Courtesy of Lewis & Clark College Athletics
Participating in athletics can be simultaneously one of the most rewarding and consequential things one can do in college. While the rewards such as the camaraderie and the thrill of winning can be understood by most, the consequences can be far more insidious.
Injuries are incredibly common in athletics. In many cases, these are nothing severe. A sprained ankle here, a pulled muscle there, things that athletes and trainers are well-equipped to handle and solve permanently. There are other injuries, however, that can leave athletes with lifelong consequences.
Head Athletic Trainer Jeremy Loew sees both kinds of injuries come through his office. The trainers are usually the first line of care an athlete receives when they are injured. They provide all sorts of resources to those who come through and need assistance.
“Our biggest responsibility here is to oversee the health and safety of all the student athletes, so that they’re participating in a way that is safe, that they have access to medical care as it relates — mostly to athletic injuries, but illnesses and anything that really affects their ability to participate,” Loew said. “We want to help provide a safe environment so that they’re not competing when they shouldn’t, and they’re able to recover when they do get injured, and they can compete and practice and play and get this part of their education”
While the trainers are well-equipped to deal with myriad problems an athlete might face day-to-day, they also see injuries they are not equipped to handle on their own, such as those that require surgery or specialized care.
“We see fractures,” Loew said. “This year we’ve had a couple of fractured collar bones that have needed surgery. We’ve had an ACL injury, a couple of knee injuries that needed surgery, meniscus-type injuries.”
These types of injuries can often have lifelong consequences for those that sustain them. Russell Nozoe ’24 had played football for his entire life, and reflected on how injuries build up over the course of an athletic career.
“I had 14 different injuries during my time playing at Lewis & Clark,” Nozoe said. “My right ring finger, I dislocated, resulting in a Boutonniere deformity, which is why it’s kind of wide at the middle digit. My left ring finger was also a dislocation, and I had a swan neck deformity on that one. But I actually listened to the medical staff at Lewis & Clark with my left one, so it looks a lot better than my right. I have a partially torn meniscus in my left knee. I think I pulled my right hip flexor, I’ve had a high strain or a strain on my high hamstring, I think both sides.”
Nozoe also discussed the frequency with which athletes see more serious injuries as opposed to more minor ones.
“(Football players) usually have one big thing in their lifetime. In one person’s career, they usually have one significant injury, maybe pull the muscle in their back, and so they always have to take precautions, like take extra care of their back, both in workout and recovery,” Nozoe said. “It’s not very common, like a few people I know, have a few bad bumps and bruises, but I was small for my position. So to make up for that kind of cost me some physical degradation.
He also had high praise for LC’s trainers, describing how his recoveries are always smoother when he heeds their advice.
“(I) definitely use what (the trainers) taught me,” Nozoe said. “All the injuries that I listen to them about don’t hurt anymore, but the ones that I didn’t do.”
These kinds of injuries are also not limited to contact sports like football. The stress and strain from training and physical exertion in practice and games affects all athletes, regardless of their sport. Aashir Walson ’26, of the men’s soccer team, described a training injury sustained over the summer that kept him from participating in fall training with his teammates here at LC.
“Over the summer, in Baltimore, I was training with another DIII soccer team and we were playing almost every day … and I noticed that my left knee was getting pretty sore,” Walson said. “I came on campus, I talked to the trainers, and they said that it’s tendinitis.”
He explained his rehab process and how the injury has stuck with him throughout the year.
“I go to rehab five days a week for it still,” Walson said. “It’s still something that I’m dealing with, and it’s going on for about almost a year now”
Despite his injury, Walson is in high spirits about his situation, and gave some advice for those that might be struggling with injuries themselves.
“It’s slowly gotten better, and I’m pretty hopeful for next year to hopefully finish (recovery),” Walson said. “It does suck, you’re gonna lose time (with) what you love, but in that time, you might find more time to find something else to love, and so I think that’s been something that I’ve really enjoyed.”
Leaving college, either for the summer or for good, is hard enough as it is — even more so when one leaves with the added stress of an injury. But between LC athletic trainers and the hard work of athletes themselves, most injuries do not spell the end; just a new chapter in life and a new challenge to overcome.
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