Injuries In The NFL Industry

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Pages: 6

Introduction

AFL is one of the most popular sports in the country, with 1,404,176 registered individuals playing across 25,770 clubs Australia wide according to a study conducted in 2016 (Collins, 2016). I personally am one of the many individuals who play football and have had a strong interest in all aspects of the sport for as long as I can remember. Due to this passion and my safety I would like to know ‘To what extent do injuries impact AFL players’ lives post career?’ so that I can make an informed decision about playing AFL in the future. The five key finding questions I have selected are, ‘Why are AFL players at such high risk of injury compared to other sports?’, ‘What are the most common occurring injuries in AFL?’, ‘Have the types
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The majority of injuries sustained within AFL are due to tackles, being struck by another player, collisions, overuse and falls. Striking is responsible for causing 28% of injuries, collision causes 21%, while overuse injuries cause 12% of all injuries (see Figure 1, 2 and 3). Sprains account for 30% of all AFL injuries and fractures 13% (Truecare Health, n.d.). Comparing this to another sport that is not contact based, such as basketball, the types of sustained injuries differ. In both male and female basketball athletes, the most commonly injured body parts are ankle ligament sprains 24.6% and knee internal derangements 15.9% (McGroarty, 2018). Another factor that increases the risk of injury for players is due to the high intensity nature of the sport and the demand it takes on the body. In the 23 Rounds of an AFL season, players aim to play as frequently as possible. This means that a player usually only has 6-7 days to recover after each match. Having such a short timeframe to recover and prepare for the next game does not allow the body the time it requires to repair and revitalise itself, thus leaving the individual more vulnerable to injury. As mentioned above it is clear that there is a wide variety of injuries that can be sustained within AFL, however, some are more common than