A national athletes' alliance is pushing for professional sportsmen and women to gain access to WorkCover to pay for operations and treatment of injuries sustained while playing.

Professional athletes pay a high physical price for the years of pushing their bodies to the limit, with many finishing their careers suffering ongoing chronic pain and injuries which they carry for the rest of their lives.

More often than not they end up paying for operations and treatment out of their own pocket.

Former Richmond AFL player, Jake King, knows all about pain.

He played throughout the 2012 season with a series of debilitating injuries.

"I had a broken thumb on the left, a broken hand on the right," he said.

"I had actually torn the PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) in my knee, I had a slight tear in the groin and I ended up breaking the outside of my foot in round 22 against Freo [Fremantle]."

In the end an injury to his toe was the final straw and he retired in 2014, at just 30 years of age.

"My thing is you're employed to play football," King said.

"If I'm not playing football, one, you don't get paid, and being a fringe player you don't get given a contract if you're playing reserves football.

"So I had to pretty much sacrifice my body and the way it felt to actually go out and play football to try to prolong my career as best I could."

Jake King has had nine operations on his toe since quitting the AFL. ( 7.30 )

Since quitting he has had nine operations on the toe and cannot take up his previous trade as a plumber.

King still has a mortgage and is planning to sell his two-storey house because he struggles to climb the stairs.

"We don't have WorkCover as AFL players," he said.

"We can't take out income protection, and life insurance is another matter.

"It's pretty sad how I can be employed with the Richmond Football Club — our receptionist is employed by the same person, yet we're not covered.

"It's just disappointing that the AFL, who makes billions of dollars, won't actually contribute to this or the players aren't looked after in some way to, have income protection or ... a WorkCover benefit for life after football, because it can be a challenging road."

King is limited to seeking compensation from the AFL for his career-ending injury, under a new clause in the Players' Collective Bargaining Agreement.

If successful, he will receive half a year's wages.

The Australian Athletes' Alliance is leading the push for the country's professional athletes to get the same conditions that other workers take for granted.

Brendan Schwab is a co-founder of the Alliance and is a consultant specialising in industrial relations for athletes and sporting teams.

"The sporting career is, by its very nature, short-term, precarious and highly risky," Mr Schwab said.

"Therefore the sports need to ask themselves at what state we are going to leave those athletes ... when they finish playing.

"We certainly believe that as a matter of policy, athletes should not be excluded from workers' compensation.

"It sends the very wrong message that the risks on the sporting field cannot be managed."

Former Test cricketers, Socceroos captain dealing with chronic injuries

For athletes in other sports, the only option for compensation it to sue their former bosses.

High profile former Test cricketers Stuart MacGill and Nathan Bracken have gone down the legal path in their battle with Cricket Australia.

Leg-spinner MacGill claims Cricket Australia owes him more than $2.5 million for missed payments when he was injured in 2008.

Due to long-term injuries, Paul Wade is now limited to coaching kids and teaching their coaches. ( 7.30 )

He never played again and retired later that year.

Bracken was forced to quit cricket in 2011 due to a chronic knee injury.

He is seeking compensation for what is described as non-existent insurance cover for contracted players.

Cricket Australia is now trying to negotiate a settlement with Bracken.

Former Socceroos captain Paul Wade played 84 games for his country before retiring in 1996.

Due to long-term injuries, his involvement in the game is now limited to coaching children and teaching their coaches.

He has limited mobility and is in constant pain.

He estimates that he has spent tens of thousands of dollars of his own money on medical bills, but he has no regrets.

"I've had both ankles operated on because of bone spurs," Wade told 7.30.

"The pain is unbearable.

"[I] broke my leg, everyone who plays football breaks their leg, so that's no big deal.

"But since ending [my career] I've had a new hip, which allows me to go up and down those aisles at Woollies.

"I do limp all over the place but if you said to me, 'would you do it all again?', I'd say 'yep, you're dead right'.

"All the blood, the stitches, the operations, I'd do it all again."

Most NRL players leave league injured: ex-chief medical officer

Until last year Ron Murano was chief medical officer of the National Rugby League.

He says almost all players will leave the game with a chronic injury.

"The game is about winning at all costs, no matter what. Always," Dr Murano said.

Dr Murano believes that attitude contributes to clubs selecting players they know are injured, without thinking about the long-term consequences for the player.

"What's going to happen to this guy in five years, 10 years? It's not their responsibility anymore," he said.

For Wade, it is that mentality which needs to change.

"Let's think, at least consider, what happens to people with serious injuries from playing football, 10 years later," he said.