THe Importance of Proper Treatment

Danielle Boudreau, Office Manager & Former Lacrosse Player
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As an athlete, there are many reasons why you may choose to play through an injury.  Firstly, as an athlete, your love for the game makes it devastating to sit out and watch your team from the stands.  You may also feel bad that you are unable to help your teammates reach their goals.  Finally, you may feel pressure from coaches, teammates, parents, or trainers to return to sport before you are ready. 

As a former athlete, I understand this predicament first-hand.  In my second year of varsity lacrosse at the University of Guelph, I experienced a chain of injuries starting with a pulled quad during training camp.  As I played through each injury, my body compensated for the weak/injured area and a new issue would appear.  As a result, I woke up the first morning of our championship weekend completely unable to bend over without my legs giving out because of a back injury.  Had I taken the appropriate amount of time to recover from the minor pulled quad, I would have been able to help my team and play in our championship weekend.

​I spent the next two seasons at countless physiotherapy appointments so that I could make it through game days with as little pain as possible.  It’s been 5 years since my last season and I still experience back pain to this day.

The moral of the story is that you need to get treatment as soon as possible and take the appropriate amount of time to heal before you return to sport, or you can face serious consequences that may cost you your career as an athlete.  Thinking further, these injuries could impact your personal life and your ability to participate in hobbies or play with your children.  Even in professional sports, you see athletes who face serious injuries as a result of returning to sport too quickly following a relatively minor injury.  I know how hard it is, but I can promise you it will be worth it in the long run. 

Our team of therapists at Physio Sport Med understand and will help you get back to sport as quickly and safely as possible. You may even find that you don’t need time away from your sport depending on the injury.  We don’t want to pull you from sport unless medically necessary. With proper treatment and modifications (taping, bracing, etc), you may be able to still play.  If needed, we also have a sports psychologist available to help you navigate through the challenging time of injury recovery.  We are here to help!  ​​