by nicoleversetwo

Screenwriters and sports broadcasters celebrate athletes who endure injury to win the game, but working through the pain after an accident can severely counteract recovery.

We read about athletes, playing through the pain, all the time: Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant scoring 19 points on a sprained ankle to help the team win a pivotal playoff game. Such coverage sends athletes injured in serious accidents the wrong message about rehabilitation, reinforcing the stigma of a lengthy recovery many of them already have. The consequences can be devastating, according to California personal injury attorney James Ballidis, the author of Athletes and Accidents: 9 Pitfalls that Can Delay Recovery.

All athletes have experienced pulled muscles, torn ligaments, and other training injuries that theyve worked through, explains Ballidis, but auto and other serious accidents can deliver a tremendous impact to the body, resulting in severe injuries that require months, sometimes years, of specialized care to heal.

Athletes are especially prone to pitfalls that can delay recovery. A debilitating injury not only disrupts their highly physical routine, but also their social, economic, and emotional support system. In their attempt to get back on a bike, in the pool, or on the court, they may resort to previous methods of training, sources of advice, or sheer self-determination to overcome their conditionactions that can ruin their chances of prompt or permanent physical and financial recovery.

Mr. Ballidis and his firm specialize in representing athletes, as noted recently in Competitor magazine. The inclination of athletes to, work through the pain, and quickly recover causes them to encounter some of the following common pitfalls, according to Ballidis: