Save Your Body

In today’s world I think it is safe to say that sports are a big part of many people’s lives. Those people can range from 6 years old to 100 years old. In “Hey, data data — swing!,” written by Bruce Kelley and Carl Carchia, they said “ 21.5 M is the total number of kids between age 6 to 17 that play team sports.” And that’s just the youth that was recorded in that survey. Think about all the professional athletes, and adults that play sports for fun, that could match the number of children that play sports. When you think about how many people watch sports that number is even more. In 2020, according to “Super Bowl TV audience rises slightly to 99.9 million viewers,” Helen Coster says “99.9 million viewers watched the Super Bowl this year,” and that’s just football. So I think it is safe to say that sports are an important part of society. But is it a safe part of society? 

Growing up many children, starting around the age 6, are introduced to the idea of playing sports. At a young age that sounds very exciting to most kids, and the excitement only increases as they get older. And it is important to participate in physical activity and sports when we are little to meet new people, stay in shape, and just have fun. But just like the excitement, as the children get older the level of difficulty increases and so does the risk for injuries. It has been said in “Sports Injuries Statistics,” from Stanford Children Health, by National SAFE KIDS Campaign and the American Academy of Pediatrics that “Sports-related injury severity increases with age.”  As they grow through playing these sports so does their love and passion. This means that the more they start to love the sport, their team, etc the more they are going to start to love winning as well. Even if winning means that they are willing to get injured themselves, or willing to injure someone else in the meantime, even if they don’t necessarily mean it. That is when sports start to get dangerous, and your health not only starts to get affected as a young teen, but will be affected for the rest of your lives.

I know for myself growing up playing sports I was constantly getting injured, but that could just be because I’m clumsy. Because of those injuries I was told that I would have to stop playing sports and give my body a break because I have already damaged it for life. Those were not words that I particularly wanted to hear so I kept pushing my body and I regret it to this day. I was the living definition of the overuse of sports, that lead to overuse injuries. Overuse injuries are subtle and usually occur overtime, making them more challenging to treat. They also usually come with longer lasting symptoms that could last years after happening. People usually get these injuries from not listening to their bodies when they get injured and just keep pushing. According to the article “What Happens If You Keep Playing Sports When You’re Injured?,” from Teens Health from Nemours, Sarah Gibson says “ playing through a sports injury can cause damage that keeps you on the bench longer. Playing through an injury may even end your sports career entirely.” So you eventually have to ask yourself, is it worth it? I know at the time for most teenagers sports are a big deal, it is something to have a passion for and it helps make friends but unless you can see yourself having a serious future in it, it isn’t worth jeopardizing things in your future.

When we are young our bodies have the ability to heal faster, and makeup for the damage that we tend to put ourselves through. The phrase “the fountain of youth,” is not just a phrase but is often right. Doctors will often say to patients when they are young coming in with an injury or sickness that age is on their side. I’ve also heard doctors say it is better to get the injuries out of the way when you are a child because as you get older they might become harder to overcome. But what about the injuries that never seem to heal and only get worse when you are older. Injuries like stress fractures, that usually don’t heal and only get worse, sciatica, which is lower back pain that also gets worse and can lead to nerve and other serious damage in your back. Being in constant pain or even pain when it rains is a price most people will have to pay for playing sports in their youth years. Why pay the price of not being able to pick up your grandchild, do gardening outside your house, or playing with your dog, because these are the simple things that those common injuries can burden adults, and elderly people if faced with them. 

Playing sports is a part of life, a way of life, and a passion to some people. But along with that it can also be an end to a way of life and a healthy life. Going through an injury, at the time we may think that it will get better, it will heal, and I’ll go back to how I used to be, but in reality it often won’t. I think sports are a key part of life, I know I met many friends on my teams, and had some of the best memories while I was doing it but it has left me in pain everyday since. Although I wouldn’t trade the memories for the world, if I would have stopped when I was told I could maybe still do the things I loved to do, like run, play a friendly field hockey game, or do a cartwheel. It is simply knowing how far is too far, and if you go too far you may never be able to go back to normal. The toll that our body takes by doing what we like to do isn’t worth it in the end so make sure you know when it is time to give it up for a healthier future.

References

Coster, H. (2020, February 3).Super Bowl TV audience rises slightly to 99.9 million viewers. Retrieved April 5, 2020

default –Stanford Children’s Health. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2020

Gibson, S. R. (Ed.). (2014, June). What Happens If You Keep Playing Sports When You’re Injured? (for Teens)– Nemours KidsHealth. Retrieved April 5, 2020

Kelley, B., & Carchia, C. (2013, July 11).  “Hey, data data — swing!”. Retrieved April 5, 2020