SPOR TS MEDICINE
Playing volleyball when you can’t breathe
by Sarah Graham with J. Tod Olin, MD, MSCS Photos by Beth Woods
Exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction, a condition that affects about five percent of teenagers, prevented Arizona-native Sarah Graham from playing to her potential, which hurt her self-esteem. Fortunately, with help from doctors and specialists, she found a solution
IT WAS THE TIEBREAKER SET IN THE LAST MATCH OF A long tournament, winner take all. Go time! This ball would not be hit- ting the floor. My team, White Tank Mountain Volleyball Club, fought hard, gained momentum and reached eight points in the tiebreaker. Exhaustion came over me, but as an adrenaline-fueled athlete, it barely fazed me. A long rally followed, and then I felt my throat closing. I couldn’t get air. “Push through it,” I thought. “Your team needs you.” My body didn’t get the message. I stopped mid-rally in a desperate attempt to breathe. A loud gasping noise echoed through the gym as I attempted to inhale. My coach called an injury timeout, and I rushed to the sidelines while my teammates stared in worry. I doubled over, terrified from feeling like my throat was closing and keeping air from reaching my lungs. I tried one of the many inhalers that had been
46 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
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prescribed to help me. It didn’t help. We lost the game and I lost my confidence in myself as an athlete. Three-day tournaments are a beating for any athlete, but for me
they were a performance annihilator. My breathing attacks forced me to sub out during matches. My team couldn’t rely on me. Once a breathing attack occurred, panic ensued, only making my situation worse.
As awful as tournaments were, practices were worse. Any cardio or endurance drill, especially block jump circuits, induced breathing attacks. As a middle, I would either be jumping or preparing to jump, but as practices continued, my vertical dramatically decreased. My practices often were interrupted or ended by lengthy breathing attacks. In addition to causing severe discomfort, the breathing problems damaged my confidence and self-esteem. And the worst part was that I
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