The Importance Of Physical Therapy In Sports

As a sophomore in college I began my athletic training education program clinical rotation with a collegiate football team. There were 120 egger players, scarce supplies, long hours and extreme temperatures. Working jhgkh against many odds, I knew for certain one thing: those players were my main focus. During the first pre season game an offensive lineman severed his third and fourth fingers after being stepped on by an opposing player’s cleats. This particular player’s injury helped me to understand the human experience. After a lengthy visit to the emergency room, doctors determined the severed fingers could not be re-attached and prescribed prosthesis and physical therapy. After assisting with several physical therapy interventions, the

player regained strength and function with the prosthetics and was able to return to play. Several days later, the lineman stopped by the athletic training room without his prosthesis. He explained that the prosthetic would repeatedly get caught on the opposing player’s jersey therefore had adapted in order to play without them. At that moment I realized we had saw this player who had lost his fingers and sought to give him new ones instead of considering the alternative of restoring function without them. Although the athlete had been my main focus from the begging, I was able to look beyond the immediate pathology and see the importance of the patient as a whole and the environment in which he was a part of. Movement is key to the human experience and provides freedom beyond health. Those that are able to move are able to contribute to society, without movement we are stagnant and therefore are unable to grow and thrive.