Over 5 million athletes sustain injuries in high school each year, according to Colorado Advanced Orthopedics. Whether it be an ACL tear or wrist fracture, student-athletes often take time away from their sports to recover. Physical therapy plays a vital role in rebuilding these athletes by restoring their mobility and strength through treatment plans, a process many students can relate to.
Jaydin Lodder, sophomore, has been playing flag football at NPHS since she joined her freshman year. However, on Sept. 12, 2026, a drill called rapid fire put her season on hold when she tore both her ACL and MCL. While an estimated ACL recovery takes around six months, Lodder’s timeline is closer to nine.
“When you hear the term ACL, you hear that your career’s over, and I didn’t really know how bad it was until they kind of explained it to me,” Lodder said.
In the months following her injury, physical therapy helped Lodder progress from walking without crutches to running laps around the Panther Stadium Track.
“[Physical therapy] helped me regain mobility, and although it’s challenging, it’s helped me to come out of it better than before. I learned a lot out of it, not just basic things, but how to stretch right, how to identify certain injuries,” Lodder said.
Lodder’s experience reflects a larger trend seen across youth athletes. Recovery timelines can vary, but medical professionals, including orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kimberly Caputo, point out that many young athletes delay treatment to keep playing.
“I think there’s a lot of pressure on kids to not miss their practices, to be tough, to not complain. And it is good to be tough, but when you’re injured, if you tried rest, if you tried Advil, if you tried ice, if you tried heat, if you tried taking a day off, and your pain is still there, then it’s not good for you to keep going,” Caputo said.
With over 20 years of experience in her field, Caputo, currently stationed at Ventura Orthopedics in Thousand Oaks, has seen a steady increase in student-athlete injuries.
“[The growth of injuries in youth sports] has to do with the way our sports have evolved; it’s not healthy for any growing kid to be playing the same sport year-round, never taking a break. It’s not healthy for them to only choose one sport,” Caputo said.
Having just graduated from Cal Lutheran University with her bachelor’s degree in exercise science, Paige Henry, NPHS alumnus, is currently applying to physical therapy school. Henry advocates for all teen athletes to utilize physical therapy as a resource for understanding their bodily capacities.
“I think [physical therapy is] super important just for learning and educating athletes in injury risk and how to prevent injuries and being able to just move the body correctly. Even for myself, like movement and exercise heals the body, and if you can learn how to do it correctly it’ll benefit an athlete in their sport or even outside of their sport, and overall, they would just be 100%,” Henry said.
Physical Therapy plays a major role in making recovery possible for athletes, it is important for them to work with their doctors and physical therapists to insure the fastest recovery possible.
“It’s good not to be alone and face all your battles independently. You need support systems; you need people to guide you through things. I think there are parts where I like to be alone and like to isolate myself, but then there are other times where it’s really good to depend on other people,” Lodder said.
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