Elite athletes competing at the highest levels of sport often play through injury—sometimes serious injury. Look no further than 41-year-old downhill skier Lindsey Vonn competing in the winter Olympics with a torn ACL. Or both quarterbacks in the Super Bowl and probably dozens of their teammates playing through the playoffs with various injuries.
Their grit may become the stuff of sports legend, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow their lead if you get hurt while training for a 5K or just before your rec league basketball championship.
Elite athletes are not like us.
“The stakes are higher,” says UNC Health orthopedic surgeon Samantha Tayne, MD. “This is her last Olympics, and that’s the Super Bowl. There’s prestige, pride and money involved that doesn’t apply to the average person.”
How Elite Athletes Play Through Injury
Dr. Tayne wasn’t surprised to hear Vonn planned to compete on a ruptured ACL, a key ligament in the knee. In Vonn’s long career, she’s suffered a long list of documented injuries and probably has post-traumatic arthritis in her knee already, Dr. Tayne says. One last run—or a few last runs—at a medal is an understandable risk to take.
Plus, some athletes can do sports such as skiing and running without a working ACL, Dr. Tayne says; it’s cutting and pivoting sports, such as soccer and basketball, where it’s typically not possible.
It goes without saying that professional and Olympic athletes have more strength and coordination than regular people.
“To get to that level, they have to be able to tolerate some level of pain that’s beyond what the average person can tolerate, and they have to be able to compensate through injury beyond what the average person can compensate through,” Dr. Tayne says.
The best athletes in the world also have a lot of resources at their disposal.
“They have access to massage therapists, physical therapists, cold therapy, heat therapy, injections, oral medications, access to both acute pain relief and rehabilitation,” she says. “Our general population is lucky to see a physical therapist once or twice a week. These athletes are seeing PT an hour after their injury and then rehabbing for multiple hours a day.”
Deciding Whether to Compete Injured
Of course, if you’re an athlete at any level, you work hard and love your sport and don’t want to be sidelined.
Your doctors want you back out there, too, and if there’s a safe way to keep playing, a sports medicine doctor can help you find it. A high school football player who dislocates his shoulder for the first time may be able to play again a week or two later if he’s regained motion and strength and is wearing a proper brace. An adult who has been training for a marathon but has a twisted ankle can give it a shot if they can tolerate the discomfort. Certain stretches and strengthening exercises can boost the muscles and ligaments around the injury.
But almost everybody with a torn ACL, even players in the NBA and NFL, needs to have surgery and about a year of rehab before returning to their sport, Dr. Tayne says.
Whatever your injury, it’s helpful to talk through the risks and benefits with your doctor. It can be upsetting to take a break from the action, but it might save your athletic abilities in the long run.
“The risk I share with patients is that if you’re worrying about your ankle or you don’t trust the stability of your knee, you’re at much higher risk of a bigger injury, like an ACL tear, and then you’ll be out for a year,” Dr. Tayne says. Caution is especially important for youth athletes, who need to maintain their mobility and joint health for decades to come.
The good news is, injuries can sometimes be prevented in the first place. Whatever your sport, make sure you’re adequately stretching and strength training to maintain conditioning. Don’t forget warmups and cooldowns, and if you’re the parent of a youth athlete, know there are ACL injury prevention programs that may help them avoid a tear.
Above all, remember we’re all human, even the superstars—but that doesn’t mean you should try to compete like one.
“That’s how they got to where they are,” Dr. Tayne says. “Elite athletes are a different breed.”
If you have questions about an injury, talk to your doctor or find one near you.