Injuries and Recovery

By Brady Curtis

Sports injuries are very prevalent, especially in high school. They are things that nobody can control, no matter how much they would like to. According to stopsportsinjuries.org, there are over 2 million sport-related injuries per year and rising. That is a very scary number, and it can truly happen to anybody. It is also important to remember that injuries not only keep students out of sports but also affect their life at school and at home. Although students cannot always avoid an injury, they can choose to deal with the injury in an effective way.

Gunnar Stappart recently had a shoulder injury that held him out of both basketball and baseball for his junior season. Gunnar was forced to have surgery which ended his sports year short. “It was hard at first to deal with because just like that, I was a senior in sports.” This injury has not only affected his sports career but also school. Gunnar’s surgery forced him to miss a few days, which put him behind in school work. On top of that, he had his arm in a sling for months. “Being right-handed, I was lucky that I hurt my left shoulder.” Gunnar explained that everything suddenly became harder after he was in a sling, whether it was getting to school, getting ready in the morning, or even taking a shower. “Everything I used to do easily suddenly became a challenge. I would say that was the worst part,” Gunnar expressed. Now, he is finally out of the sling and has been doing physical therapy for a few months. “Things are going good now as I recover. I will be ready for my senior year of football this fall and I am really looking forward to that.”

Ryan Kruser is another student who is all too familiar with how injuries can affect somebody’s high school life. This young man tore his ACL in his freshman year of football and was forced to begin the long road of recovery. Ryan, now a junior, reflects on his injury; “I didn’t want to believe it because I knew what it took to get back from that type of injury and that is something I really didn't want to do.”  An ACL tear also requires surgery, which forced Ryan to miss almost two weeks of school, and you can imagine how much that put him behind. After he was back to school, however, he had to walk on crutches for months. These crutches made everything harder. “I had to have somebody get my lunch for me and take my tray every day. I also needed help carrying my books from class to class.” The injury not only made him miss the rest of his freshman year of football but also his freshman year of basketball. After many, many months of recovery, he finally was able to get back to sports. Usually, after an ACL tear, the knee is not as strong as it used to be, but Ryan doesn’t think that is the case for him. “I don’t usually feel any weakness in that knee, I think I recovered pretty well.” Since then, he has been an exceptional athlete starting for both the football and basketball teams.

Each of these student-athletes has experienced an injury that set them back in more ways than one. They are prime examples of how injuries can affect everything in your life for a short time. Nobody should take health for granted because when you lose it, you're going to miss it for the short time it is absent. As the old saying goes, “You won’t miss it until you lose it.”