Research Spotlight
Title: A New Playbook: Analyzing Sports Injuries among Marginalized U.S. Athletes and Recommendations for Improvement
Publisher: Elsevier
Author: Michael Pulvirenti
Length: 20 pages
Addressing an Overlooked Challenge
Athletes often face physical challenges that push them to grow. Yet for many, these challenges are amplified by barriers such as socioeconomic limitations and physical disabilities. These factors can create a heightened risk of injuries and reduce access to effective prevention strategies. A New Playbook brings much-needed attention to these issues. It focuses on how sports injuries impact marginalized athletes in the United States and proposes solutions to make injury prevention more inclusive.
Key Areas
The Impact of Sports Injuries on Marginalized Athletes
The sociology-based paper explored how sports injuries affect athletes who face socioeconomic challenges or disabilities. For these athletes, injuries often mean more than just missed games—they can lead to lasting impacts on physical and mental well-being and overall quality of life. That is why this section highlights the importance of targeted injury prevention strategies for underserved athletes.
Analysis of Injury Prevention Strategies
The following injury prevention strategies are reviewed and evaluated in this paper:
Psychosocial Tools: The importance of mental health support and resilience-building as part of injury prevention.
Technological Innovations: New tools like wearable tech that monitor physical strain, with a call for greater accessibility.
Community-Based Programs: Local programs aimed at reducing injury risk, particularly those that work with schools and community centers to reach underserved athletes.
Recommendations
The paper concludes with a set of practical, research-based recommendations to improve injury prevention for underserved athletes. These recommendations include:
Making Psychosocial Support More Accessible: Ensuring that marginalized athletes have access to mental health resources to build resilience and cope with stress.
Developing Affordable Technology Solutions: Encouraging the development and distribution of affordable tech tools to monitor physical activity and prevent injuries.
Expanding Community-Based Interventions: Investing in local, accessible programs that provide injury prevention education directly to underserved communities.
Training Coaches and Educators: Equipping coaches, trainers, and educators in underserved areas with specialized knowledge to help reduce injury risks among athletes.
Each recommendation is aimed at making injury prevention a reality for all athletes — regardless of their socioeconomic or physical challenges.
Why MoveSmarter Champions This Research
At MoveSmarter, we believe that injury prevention knowledge and resources should be available to every athlete. This paper aligns with our mission to close the gap in injury prevention for marginalized communities. We are proud to feature A New Playbook as a cornerstone of our commitment to creating a safer, more inclusive athletic culture.