Sports Injuries are the worst.

So here's the outline of my research project on Sports injuries that I will be presenting on Thursday! :)

“In the United States, about 30 million children and teens participate in some form of organized sports, and there are more than 3.5 million injuries each year... By far, the most common injuries are sprains and strains.”

In an article by New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital titled, “Sports Injury Statistics,” football is explained to be one of the most dangerous sports. The most common kind of injuries in contact sports are those from contact trauma. But, there are also plenty of injuries in non-contact sports, such as swimming, and those injuries are mostly related to overusing and straining your muscles or body parts to the point of injury.

Some interesting statistics by National SAFE KIDS Campaign and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): “Although death from a sports injury is rare, the leading cause of death from a sports-related injury is a brain injury... Sports and recreational activities contribute to approximately 21 percent of all traumatic brain injuries... More than 775,000 teens are treated in hospital emergency rooms for sports-related injuries each year.” The article goes on to say that the highest rate of sports injuries involve contact collisions, but the more severe injuries happen in individual sports, and often at practice, about 62%. Another interesting statistic, “Sports-related injury severity increases with age.”

As the article gets more specific into the specific sports where injuries are common, things get a little more scary when baseball is mentioned. “Nearly 117,000 children ages five to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for baseball-related injuries. Baseball also has the highest fatality rate, with three to four children dying from baseball injuries each year.” Baseball may have the highest fatality rate, but football still takes the lead with almost 194,000 teens hospitalized a year.

My younger sister has been among the 100,000 persons that need ACL reconstruction surgery a year. “About 80% of sports-related ACL tears are ‘non-contact’ injuries. This means that the injury occurs without the contact of another athlete, such as a tackle in football. Most often ACL tears occur when pivoting or landing from a jump. The knee gives-out from under the athlete when the ACL is torn (Cluett, 2011), ” What You Need to Know About ACL Tears explains.

When interviewing my little sister Blair, a volleyball player who tore her ACL, and meniscus, she remembers the experience with anxiety. She was a sophomore in high school, and it was during the summer practices, just weeks before the season began. “We were running a drill where two of us chased the ball down the court to see who could recover it first. When I twisted slightly to the direction of the ball, I just heard a pop and then I was on the ground screaming.” Blair explained her ACL tearing as the most painful injury she had ever had in her life. She was out of practice, and in physical therapy for nearly a month before the doctor decided to order ACL reconstruction surgery. At this point, the season had already started, and Blair was watching her team play from the bench.

After Blair had surgery on her leg, she missed weeks of school, and more weeks of practice. “Not one of my teammates came to visit me in the hospital or at my home. It was like because I wasn’t playing, I didn’t exist to them.” As she explains the aftermath of her surgery, she becomes choked up, and even though it’s been a year since her injury, she is obviously still hurt about it. The injury ended up ending Blair’s volleyball career, and for her junior year in high school she went out for the cheerleading squad instead. “At the first practice, I threw a backhand spring and broke my knee cap on the same freaking knee.” This injury was nowhere near severe as the ACL and didn’t require surgery, but it showed Blair how difficult and long recovery is. Recovery from an ACL injury can be anywhere from 9 months to over a year.

Blair, myself, and hundreds of athletes around Louisville, and Lexington have visited Max Performance Physical Therapy, located in Shelbyville, KY. The establishment is known for their caring staff, and unbelievable success rate, getting athletes back to their sports and healthy. Alice, is a Licensed Physical Therapist and a co-owner of Max Performance says, “I love having the opportunity to work with people on a daily basis and help to improve their quality of life. It is so rewarding to see someone return to the activities they enjoy without pain. I also enjoy helping middle school, high school and college athletes recover from injuries and return to playing. It is very fulfilling to see the athletes back out on the court or field after sustaining injuries.”

To be involved with sports medicine and sports rehabilitation, you have to be strong, and steadfast. “As with my former EMS job, I get to work with people on a personal basis helping them with their medical problems. However, at Max Performance, unlike EMS, I get to continue helping people throughout their whole recovery. It’s not just treating their injuries; it’s getting to know them, being there for them, even if it’s just offering a listening ear. Hopefully I can make their day a little brighter,” Les, another physical therapist at Max says. It’s a long and anxious process for the athletes, knowing that they are injured and their teammates are out there still playing. It can be depressing for the athletes, so having physical therapists like Alice and Les helping them along in their process, it makes a world of difference. People like them can change lives, just by being supportive.

The research of sports injuries and sports medicine has been an interesting search. The most intense thing to me is actually talking to the athletes that have gone their horrific experiences, and not knowing if they will ever play again. And when these athletes make their sport their life, losing the ability to play can have extensive effects on their well being. It can be a very scary thing.