History Main / CareerEndingInjury

** Many of Creator/BruceWillis' infamous MoneyDearBoy roles from the mid-2010s onward were revealed upon his retirement in 2022 to be the result of a diagnosis of aphasia, a cognitive disorder that makes it difficult to comprehend written or spoken words. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to keep working for much longer, especially with him having fallen off the A-list since his '90s heyday, he began taking well-paying AdvertisedExtra roles in DirectToVideo films in order to ensure that he'd be able to comfortably retire.

** Creator/AkiraKamiya is one of the biggest names of Japanese voice acting in the 1980s to 1990s, best known for [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro]], [[Manga/CityHunter Ryo Saeba]] and many many HotBlooded SuperRobotGenre protagonists that required him to [[CallingYourAttacks yell a lot of attack names]] (Chief amongst them is [[Manga/GetterRobo Ryouma Nagare]]). Not to mention he tend to reprise the last ones if they reappear in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' and recorded ''even more yellings''. Eventually, his lungs gave out and he has stated that he would no longer be able to make such kind of voice acting anymore, so he either tutors the latter generation of voice actors or do roles that didn't require him to yell a lot (for example, the aforementioned Ryo Saeba). This is also why ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' slowly phased out the usage of series that starred Kamiya in concern of his lung health.

* In ''Literature/HarmonicFeedback'', Naomi's dad used to work in construction until he fell and injured his back. With no way of getting another job, he [[DrowningMySorrows took to drinking]] and started neglecting his kids.

** Multiple heroes suffer these kind of injuries during the Paranormal Liberation Front War. One of the most important was [[spoiler:Aizawa, who lost both an eye to Shigaraki and a leg [[LifeOrLimbDecision voluntarily]]. This kept the character out of the remaining fights for the series.

** Space Marines too heavily wounded even for cybernetics or the Apothecary's skill can be interred in a Dreadnought, a MiniMecha that functions as a life-support system and heavy weapons platform at the cot of putting the Marine into centuries-long sleep between battles. Interestingly, Traitor Marines do this as well... except they see it as ''punishment'': Chaos Dreadnoughts have their legs and weapons removed during battles, but they don't get to sleep between battles and are instead chained to a wall.

** Creator/TomKane is a well-known name among the Western animation fans, famous for his near pitch-perfect impersonations of Creator/IanMcKellen as [[Franchise/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf]] and [[WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009 Magneto]], not to mention his roles as Yoda in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' and HIM in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''. However, his career was drastically cut short after Kane had a stroke affecting his speech functions. While he recovered, in September 2021 his daughter posted on his Facebook page that he chose to retire early due to long-term apraxia (difficulty in being able to smoothly transition syllables) as a result of the stroke.

* ''ComicBook/TheOrder'': Several of the Order's members lost their previous careers to injuries.

** Dylan Michael Murray was a warrant officer who was critically wounded and paralyzed during the incident that led to Tony Stark becoming Iron Man.

* ''ComicBook/TheOrder'':

** Milo Fields, a former soldier who was shot through the spine after becoming an anti-war protester.
** Daniel Michael Murray, a former warrant officer who was paralyzed in the same attack that led to Tony Stark becoming ComicBook/IronMan.

** Kristina Vogel had a serious cycling accident in June 2018, rendering her paraplegic. This is especially tragic since she is the ''world-class'', if not the most, cyclist that had ''won'' several cycling races in her career, including the Olympic Games.

* ''TabletopGames/{{Traveler}}'': During character creation, you may suffer a crippling injury in the line of duty, and have the option to undergo a risky medical procedure (which may restore you completely, or kill you - and yes, this is still during ''character creation''). Refusing gives you some stat penalties and forces you to muster out immediately, as you're no longer deemed fit to serve. (You can still be an adventurer.)

Usually, this trope involves an athlete getting an injury, but the career can be anything that requires physical and/or mental ability. Likewise, what causes the disability can be something other than an injury (for example, a disease) - the important point is that it prevents the character from achieving their goals by causing a disability.

** During the German GP, racer Johji Ohtomo crashed, suffering serious injuries. Prior to the crash Johji and Hayato's Super Asruada had a minor collision, leading Hayato to beleive Johji's crash was a reslt of that incident. In reality, Johji turned off his car's computer because he was overwhelemed by the large amounts of data fed into it, hoping instead to race on his instincts. He crashed soon afterwards.
** A racer named John Cleab has his racing career ended in a car accident, but it happened outside the race track. And to make it worse, he ''didn’t disclose his accident to the press'' because he was worried about a young girl’s future. (He crashed trying to avoid her as she was ran into the street playing with her ball.)

* In '''Film/BetYourLife'', Sonny was an up-and-coming footballer until he suffered a knee injury that destroyed his career.

* In ''Literature/SweetDiamondDust''’s short story, “The Strange Desth of Captain Candelario”, Pedro's athletic aspirations end when the Missionaries, the local police force, raid Villa Cañona (the slum where he lives) and beat him so roughly he is left with a limp. Irónica, he ends up joining them.

** In the second NonSerialMovie ''The Fourteenth Target'', the murderer is revealed to be [[spoiler:a sommelier whose taste buds were destroyed in an accident]], taking revenge on the people who in one way or another, ended his career.
** Similarly, in the fourth NonSerialMovie ''Captured in Her Eyes'', the culprit is [[spoiler:a surgeon who had the tendons of his right hand ''intentionally'' severed by a jealous colleague during a surgery]]. He switched to become [[spoiler:a therapist]], but later killed the one who ruined his career... and others who either were involved or found out... and then [[spoiler:Ran became his target since she witnessed what was supposed to be his last kill]].