Injuries at the Elite Level

Injuries are a constant topic lately, across all sports. And it’s not just the rookie 5k runner that gets hurt on the weekend…most athletes will suffer some type of injury (or several types) before their career is over. At the last Olympic Games,10,568 athletes competed – and there were 1,361 injuries – or, about 129 out of a thousand. That’s a lot. It’s even more when you consider how finely tuned thest athletes are, and consider that 11% of them are getting hurt playing a sport in which they are one of the world’s best. A third of those who get injured (roughly) don’t return to the games (competition ending injury). Injuries are inevitable, and if the best in the world can’t  avoid them,  we’re going to have to accept them as a given (though still try to prevent them),and learn how to mitigate their harm recover from them.