ACL Injuries

In every sport today, an injury of some sort is bound to happen. It is nearly inevitable, but some are much worse than others. An injury can go from a jammed finger, to a sprained ankle, to a torn ACL. With the way sports are played today, and with the tremendous stress put on athletes’ bodies, something is almost guaranteed to happen. For Derrick Rose, it happens too much. After recovering from 2 major knee surgeries in the past two seasons, the injury bug struck the former NBA MVP once again. 

But fortunately, this time, it is not as devastating. Rose has been bothered by lower body and leg injuries all season, but now he is thinking about more than this season. In a recent statement, he came out and told the media about his mentality. He admitted that he is worried, at times. He thinks about his life after basketball, and how his injuries will affect him. When he sits out, it is because he wants to rest his body to make sure he can help himself later in life. However, the moral of the story is not about Derrick Rose, it is about major knee injuries, such as an ACL, on athletes. It affects them in many, many ways. For example, it changes their mentality. They may become timid, or begin to play in fear of re-injuring themselves. Also, it shows that severe injuries can linger forever, and affect an athlete their entire life.

An injury like this can only make athletes wonder. They wonder if it is all worth it. Career ending injuries happen at every level, not just professional. For a youth athlete, is a torn knee worth it? Players push themselves to extreme limits, but does it even pay off? At times and athlete may put tremendous stress on their body in an attempt to gain a great physical advantage on their opponent. However, it will hurt them in the long run. A vast majority of athletes that train a great deal experience a lot of injuries, pain, and weakness at early ages after sports. For some, it is not worth it. 

This story has a much deeper meaning than Derrick Rose being hurt again. It conveys the tragedy of a major injury on an athlete, and it shows how it affects them in ways we usually do not think about. It is important because any athlete can suffer an injury like this. It is an epidemic in the sports world, and we need to learn how to stop and control it. This story is important to society because kids from all societies play sports. The amount of stress that athletes, even at a young age, put on their body is unbearable at times. They need to learn how to balance it properly to avoid injuries like these that will affect them forever. Personally, it is scary to me. Every athlete fears something like this. A friend just recently tore his ACL for the second time, and you instinctively wonder how it happened or what could have been done to prevent it.