With injuries plaguing sports teams around the country, from the NFL, WNBA, MLB, Soccer and Track and Field, athletes are pushing their bodies to greater challenges.
The list is full of superstars, from Joe Burrow, Breanna Stewart, Kyle Tucker and Gabby Thomas. These key injuries to players have not only affected them, but the team as well. Many people point fingers at the extensive schedule all of these athletes have to go through, with the MLB and MLS schedules having games almost every day.
Players like Yamal and Dembélé are prime examples of athletes trying to play through injuries, like Ousmane Dembélé trying to play through a hamstring issue in a game against Ukraine.
For Major League Baseball, the Astros are being hit in key pitching and hitting roles. The Dodgers are managing multiple injuries, especially among catchers and pitchers. Historically, the Dodgers have been able to deal with injuries well due to their depth, but other teams aren’t as lucky. With the Cubs losing Kyle Tucker, they lose power in the outfield and in run production at a critical time when they are trying to make a playoff push. Injuries to key players, especially at this point in the season, are devastating to teams, but how are teams that play so many games throughout the year supposed to keep their key players healthy?
When talking to athletes, it comes down to recovery. Practice is only the beginning; everything else that you do after is just as important as the work you put in during practice. How you eat, sleep, and stretch all play a role in how tomorrow feels and what gameday is going to be like. Another target point is focusing on your weaknesses.
If there’s a hamstring problem, rehab, strengthen it, stretch it. Athletes can only do so much to help their bodies. When playing demanding sports, their bodies are going to collapse and fail, which is what is happening now throughout the world of sport.
