As the vice-captain of my college wushu team, I have witnessed many of my friends sustain injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, lateral meniscus tears, and Osgood-Schlatter disease. It pains me when my friends opt to not seek medical help because they fear they will lose their place in the competition. And when they try to speed up their recovery and fail to, they would panic; and I too empathise with their struggle. Those years in school were years of not knowing what to do. When I became a healthcare worker*, I realised that the missing component was health literacy for young athletes – an understanding of common sports injuries, the risk factors and how to prevent these common sports injuries.
Enabling sports medicine literacy
This was the impetus that drove me to start the Medicine Special Interest Group, with a unique focus on sports medicine for young athletes. Together with my co-founder, Rabiatul Idham, we sat down and drew up a plan for what young athletes such as myself needed. We then realised that promoting sports medicine literacy through peer-to-peer advocacy would be the most impactful approach for youths. Brainstorming with our team of youths, we also identified that young athletes and their friends and family members wish to be educated on topics such as the risk factors, types of common injuries, injury prevention, and the treatment and management of sports injuries.
With that in mind, we organised two sports medicine talks conducted over Zoom, and were honoured to invite Dr Chang Haw Chong, Dr Dinesh Sirisena and Dr Benny Loo Kai Guo to share their expert knowledge.
Over the weekend of 7 and 8 October 2023, young athletes and parents of aspiring athletes attended two talks – "Sports Medicine for the Young Athlete" by Dr Chang Haw Chong and Dr Dinesh Sirisena, and "Common Overuse Injuries in Young Athletes" by Dr Benny Loo Kai Guo. The talks were attended by 229 youths in total.
Young athletes' experience with injury
Following the talks, I interviewed youths who have suffered and recovered from their injuries to get a real feel of the pertinent issues that injured youth athletes care about, and to hopefully give them a voice through their stories. Here are two accounts that I feel aptly highlight the heartfelt issues that youth athletes face after an injury.
Athlete B's story:
Athlete B has been a competitive wushu martial artist for over ten years, specialising in the sword and spear. Three years ago, she sustained her first major injury.
"Pop." That was the sound B heard after she landed from a wushu stunt. The thought that "it was all over" raced through her mind. Terrified and paralysed with fear, she did not dare to move. A trip to the A&E and an MRI scan showed an ACL tear, a meniscus tear and a few strained ligaments. For B, this felt as though the world she was looking forward to had ended. Her dreams of representing Singapore at upcoming competitions were dashed.
The recovery process for B was a long and lonely battle. She recalled the feelings of isolation and frustration because it was hard for other people to understand what she felt. These feelings were exacerbated since B had a very different training regime from her peers. However, when suggested to have a consultation with a psychologist, B declined due to financial concerns.
"The recovery process was more psychologically taxing than physically taxing," B recalled. The whole injury process had taken a psychological toll on B. After the injury, she was traumatised and afraid to try the same stunts that she could do with ease before the injury. Being an athlete competing at an elite level also placed a lot of pressure on her to return to her peak performance as soon as possible.
The process of easing back to the sport was not easy with the physical and psychological constraints. However, B is very thankful that her mother and her coaches provided a supportive environment during her recovery process, and such support systems are crucial for recovering athletes. B is especially thankful that her coaches came up with creative ways to help her overcome her trauma. Slowly, B struggled through rehabilitation and successfully eased back into wushu. Fortunately, she has since recovered. Though she has been plagued by new injuries, she is now better able to cope.
Athlete K's story
Athlete K is a passionate tennis player. He has represented his school in multiple inter-school games and won many competitions along the way. In upper secondary school, he aspired to represent Singapore at regional competitions. However, that was when he was hit with multiple, consecutive overuse injuries over the course of a year, including right wrist tendonitis, rotator cuff tendonitis, right Achilles tendonitis and left hamstring strain.
K's journey to recovery was fraught with many hiccups. The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted and hindered his recovery process. As physiotherapy was not considered an essential service, his appointment with the physiotherapist was pushed back during the circuit breaker. He often had to repeat the same set of exercises even though he felt that he was ready to try a new set or increase the intensity of the current set of exercises. This frustrated K. When he felt that he was not making linear progress, his frustrations grew.
"Why am I still in pain when I'm going for treatments?" This was a recurring thought in K's mind throughout his recovery journey.
Amid all the frustrations, what encouraged K was how supportive his physiotherapist was. The physiotherapist gave K autonomy over how fast he would like his treatment to progress. K felt that he was not just receiving treatment, but rather was working together with the physiotherapist to determine his own treatment. This gave him a sense of control and ownership over his treatments, which was especially reassuring for K.
Speaking to these young athletes, I empathise with their frustrations. Many of them have great aspirations and dreams. Oftentimes, their dreams end when injury strikes.
Take-aways from the talks
Having experienced severe injuries themselves, both B and K emphasised the importance of injury prevention. They felt that learning more about the risk factors, types of common injuries and how to prevent them was indispensable for any aspiring athlete, regardless of whether they were amateurs or competing at elite levels.
The talks touched on various details that they initially did not pay attention to, such as the type of shoes worn, the use of insoles or even the surfaces athletes train on, which all play a role in injury prevention. They also became more aware of their training load and the potential consequences of increasing it too quickly.
An athlete's journey to recovery should never be a lonely battle. Behind every injured athlete, there is a medical team. These athletes believe in us, trust us and rely on us to nurse them back to health. In return, let us treat them with empathy, respect and care.
*The author joined a GP clinic where she worked as a healthcare assistant, assisting the doctor in administrative duties as well as being a chaperone.