Sports Injury Case Study

In my case, A.B, a star linebacker at BTU, was severely injured during a practice in spring training. Although he eventually recovered, on many other occasions, he felt numbness in his hands and fingers, so A.B. went to a doctor. After consulting the neurosurgeon, he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, which is an abnormal narrowing of the spinal canal. The neurosurgeon recommended that A.B. search for another opinion that would corroborate the diagnosis. The other physician confirmed the first neurosurgeons’ report and told A.B to stop playing football as he could be paralyzed for life. Even with all of the reports informing A.B. to stop playing football, the head trainer of BTU went to a safety meeting and claimed that football players with this type of disease do not have a heightened risk of injury or paralysis. Ultimately, everyone allowed A.B and his parents make the decision and he chose to play. With three games left in the season, he was paralyzed, however, he eventually recovered and was able to move again. …show more content…
It is a proven fact that spinal stenosis coupled with multiple stingers can lead to an increased chance of paralysis. Many players in the NFL are diagnosed with spinal stenosis including David Wilson and Cooper and Peyton Manning. For some players, they elect to end their career and for others, they decide the opposite, and continue to play. A survey of college football athletes revealed that 65% of players had at least one stinger while playing in college. A stinger, which is a “nerve pinch injury”, causes severe numbness in arms and legs. Spinal stenosis has proved to be very damaging for some and not damaging for others; however, the safe decision is to stop playing after being diagnosed with this