Achieving a Healed Body Post Contact Sports
By Olivia
I stopped playing soccer two years ago, after my senior year of high school. During my soccer career, I pulled my right quad three times, my groin at least six times, my right hamstring twice and sprained both of my ankles. I also have a tendon that slides around in my knee, and hips that pop almost constantly when I work out. I also wasn’t able to touch my toes standing until six months after my last soccer season ended. My off-season time was filled with more soccer, playing for club or travel teams that I hated because, bottom line, I was in an incredible amount of pain.
Don’t get me wrong, I love working out. Exercising is an outlet for stress for me. If I don’t take an hour every day to check-in with myself physically, emotionally, and mentally by working out, I feel off kilter. It’s taken a very long time, but I can finally workout again with minimal pain, and I haven’t pulled a muscle in two years. I not only can touch my toes but am five inches away from doing the front splits on each leg! You’re probably wondering how I got here, and it wasn’t an easy process.
I had my first amazing fitness experience with Cassey Ho, frontwoman of the fitness YouTube channel “Blogilates” and whom I like to call my pilates guru. I remember starting her workout calendars my freshman year of high school during my off-season, which wasn’t very often. I loved pilates so much that I forced myself to make time for these videos on days that I didn’t have practice until I would get injured again. What changed for me my senior year was my ability to start completing these calendars and feel my body get stronger, feel better, and actually heal. Paired with yoga on my off-days, I felt like a brand new person in a brand new body.
I want to share a few tips I learned coming off my injuries, and what I did to heal my body after I stopped playing contact sports.
Try everything once. This sounds like a no-brainer, but it can be kind of hard during a pandemic. If you do make the switch from contact sports to another form of fitness, try everything you can. Go with a friend to a yoga class or try a HIIT workout on Pinterest. If someone asks you to go to a 7 a.m. Orange Theory workout, just do it! If you hate it, you never have to go again. Start a fitness group at your high school, join an organization like CHAARG at your college (or even create your own chapter), or use an app like ClassPass to find a plethora of fitness classes to try from!
Be gentle with yourself. Your body is amazing. It can do so much and is capable of such wonderful things. Some days, however, it may be more tender or more tired than the day before. Be gentle with yourself on those days. If you push yourself too far, you might end up injuring yourself, which can hinder your fitness journey. Be gentle with yourself mentally, too. Try to set healthy fitness goals, like getting stronger instead of losing a bunch of weight. Your body doesn’t need to change - it might just need help healing and getting stronger.
Fitness is a journey. I really enjoy doing pilates and yoga right now, but a year from now I could be obsessed with running, and that’s okay. Fitness is a journey. It changes as you grow and expand as a person, and that is perfectly fine. Your fitness should fall in line with your life and your interests.
Time off. If you’re currently taking part in a contact sport, I would highly recommend advocating for yourself for active breaks during your off-season. Active breaks are time playing other sports that might not be contact sports, personal training with a personal trainer, taking fitness classes at a studio, or just going for long hikes when the weather is nice. It’s basically anything active that isn’t your sport of choice.
Ask for help. If you're injured, want to recover and minimize possible future injuries, talk to your doctor about physical therapy. They can refer you to a physical therapist who will work with you to create a plan and heal you.
Bottom line: take care of the body you’re in. I wish I had advocated for myself when it comes to taking breaks during off-season, because it could have prevented the injuries I gained from playing soccer 24/7.
Have you checked in with your body today? How is it feeling?
