Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Fennie, Kristopher

Area of Concentration

Biology

Abstract

This thesis examines the implications of a competitive athletic season on lower limb musculoskeletal health in collegiate athletes. Through an organized narrative literature review, this study synthesizes biomechanical, epidemiology, and clinical research to evaluate how cumulative seasonal loading influences joint, bone, tendon, and soft tissue. Findings that indicated lower extremity injuries account for the majority of sport-related musculoskeletal conditions, with overuse injuries being a dominant role due to inadequate recovery and repetitive mechanical stress. Key evidence shows that rapid increases in training load, distinctly during preseason periods, significantly raises injury risk by surpassing tissue adaptive capacity. In addition, subclinical changes in bone, cartilage, and soft tissues may expand progressively throughout a season, often resulting in symptomatic injury. Long-term outcomes, which include osteoarthritis and chronic dysfunction are correlated with repeated exposure to high-impact loading. Overall, this thesis highlights the importance of recovery strategies, load management, and injury prevention programs in advocating both long-term musculoskeletal health and athletic performance

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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