Medicine has long treated the male body as the default. From clinical trials to safety procedures, women’s bodies have always been an afterthought. The result of this mistreatment is a quiet injury gap. Women experience higher rates of ACL tears and are often plagued by chronic pain that is overlooked or dismissed.
Dorian Callaway, a soccer player, tore her right quad before the season started and returned to play before it was fully healed. She said the recovery period was short.
“It was like two weeks [of recovery] and even still, I started playing a lot of games,” Callaway said. “Sometimes I’d be in a game and I would be running and feel my quad start to hurt and I just had to [tough] it out because we were in a game and there were no other subs.”
Returning to play too quickly can turn a minor setback into a more serious injury, according to Lydia Tyson, ABAC’s athletic trainer.
“Sometimes that soreness — when you’re pulling muscles — you end up out for four to six weeks,” Tyson said. “Because of the anatomy and how those muscles work, it can cause further injury.”
Women are biologically built differently than men, contributing to increased rates of ACL tears and knee injuries. One anatomical difference that contributes to this risk is the Q-angle, which tends to be wider in women. This causes the thigh bone to angle downward, placing additional stress on the ACL.
Hormonal influence is another major factor. Tyson said that at a previous school, four different female athletes tore their ACLs during their menstrual cycles, when ligaments loosen and become more vulnerable to injury.
These risk factors do not just up and leave once an injury occurs — they continue to influence how these athletes transition back into training and competition. Beyond the physical challenges, many athletes also face mental hurdles when returning to play.
After suffering a foot injury that left her out of play from November to August, Brianna Wimberly understands this firsthand. She said the injury still affects her decision-making.
“I tore everything in my foot,” Wimberly said. “So you’ll never see me drive [to the basket]. Like, mentally, I just can’t do it.”
Wimberly’s experience is not unique. Sports trainers say fear of re-injury and loss of confidence are common among athletes returning from serious injuries, often leading to physical limitations.
Stories like Wimberbly’s and Calloway’s underscore a broader concern within athletic programs: the growing demand for better injury support. As athletes return to competition, they face both physical and mental challenges, making the need for a comprehensive training staff increasingly clear.
With ABAC’s rising athlete participation and growing demand for care, the program’s sole athletic trainer has found it increasingly difficult to manage.
“Somehow I’ve been able to make it work thus far,” Tyson said.
During peak sports seasons, coverage demands often overlap, forcing difficult decisions about where care is needed most. Although Tyson said she is grateful for the help of Albany State University medical students, the workload remains heavy. Additional staffing could ease coverage demands and allow our trainer to provide more consistent care throughout each sports season.
Increased visibility around women-specific sports injuries and access to adequate athletic training resources remain crucial as ABAC’s programs continue to grow. Without that support, injuries risk becoming more than a temporary setback — they can permanently change how athletes play the game.