience these kinds of injuries is often saddening because they’re experiencing the peak growth years in terms of athleticism and skill but getting injured puts them a year behind their peers.
Being set back a year comes with many repercussions, physical and mental. Physical side effects could include having to undergo rehabilitation, decreased athleticism, and knee pain. The exception in this is that decreased athleticism isn’t a guarantee because it can be gained back post-rehab. Mental side effects include anxiety and lack of self-esteem. Most likely, due to the fear of re-tearing the same ACL or the other legs, athletes feel more wary of their movements and are aware of motion that will cause knee pain. A lack of self-esteem can stem from being unable to perform at the level they had pre-injury.
This is where sports culture can come into play. Sports culture is the community and environment that athletes create amongst each other to feel inclusive and part of a larger family. In this community, peers uplift and encourage each other even when facing the lowest of lowest. Simply because we can’t have our players feeling like bums on game-day. They must be able to perform at their best. As previously mentioned, ACL tears lead to substantial mental side effects but many of these effects can be negated or reduced because athletes who are able to put themselves in those shoes understand what it’s like going through a season-long injury. Encouragement and positivity fosters a community which many of the mental effects can subside.
In team sports, injuries shouldn’t be dealt with by a single athlete, but rather the whole team. A team is the sum of it’s parts, which are the players, and without each athlete showing up and being 100% on game-day, teams could fall apart. It is important that sports culture creates a community where any athletes regardless of their situation is able to feel apart of a family and establish a positive atmosphere where the players can thrive to the best of their abilities.