Pain must never triumph.
No
one likes pain, yet when it comes to this time of the year and football
- aches and pains are inevitable. For example, who can forget the
devastating injury
that Redskins’ quarterback, Joe Theismann, received inadvertently on
November 18th, 1985. It was on Monday
Night Football, that he had his career ended, when his leg was
gruesomely broken inadvertently by Giants’ linebacker, Lawrence Taylor,
while
millions watched in horror.
We
all know what a broken legs is, however, now a days there are a lot of
football injuries that are not so easy to decipher. So, since I am not a
medical doctor,
I simply went on Web MD and the internet. In an effort to have a
clearer knowledge of the game,
here are some medical terms that you have already or soon will be hearing in regard to football injuries:
The
first three injuries are somewhat common in football and all are
related to the same area of the body- the knee and the ligaments that
hold
it in place. These ligaments consist of strong fibers that function
like the strands of a rope that holds the upper bone of the leg (femur)
to the lower bone of the leg (tibia). All three of these injuries can
range in severity from a strain, to a sprain,
to a partial tear to a complete tear.
When you hear the term,
ACL, though it sounds like it is a life threatening illness, it is actually referring to an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury.
The ACL is the front ligament inside the knee, which is the top
strand of what appears to be an X pattern, which does its part to hold
the femur to the tibia. Worst case scenario is when a football player
cuts too quickly or is hit the wrong way, completely
tearing his ACL ending his season. NFL example: Kansas City running
back, Jamal Charles, just completely tore his ACL in week five of this
season, while making a cut to allude a Chicago Bears’ defender, thereby
ending his season. This unfortunately is the
second time this has happened to him in the last five years.
When the acronym,
PCL, is spoken, it does not refer to a money lending bank, but
rather an injury to the Posterior Cruciate Ligament. The PCL is the
other ligament inside the knee, underneath the ACL on the bottom strand
of the X, which also connects the femur to the
tibia. This injury takes place most often when a player is struck at a
prone angle by an opponent, and when torn, takes about a year to fully
heal. NFL example:
WR
Kennan Allen, in 2012, tore his PCL in college, causing his draft
status to slip. However, the San Diego Chargers drafted him anyway and
in his third season appears
to be hitting his stride as an up and coming wide receiver.
The term, MCL,
when mentioned, is not referring to an abbreviation for a phone
company, but instead to an injury to the Medial Collateral Ligament.
The MCL keeps the inside portion of the knee stable, while connecting it
to the femur and the tibia. The
MCL injury is usually caused by a direct blow to the knee, and again a
full tear will take about year to fully heal. NFL example:
Ben
Roethlisberger, Steelers’ quarterback, just sprained his MCL this
season in week three, when a St. Louis Rams’ safety hit his knee
awkwardly with his helmet. He
has hopes of playing again in week seven or eight, due to the fact the
injury was not a tear.
A
BROKEN CLAVICLE is not an out of tune wood wind instrument that
is played in the marching band. Rather, a broken clavicle is when you
fracture your collar bone, often when a player drives his opponent into
the ground, breaking the bone in two. NFL
example: Cowboys’ quarterback, Tony Romo, broke his clavicle, for the
second time in six years, against the Eagles in week two when a rookie
linebacker rode him to the ground. Subsequently, he will probably miss
more than half the season, in hopes of returning
around week eleven.
PLANTAR FASCITIS is
not someone who is suffering from eating too many Planter’s
assorted nuts. Instead, it is when the rubber band that attaches the
balls of the foot to the heel becomes frayed from straining too hard
without properly stretching first. Take it from someone who suffered
from it, it feels like someone is shooting a nail
gun into bottom of your foot each time you step on it wrong, till it
loosen up or heals.
NFL example: All-Pro tight end, Jimmy
Graham, played for the Saints in October of 2013, when he suffered a
partial tear in his plantar fascia. However, despite the anguish, he
continued
to play still putting up above average stats.
A TORN LABRUM
is
not when someone gets their ear drum punctured by diving into a shallow
swimming pool. Rather, the labrum is a piece of rubbery tissue
attached to the rim of the shoulder
socket, that helps keep the ball of the joint in place, that when
jammed into the ground cause this potentially career ending injury. It
is a very difficult injury to fully recover from and to be able to
perform up to previous standards.
NFL example: Record setting quarterback, Drew Brees, tore his
labrum in 2005 while playing for the San Diego Chargers and many feared
he would never be the same. However, he got it repaired, religiously
rehabbed and four years later went on to win
the Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints.
In
summary, now you can clearly understand what these hard to follow terms
now mean. However, pain is a part of life, just like in football.
Regardless, the injury, we need to
get treatment, press on, and keep playing, if at all possible.
Whatever you do, don’t let pain sideline you, or worse yet, cause you to
regret what might have been.
To get a passing grade in life, one must ace the painful subjects.
No comments:
Post a Comment