When senior co-captain right side hitter Traci Stewart tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) her sophomore year during a volleyball match against rival UNC Greensboro, she had to be pulled from the game. An MRI the following day confirmed the injury. It was her ACL. The three letters that no athlete wants to hear.

Stewart described the injury as more shocking than painful when it occurred.

"I remember the exact moment it happened," she said. "It was Nov. 4 and I was going up for a slide. I'm a right side hitter so I go off of one foot, and I just reached for it and came back down on my right foot. I heard a snap and pop and all of a sudden, I was on the ground."

Stewart also experienced an osteochondral defect, meaning her two bones came together and created an indentation in her knee.

But Stewart isn't the only Phoenix athlete to have sustained an injury during his or her time on a team and have to sit out the rest of the season.

From participation to rehab

Men's cross country sophomore Sean Magee suffered a stress fracture in his femur in late September last year and like Stewart couldn't practice or compete with the team. Stress fractures result from repetitive motion and tend to be more common for endurance athletes, especially females, according to Running Times Magazine.

"When you get to college, you run more miles at a harder pace," Magee said. "What happened to me was that I increased my mileage and how hard I was running those miles and just the constant overuse of my legs."

Although Stewart's injury occurred instantly, Magee's occurred over time. Magee and the cross country athletic trainers initially thought he suffered some sort of muscular pain, but a bone scan a few weeks later revealed the injury was a stress fracture.

"I knew it was a big time injury," Magee said. "I was still keeping hopes I'd be back at the end of the season and I didn't really recognize how serious it was. It didn't really hit me. I just knew I was hurt and was going to do what I needed."

The rehabilitation process varies for different injuries and ranges from a few days to a full season, according to A.J. Lukjanczuk, associate athletic trainer and head football athletic trainer.

"I've had guys in here for all season and I've had guys here for two days," he said. "All our facilities are open between 6 and 7 a.m. and we're in here sometimes until 8 or 9 p.m. The guys will come in whenever they see fit. I have guys sometimes here three to five times a day."

Stewart and Magee worked with the respective athletic trainers for their sport. After having surgery, Stewart worked with volleyball trainer Elly Shearman for a full year to regain her range of motion, strength and conditioning in her ACL. She described Shearman as her "saving grace." Stewart did leg lifts with weights around her ankles to strengthen her legs and knees.

"Definitely after I tore my ACL was the hardest part of my life, but being with my teammates made it a lot better because I definitely couldn't have done it without them or Elly," Stewart said.

For Magee, healing simply meant rest and he wasn't allowed to run. He began swimming, aqua jogging, biking and elliptical exercises. His trainer told him when he was strong enough to start biking and when he could exercise using the elliptical machine.

Injured players don't practice with the team at designated practice times so they use that time to nurse their injuries back to health. Magee would stretch and do core exercises with his team but when his teammates ran, he would do his cross training or watch them if they were doing a specific workout.

"I was happy to cheer the team on but as it went on, it was more and more depressing because I wasn't there," Magee said. "They would do their practice and I would still have to do my own. A lot of time when you're hurt, you have to do your own training."

Just a part of the game

Although injuries vary based on the sport, they're just as much a part of the game as winning or losing. Baseball players are more likely to suffer shoulder injuries, football players sprains and some shoulder injuries, according to Lukjanczuk.

"When you play athletics, you're gonna have injuries," he said. "When you're playing in Division I athletics, they're just part of the game. Our job is to recognize the injuries, refer them properly and get them (players) back on the field."

There are team physicians present at each home game and they assess players' injuries if athletes are hurt during the game. There can be between zero and 10 injuries per game that aren't limited to certain parts of the body, Lukjanczuk said. There are three training facilities on campus for athletes: the Alumni Field House, Alumni Gym and the Koury Field House. At these locations, there are various physical therapy modalities to heal injuries and workouts catered to specific injuries, according to Lukjanczuk.

"We're going to do something different with a guy who has an ACL tear than with a guy who has tendonitis in his knee," he said. "The two things we're looking at are the injuries that have already happened and preventing the ones that could occur."

Preventing future injuries

All athletes are required some sort of protection against injuries and that differs based on the sport and the history of injuries for the players. For example, all offensive linesmen are required to wear knee braces and each player is taped before practice and competing, Lukjanczuk said. Some football players have helmets designed to provide extra protection against concussions.

Runners don't have as much protection as football players, but Magee recommends changing one's shoes after 300 or 400 miles.

"You have to be very on top of trading out your shoes," he said. "This year, I got orthopedics made. That's one thing runners do."

When the season's over, athletic trainers perform an injury evaluation on all the players who were hurt during the season and make sure the injuries won't affect the athletes anymore, Lukjanczuk said. After her injury, Stewart remains cautious about her ACL and takes measures to land correctly without aggravating the injury. The volleyball coaching staff worked with training, strength and conditioning staff to implement plyometrics to prevent future injuries. Stewart and Magee returned to practicing and competing with their teams the season after their injuries.

"After I got injured, the strength and conditioning team is much more aware of the emotional, physical aspect being injured brings forth," Stewart said. "Having gone through the experience of being an injured athlete in college made me realize how grateful I was and be thankful to be a part of it and just walking. I realize how important the little things are in life"