Players deal with injury news differently, but all push in rehabilitation process to return to playing field
When athletes get injured, some report the worst thoughts always run through their mind first: “How long will I be out? Will I ever be able to play again?”
Yet for some athletes, injuries that would normally end professional careers inspire them to work hard and get back on the field as soon as possible.
Keene State College Athletic Trainer Jason Besse expressed he has seen it all, from minor ankle sprains and pulled hamstrings to serious knee injuries. But he said he has also seen a variety of emotions and reactions from players once they are told they will be unable to touch a field or court for months.
Brian Cantore / Photo Editor:
Julie Trombetta evades a defender in a game against Eastern Connecticut State on April 5, 2014. Trombetta wears a brace to support a previous knee injury.
“I’ve seen big men break down and cry. I’ve seen people lose their cool and get angry at everything and everyone. Then again, I’ve seen people take the news very stoically and then they’re the sad ones that get teary-eyed. I think these reactions come from where a player is in their career. Are they a freshman who’s going to have years to recover? Or are they a senior missing their last season,” Besse said.
When sophomore Bentley Reif, a men’s soccer player for the Owls, tore not only his ACL but his MCL, LCL, the medial and laderal meniscus, as well as his patella tendon all at the same time during a rainy game his freshman year, Reif said he was predicted to be out for nine months to over a year depending on how well his physical therapy and rehab went. Then just six months after surgery, Reif explained he was back to running again due to his motivated mind.
“I never had the mindset of, ‘This is so bad, I’m never going to play again.’ I set a goal for myself and that goal was to play next season, and I think always having that ‘I’m going to play again’ in my mind helped me through the healing process,” Reif said.
But some athletes said this positive attitude can sometimes motivate athletes too much and push them harder than they’re supposed to work, eventually returning back to the game not fully healed but determined to play for possibly the last time.
Senior women’s lacrosse player Julie Trombetta explained this after suffering from a torn ACL and meniscus injury the previous year right before the Little East Conference games were about to begin. She returned to the field this past January when she was advised to stay off the field until April.
“My doctor wanted me to wait a year which would have been right around now. I mean it’s my senior season, I can’t miss it. Over winter break I told everyone, my PT (Physical Therapist), my parents, that I was going back. So for those four weeks I really pushed myself. My surgeon okayed me but said I wasn’t going to be one-hundred percent or [not] to expect to be where I was and that I would have to take it slow,” Trombetta said.
Reif and Trombetta said they are both required to wear a brace when they play games, and while the brace offers support for their knees, it is a constant reminder of their injury, according to both. “I hated the brace. It slowed me down so much that at one point it seemed like it was almost doing more harm than good, because I would be pushing myself further than my brace allowed and that put a lot of strain on my knee,” Reif said.
Reif said, “The only time I wear it is in a game. To me it’s just a mental thing, reminding me I still have an injury. But next season I plan to not use it at all.”
Trombetta said wearing a brace makes her feel more secure, because she knows she is not performing to her full ability yet, “The cold weather here tightens my knee and joints and during our teams’ spring break trip to Florida it was so nice outside. In Florida, I practiced without my brace because it was a light practice since we had a game the next day and it was so warm out. It felt so awesome. I felt better. I felt faster, quicker; I almost forgot about my injury because I had nothing slowing me down. But when it’s on I definitely feel safer,” Trombetta said. Although both Trombetta and Reif noted that a brace can help an athlete return to the field quicker, in order to participate in a few playoff games or a championship game, Besse said he believed that taking the time to rehab the injury to build up strength is the most beneficial aspect to an athlete’s return to the field.
“The interesting thing with returning to play and rehabilitation is you’re always kind of walking the line, especially with in-season stuff when you don’t always have the ability to give it as long as you want. If we could, we would play it safe and have athletes out for much longer than they typically are so they don’t go out and re-injure themselves. But when playoffs are coming up and you have an athlete who is looking good, feeling good, there are plenty of times when you clear them and it [the injured area] is just not quite ready,” Besse said.
Kendall Pope can be contacted at kpope@keene-equinox.com