Pressure to succeed may be pushing Division I athletes to injure themselves because of overuse, a new study found. This study, released in the Journal of Athletic Training, found that almost 30 percent of college varsity athletes experience injuries due to overuse.@@http://news.msu.edu/story/nearly-30-of-all-college-athlete-injuries-a-result-of-overuse/@@
“Consequences of overuse injuries include loss of playing time, reduced function, psychological exhaustion and significant pain. Because overuse injuries are associated with a gradual increase in symptoms, athletes may be unaware that they are seriously injured,” the study stated.
The study analyzed 573 male and female college athletes from NCAA Division I schools. These athletes reported 1,317 injuries over a three-year period@@http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/04/18/college-athletes-in-low-contact-sports-have-more-overuse-injuries@@. These injuries were 29.3 percent overuse injuries and 70.7 acute injuries@@http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/04/13/Many-college-athlete-injuries-from-overuse/UPI-19231334367536/@@. The study also found that females were more likely to be injured because of overuse than males, with 62 percent of overuse injuries occurring in females.
The study differentiated between overuse injuries, which come from accumulating problems over time, and acute injuries, which happen more suddenly such as tearing a muscle.
Overuse injuries occur most often in low-contact sports, where a particular movement or movements is repeated many times. The study found that women’s field hockey, women’s soccer, softball and women’s volleyball had the highest rates of overuse-injury rates.
Julia Metzger@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Julia+Metzger@@, a junior at the University and a member of the varsity women’s tennis team, has experienced various injuries through her career but none specifically related to overuse.
“My sophomore year, I tore my meniscus (an acute injury) in the fall,” Metzger said. “I had surgery in December and then there was a six- to eight-week recovery but I was playing again by January. That was my most major injury, and was the longest I’ve taken off tennis for my entire life.”
Metzger credits the University’s system of injury prevention for keeping her healthy.
“If anything, I feel like the coaches tell us, ‘You need to slow down.’ They try to hold us back sometimes because we know our goals and we know what it takes to reach them and sometimes it’s hard for us as athletes, being younger, to be realistic about what we’re doing to our bodies,” she said. “I owe a lot of how we’ve stayed healthy to the fact that our coaches make us take breaks.”
The most common overuse injuries were general stress at 27 percent, inflammation at 21 percent and tendinitis at 16 percent.
Study director Jingzhen Yang, Ph.D., an associate professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa@@http://cph.uiowa.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/directory/[email protected]@@, conducted the study to learn how student athletes can avoid injuries from overuse.@@Can we take out the Ph.D.?@@
“We hope to affect how athletes work out but it will be hard because of how the system works. Our finding will provide some evidence to educate athletes about it,” she said. “So when athletes experience symptoms they will know, ‘Maybe I need to change the way I’m training so it does not get worse.’”
Metzger said the University provides ample support for student athletes to avoid injuries.
“They evaluate you when you come in and how your body works so that it breaks down. They say that’s your weakness and strengthen that or that’s where you’re going to get injured,” she said. “I know that when I’ve had strains or pulls from overuse it’s because I haven’t been doing my exercises. Honestly, it’s on us.”
Yang also studies how injuries impact athletes psychologically. She warns of the impact of overuse injuries on student athletes.
“They experience more psychological distress when they are injured. They have a lot of pressure, they want to have success and they are pushed. If they experience some injuries, sometimes they are not a big deal,” Yang said. “But if they’re not taking care of themselves those can lead to more severe circumstances.”
Almost 30 percent of student-athletes suffer overuse injuries, new study reports
Daily Emerald
April 17, 2012
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