Biological therapies are substances made from living organisms used to treat disease or injury. Common biologic therapies today include platelet rich plasma injections (PRP), stem cell therapy, and growth factor therapy. Ever since their emergence just over a decade ago, biological treatments have been used to treat a variety of conditions including tendonitis. Tendonitis commonly affects athletes of all levels and is the inflammation or irritation of a tendon that leads to pain and tenderness. Despite the potential promise of biological treatments in treating persistent injuries like tendonitis, there is not a consensus in the scientific community on their effectiveness in treating non-surgical injuries. However, many athletes still seek these forms of treatment. Currently, there are many unknowns regarding how up and coming high-level athletes perceive biologics, if they understand what biologics are, how they’re learning about biologics, and what type of injuries they believe should warrant biologics treatment. Here we show that the majority of high-level collegiate athletes at Arizona State University (ASU) know what biological therapies are, but do not possess accurate information about their effectiveness and medical use. We found through a survey sent out to the student athletes at ASU that while athletes are familiar with PRP and stem cell injections, they are primarily learning about them from potentially unreliable sources such as social media, friends, and family. Further, student athletes falsely perceive biologics are commonly used in physician treatment protocols for persistent tendonitis and are recommended to athletes months earlier than in reality. Our results demonstrate that high-level collegiate athletes do have a misperception on the effectiveness of biological treatments and that further education is needed for athletes about the truth and myths of biologics.

In terms of overall athleticism, other than the obvious extremities that take on more skillful duties in performance (arms, legs, fingers ie.), the back, specifically lower, is pivotal in athletic movement. The main bolstering force in the lower back is the lumbar vertebrae, which on the upper end are connected to the thoracic portion of the spine, and on the lower end transform into the various processes of the sacrum. The lower back is highly involved in bending and stabilizing during athletic movement, while also being favorably responsible for not only producing but absorbing force as well. Men’s Football has the highest rate of occurrence in injuries compared to all other collegiate sports (Hassebrock 2019). This is a product of the various specificities of the game of football such as groundbreaking speed and strength, along with some psychological group-centered constructs. In survey findings, 83% healthcare professionals say that the best active treatment plan is strengthening the core muscles. While in terms of natural and technological treatments like acupuncture, contrast immersion, and electrical stimulation, there wasn’t a definitive methodology proven to be superior to the others. Allowing for the healthcare professional to be creative in their combination of treatments, as long as core strengthening is primarily targeted.