Taylor: Sports-Related Overuse Injuries
“Dr. Gibson is always great at making sure I’m balancing everything I’m doing — like the appropriate amount of recovery time for the amount of training I’m doing. And she always makes sure I’m healthy emotionally as well as physically.”
– Taylor, Patient
For Taylor, her competitive soccer career has not only depended on her talent and dedication to the sport, but also her ability to successfully recover from injury. So she’s relied on Dr. Sarah Gibson and the sports medicine team at Nemours Children's to help guide her and get her back to performing at her best.
Throughout the past several years, Taylor has been to Nemours for multiple issues including a knee injury, a stress fracture and, most recently, a hamstring injury. Dr. Gibson and the team have helped Taylor deal with these sports-related overuse injuries by explaining the best combination of treatment, physical therapy, rest and recovery time she needed to build up her strength again. “I want to train all the time, but you need to give your body rest,” says Taylor.
Now Taylor says she feels strong and doesn’t currently suffer from any of her past injuries. She continues to do the exercises the team at Nemours gave her to do, including stretching every day so that she’s playing at her best on the field.
Healing and Prevention to Continue Playing in College
After graduating from Lake Nona High School this spring, Taylor will attend the University of South Carolina in the fall on a soccer scholarship.
“With everything I’ve learned, I’m feeling very confident with my body and my training and competing at a high level with other elite athletes,” says Taylor. “I’m looking forward to this next chapter so I can keep improving and growing throughout my soccer career.”