Throughout human history, people have been getting injured. However, it is only now that we have a new understanding of what injuries are, how to fix them, and how to avoid them.
In the past, even the simplest of injuries had serious consequences. Nowadays, people like Arman Agarwal and Alec Arnow, both sophomores, and Megan Lo, a junior, have gone through injuries and come back healthier than before.
Arnow suffered a minor contusion in the middle of the 2019 football season due to a rough hit taken during practice. As a result, he was unable to practice for four weeks. Instead, Arnow would see Jasyn Chidester every day, where he did recovery exercises.
Overall, the injury held Arnow back from what he felt he could have achieved last season. After recovering from the injury, he doesn’t want anyone else to go through the same kind of pain. Some tips he gave were to listen to your body and not fake injuries to get out of activities you do not want to do.
Agarwal, another player on the football team, has been dealing with knee problems for most of his athletic life. Most recently, he reinjured his knee.
“I have always had knee problems,” Agarwal said. “They have always been weaker than normal, so that probably contributed to [the current injury].”
Despite primarily being a baseball player, Agarwal chose to play football this fall. Chidester feels that this new injury is a result of the change in the field type from baseball to football. According to Agarwal, to avoid this injury, it is important to take time to warm up and stretch before every practice.
Rather than a recurring injury like Agarwal, Lo had a one-time injury.
“When I did badminton,” Lo said, “I crashed into a box and sprained my ankle. It hurt for a week.”
While she wrapped the ankle in sports tape and waited for it to heal, she focused on her eye-foot coordination and stretched out her legs before working out. To avoid any future injury, she feels stretching, starting slow, and building up to speed are the best ways to stay healthy and strong.
“I would run every day to see the recovery process,” Lo said.
Having fun in sports is the main goal to have when playing. However, it is hard to have fun when injured. There is a fine line between pushing your body to get stronger and pushing your body over its physical limit.
“It’s a fun game, but you can’t enjoy anything while injured on the bench all day,” Agarwal said.
