Students Recover from Season-Ending Injuries

Written by Audrey Danciger

Imagine your freshman year of high school. You walk onto the field or court with high hopes of someday hearing your name called over the loud speaker at a Varsity game. Nothing seems to be able to cloud your dream of scoring the winning goal or throwing the perfect pass to complete the last touchdown of the game.

Nothing, that is, except an injury: a broken ankle, a torn hamstring, anything that could jeopardize your playing time.

In freshman Will Amrein’s case, however, it was a torn ACL.

More and more students are facing sports related injuries this year. These injuries are keeping them from playing and improving in their sports and the time it takes to recover is taking a toll on them as well.

“Honestly, tearing my ACL at the beginning of the year was the worst possible thing that could have happened. I couldn’t play a winter or spring sport because of it,” Amrein said.

Amrein tore his ACL at the beginning of the year playing on the freshman football team. Running down the field, he had his sights set on tackling the runner. Just as he was near the guy, however, he was blocked. He fell hard on his knee, resulting in it bending over itself. Scooting off of the field Amrein was left in immense pain wondering what had happened.

ACL stands for anterior cruciate ligament, which is one of the four major ligaments of the human knee. Sports that involve significant amounts of pivoting, twisting, or rapid acceleration/ deceleration increase the chances of a severe knee injury.

After the surgery it took Amrein nearly two weeks to finally start walking again, however even then he still had to use crutches and wear a knee brace reaching from mid-calf to mid-thigh. Simple tasks, like getting up from the couch to get a bag of nacho cheese Doritos that he had been craving, had suddenly become a painful nuisance.

But for him that wasn’t even the worst part.

“I think the worst part is probably what is going to happen down the road from now. Because I couldn’t participate in wrestling or baseball this year that really puts me behind for next year. I also have to be really careful with what I do with my knee. Injuring it again would not be in my best interest,” Amrein said.

For junior Audrey Hitchcock on the other hand, tearing her ACL didn’t affect her as much in the school season. She came down on her left knee wrong after a pass and tore the ligament in February of last year, which is the middle of club volleyball season.

“The pain was the worst pain I have ever felt physically, but after I had mental pain because I couldn’t exercise for a while or play volleyball for a really long time, which just killed me,” Hitchcock said.

After her surgery, Hitchcock found it difficult coping with the injury. She couldn’t even sleep in her own bed for two weeks, let alone use the stairs. Everyday tasks, such as showering, became much more complicated. Being in constant pain all of the time didn’t help that either.

Hitchcock finally started playing again in about mid-June, right as the club volleyball season was coming to a close. She didn’t play as much in the beginning of her 2011 volleyball career because of her coach’s fear of her injuring her knee even further, but as the season went on she started playing more and more. At first it was difficult coming back and playing but slowly it got easier.

Dr. Kirk Iodice, chiropractor for the Kansas City T-Bones, says that in recent years he has seen many more and more student athletes with injuries such as torn ACL’s and other over-worked muscles.

“A simple solution is just that kids need to stretch,” Iodice says.

He said that a top reason for so many injuries is that many high school athletes don’t warm up before they work out. Before doing anything active the best thing to do is warm up your muscles by stretching and jogging lightly. This increases blood flow and allows the muscles to become more pliant so they can move more easily. When muscles are cold or stiff they are under much more strain and it is much easier to pull or tear them, causing severe damages.

“Stretching alone obviously can’t completely prevent anyone from tearing or pulling a muscle, but it’s a good start,” Iodice said.

Hitchcock has learned the same thing from going to physical therapy sessions. At first her main goal was just to able to walk again, crutch free. However, it took a lot from her to be able to get there. After 32 physical therapy visits of balancing, leg pressing, and running, she accomplished that goal and much more.

Now Hitchcock is in the middle of her club volleyball season playing as an outside hitter. She has come through a lot in the past year and is just ready to have fun playing her senior year on the Varsity team.

With her injury she sat on the sidelines cheering her team on at every game and practice, wishing she could be out there too. Now, however, she is injury-free and ready to get back out there with them.