Injuries and Medical Staff Importance
The medical staff is an invaluable asset in any team's employment. They are the most important part of an athlete's health and well being. They provide an essential function by making sure athletes are fit and in good health before every game and they treat any injuries the athlete might pick up in the course of a match. They are those diligent people who run out onto the field when an athlete crashes to the floor and writhes about in pain. The question here is just how important are they to a team and how exactly do they assist athletes.
Injuries are a natural part of sports and they can devastate an athlete's career and sometimes even end his or her career. A lot of athletes have been struck down with injuries recently; David Beckham injured his Achilles heel just prior to the World Cup and England also lost Rio Ferdinand to injury. The Germans lost their captain Michael Ballack to injury as well just before the start of the tournament. Every team and athlete tries their best to avoid injuries but inadvertently they do occur. This is where the medical staff comes into play.
Sports medicine physicians are those people who are responsible for an athlete's well being. "Their primary focus is on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of injuries that occur during sports and other physical activity". It is their job to make sure an athlete is able to compete again in the shortest time possible but after receiving the best care possible.
A team that was particularly hard hit with injuries in football was the Manchester United squad during their 2009/10 season. The Reds had 16 first-team players who were injured for six weeks or more throughout the 2009/10 campaign, but Sir Alex says his dedicated staff dealt with the crisis in the most professional manner he could have asked for.
This article just shows that sometimes the people working behind the scenes in a sporting event are just as important as those working on the pitch. This type of a crisis can hit any team and it just shows that with a strong medical staff on board this type of a crisis doesn't have to become something unmanageable.
There are even examples when the quick thinking of the field medical staff has saved the life of an athlete. An 18 year old footballer named Shane Duffy collided with another player in training and damaged his liver. "Everton academy doctor John Thomas praised the quick thinking and initiative shown by Republic of Ireland doctor Alan Byrne, having promptly treated youngster Shane Duffy who had suffered a life threatening injury in a training game". The doctor made the very wise decision to rush the footballer to hospital and in the process saved his life. Sometimes a team is very lucky to have the skills of an experienced and talented doctor on its medical staff.
Sometimes the story isn't so positive; at times the medical staff cannot come up to the mark of treating athletes and teams well. An Arsenal defender named Djourou started having issues with his knee in training and then during matches as well. No one on the medical staff seemed to notice it and it led to the player getting sidelined for a whole year. "This young man’s football career was put back an entire year because somehow Arsenal’s medical team missed a serious problem with his knee which sounds like it was brewing for at least 6 months". Sometimes the medical staff is spot on but sometimes they miss a rather obvious injury in a player.
This team of people who work extremely hard at making sure the athletes on a team are fit and healthy should be given a little bit of credit because they do a very difficult job. Athletes have unique problems and injuries and they have to be treated quickly and properly because there is a lot of money and pressure riding on the athlete to perform. The medical staff does a tough job under some serious pressure and they should be applauded for it.
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