Are Athletes Healing Faster?

It seems that athletes are recovering from all sorts of ailments and medical problems at a very rapid rate. There is a lot more to this than what it would appear at first glance though. Yes, it is true that athletes do heal much faster than you or I would, but there is a sound logic behind this. For some, as it has been proven in recent publications, do use steroids. This is not true for all of them though. Steroids are not the only miracle cure during surgery, and many athletes are getting some very questionable looks for their rapid healing rate. It is not always a performance enhancing drug that is the cause for this accelerated healing. The truth can be very surprising and is actually quite simple. There are two major factors that play into this healing. Once you look at it from an objective point of view, the steroid issue seems to fall out of the picture and back into the hazy realm in which it has plagued sports since the '90s.

The first contributing factor to the rapid healing of athletes is the superior care that they receive. Not only in the U.S., but around the world, these athletes are given the best health care that all the Earth's doctors can offer. You have to think of it from the aspect of the owner. These teams are built on the players on the team. This is the major source of income for these owners, and these athletes comprise millions, or even billions, of dollars in investments. To protect that investment, only the top doctors, facilities, methods, and technology are used. For this reason, many of the common surgeries that are out there are named after the athlete that first received that operation. Look at Tommy John surgery for an example. These owners invest millions into the health care that these athletes receive. This means that they only get the best and most cutting edge technology. The medical rooms in many of the teams' locker rooms have better equipment than some of the hospitals in this country. From lasers and ultrasound, to non-invasive methods, there is a constant drive to find ways to increase healing time and simplify the procedures.

One other factor that plays into the healing process of these athletes is their physical condition. In order to be a professional athlete, you must be in the best of health. There are many studies that have proven the more healthy you are, the faster you will heal. These athletes are in better condition than you and I have likely ever been. With constant strength and conditioning exercises, proper diet and nutrition, and having to keep their bodies in the best of shape, these athletes are able to "bounce back" much faster. This is something that even we as "regular people" could achieve. If you keep your body healthy and well balanced, as these people must, then you are not only less susceptible to injury, but when you do get injured it is not as severe and you will heal more rapidly. The condition of these athletes is so extreme that I have seen players go on the disabled list for a sore toe or blister on their finger. Some of the injuries that can keep an athlete from playing are so infantile that many of us laugh at them and think they are just being babies. In reality, they must be in the ultimately top condition to perform the way that they are required to perform.

There is still a lot of debate out there on the use of steroids, and I am not so naive to think that it doesn't go on. There are several athletes that I find to be questionable on their possible use of performance enhancing drugs. The fact that they heal rather rapidly, should not be the sole factor on this opinion, though. If you seriously consider how fast these players heal, it is not too incredibly fast. There are several pitchers that have spent one to three complete seasons out of baseball because they are trying to battle back from injury. Many of the players out there still need some extensive healing time before returning to the field. There are several occasions where the athlete would heal at the same rate as you or I. I have seen many an athlete take 2 or more weeks to recover from hernia surgery, which can often be treated as outpatient surgery. This is the same amount of time my wife took when she had her hernia operation. There are some ailments that they can bounce back faster from and some that take as much or more time than the average person. If we all had the body of an athlete and their health care plan, I am sure that most operations would be outpatient surgery and all of us would heal much faster. Maybe that should be added to the new health care bill.