By: Katie Bachman
Participation in college athletics can lead to an increased risk of injuries that impact the athlete physically during their time in college, and lead to long-term limitations in activity and disability. Working through an athletic injury and associated rehabilitation, while a student can be very challenging, specifically when the athletic scholarship and academic support is a necessity to attend the university. Improvements have been made in understanding injury prevention, however in the article, Epidemiology of Collegiate Injuries for 15 Sports, Jennifer Hootman found that injury rates have remained flat and strategies for prevention of and early intervention with overuse injuries are needed.
The current state of my issue: According to the NCAA, there are over 460,000 athletes participating in collegiate athletics. High prevalence of injuries is a major issue among college athletes, specifically acute injuries related to excessive training and overuse. In her article, Analyzing Injuries Among University-Level Athletes, Jean Lemoyne found that college athletes reported an average, of two injuries per year, with the most frequently impacted areas for injuries being the knee, ankle and shoulder. According to the NCAA Injury Surveillance System the sports with the highest game day injury rates are men’s football and soccer and women’s gymnastics and ice hockey. Lemoyne determined a greater understanding of sport-specific injury mechanisms may help reduce the risk of injuries among university athletes. Limited studies have been done to understand the physical effects of collegiate athletic participation on the long-term health of athletes.
A brief history of my issue: The NCAA was founded in 1910, however it was not until 1982 that they started to track and study injury rates of college athletes. Over the past decade, overuse injuries and injury prevention have become a stronger focus of their studies.
The differing viewpoints of my issue: There are benefits associated with participation in college athletics, specifically access to a college education and the scholarship money athletes receive. For many student athletes, scholarship money and academic support is essential for them to attend college. However, a collegiate athlete has a high probability of being injured during their time as a student athlete. Depending on the severity of the injury, the physical impact can be very challenging and have lifelong effects. The question is, does the benefit of being a student athlete outweigh the associated injury ri