‘Doctors Just Say “Rest and Take Ibuprofen”’

Abstract

While sociologists have confirmed that athletes normalize illness and injury, there remains limited research into the practices of sports medicine. A two-year ethnographic study of female rowers shows that medical support for these athletes was both insufficient and inadequate. The rowers experienced a lack of medical care, and several had stories to tell of incompetent diagnoses and over-reliance on drug prescription. Many of the women turned to non-orthodox health care, which has been considered more ‘feminine’ than orthodox practices, and also empowering in terms of the active involvement of the client in the treatment process. This article critically evaluates the extent to which non-orthodox care is an authentic ‘alternative’ to traditional medical approaches, and the contention that such treatment facilitates the continued presentation of self as both ‘athlete’ and ‘female’ at a time when these identities are challenged by the injury or illness experience.